Is TRUMP Mentally Ill?

Yes he is, unfortunately.

We’ll leave the exact name of his mental illness to professional psychologists and psychiatrists. I’m neither but a bio-scientist, who also did research and published in neurobiology; and who always had an additional side-interest in the human-mind and its various manifestations, including in the pathological realm.

I had called Mr. Donald Trump UNFIT and UNQUALIFIED, publicly (on Facebook.com/TheTraffick/), as soon as I heard his interest in being the nominee of the Republican Party for the President of the United States (late 2015).

UNQUALIFIED: because he neither knew enough nor had any experience relevant to the job. That fact was obvious to many, including me.

UNFIT: because he didn’t seem like an appropriate person, mentally, psychologically and morally, for the Presidency.

Facts since then have proven me and all the other early Trump-Resisters to be absolutely correct.

However, what I did not suspect then (2015) was that Mr.Trump was also mentally ill.

Again, what’s the exact name of his mental illness could be another discussion in the future, after the professional psychologists and psychiatrists render their verdict (it’s bound to be controversial and not unanimous, of course).

As an interested bio-scientist (but not an expert in such psychiatric-diagnosis by any means), I can’t help but venture this speculation here:

A dose of “Cognitive Dissonance” somehow blends into his actions as well, most likely.

*NOTE: Multiple Personality Disorder is now referred to as “Dissociative Identity Disorder” (DID).

“Cognitive Dissonance” is a concept pioneered by Leon Festinger (since 1957)

Mr.Trump has the PERSONALITY-1, for example, during his press-conferences where he lies through his teeth, but perhaps without quite realizing that he is doing so. Early on, he claimed “the corona virus is just like the flu, and will magically go away very soon; nothing to worry about” (or, words to that effect).

PERSONALITY-2: when he is talking to Bob Woodward privately a little earlier, he had said “Corona is deadlier than the flu; it’s not just old people who are susceptible to the virus” (he was being rather truthful when he was talking to Woodward, privately).

When publicly confronted by this contradiction now, after the revelations in Woodward’s book “RAGE”, Mr.Trump claimed he was NOT lying in either instance!

An amazing and absurd claim for a normal person with a single personality, but for someone with more than one personality (therefore mentally ill), it is quite expected, isn’t it?

In other words, neither of his Personalities (#1 or #2) were lying, while they were speaking, as quoted above. They were expressing the truth as they saw it, perhaps with not much awareness and/or concern for each other’s existence in the same body & mind.

Something to consider about Mr. Trump, perhaps?

Thank you

Celik Kayalar, PhD.

Former research-associate and faculty in bio-sciences at MIT, UC Berkeley and UCLA