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I’m often asked about the Goldwater Rule. It does not apply to me; I am a PhD. It applies only to MDs. That said, some psychologists feel we should adhere to that rule. I disagree strongly with this view.
Our duty to warn supersedes any other laws and rules of ethics. Tarasoff settled that for us years ago. The Goldwater Rule needs to go – it was a completely different time and circumstance. Now, we are in a true crisis and a risk to peace.
If I had a choice between professional censure and protecting the planet, it’s an easy decision. Trump is unprecedented. These diagnoses are made through observable behaviors. There are some psychological tests, but observable behaviors are the main source of diagnoses.
We have thousands of hours of Trump; far more than we have for patients whom we diagnose in our work. Journalists opine about him, using the ICD/DSM criteria to speculate. Political pundits and commentators all sound authoritative. If they can read, they can have an opinion.
I don’t believe that relegating discussions regarding the obvious mental impairment of the leader of the free world to pundits and journalists is good for anyone. Trump has the nuclear codes; his many troubling personality traits and the obvious cognitive decline
are things that make him an immediate danger not only to America, but to the world. As the GOP refuses to step up and do the right thing, the task is left to experts in the field of mental health to sound the alarm.
Donald Trump is mercurial, volatile, frequently rageful, immature, and makes decisions on emotion – typically rage. He is retaliatory to the extreme and takes genuine glee in seeing the target of his rage suffer.
He is a danger to the world, and a gag rule preventing those who best understand these mental problems is unconscionable.
I should not be permitted to speak up on the obvious severe impairments in our president. It is unethical for me NOT to.
I have a duty to warn.