No.
Donald Trump isn’t a narcissist, because we shouldn’t be calling anyone a “narcissist”. It’s an ableist slur. As a leftist, I believe that nobody is a f*ggot, nobody is a tr*nny, nobody is a r*tard, nobody is a sp*rg, and nobody is a n*rcissist. We do not use these words.
The word N*rcissist entered common vocabulary, which is to say, outside of psychologist circles, with Christopher Lasch’s book, The Culture of Narcissism. Lasch alleged that pathological narcissism, or NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder), was becoming mainstream as a result of contemporary American culture. He explicitly stated that the number of people with clinically diagnosable NPD was becoming higher in America.
Lasch’s book was pseudoscience, but it spawned a wave of new age self-help books which blamed all of your social problems at home and at work on people living with NPD. Telling people their problems are caused by the mentally disabled is a great strategy, even Hitler used it. It made millions. And in the wake of this scam, the common cultural knowledge arose that every abusive parent or teacher or boss or coworker in your life is a person living with NPD.
Today, Reddit communities like r/raisedbyn*rcissists and forums like Quora continue to peddle these narratives, because reactionaries think blaming disabled people for their problems will make them feel better. The language of these reactionaries has suffused our culture and the slur has become normalised.
I see some people saying it’s okay to use the slur n*rcissist, because having a mental disorder really does turn you into an evil abuser. I will not be paying these people any more attention in this article.
I also see people claiming that the slur refers not to actual disabled people, but instead to people exhibiting mild symptoms of the disorder. This is an ahistorical argument. While many people today are unaware of the history of the slur’s use against the disabled, they were still taught the word by people such as Lasch, who explicitly were pseudoscientific ableists. Picking up an ableist’s slur and using it without ableist intent is still ableism.
Finally, I see people claiming the word is not derived from psychology, but instead from Greek mythology. I examined this claim in depth in another article. Looking at the source material of the Greek myth, I found that Narcissus was hated by the Greeks for being a child who didn’t want to have sex with anybody. Thus, anyone calling their enemies “n*rcissist” because of Greek mythology is an aphobic pedophile-apologist.
Having examined in depth the cultural history of the n*rcissist slur, I believe I have demonstrated once and for all that decent people do not call anyone n*rcissists. And therefore, Donald Trump is no more a n*rcissist than he is any other bigoted slur.
Case closed.
But perhaps, with linguistic concerns out of the way, a reader may dispense with offensive language and ask in earnest, “Does Donald Trump have Narcissistic Personality Disorder?”
Does Donald Trump have NPD?
This is a difficult question. The reason it’s difficult, is that anyone properly qualified to answer it can’t say that he has NPD. It’s called the Goldwater Rule. The American Psychiatric Association forbids diagnosing celebrities and public figures with mental disorders.
While many psychologists and psychiatrists are not members of the APA, this rule exists for a reason, and it should be standard industry practice.
First off, it violates the consent of the celebrity in question. In order to be treated by a medical professional, you need to consent to it, outside of extreme cases like unconsciousness or suicidality. And even the institutionalisation of suicidal persons is politically controversial. Doing medicine at some random joe on the street without their consent is unethical, and it doesn’t matter if they’re famous. If you really were their treating psychiatrist, you’d be bound by medical confidentiality laws, such as HIPAA in the USA.
Second, it contributes to stereotyping and stigma. For example, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have both informed the public that they have Autism Spectrum Disorder. If you’re an autistic person, do you want to be represented in the public view by Elon Musk? No, of course not! Now, Elon has the right to disclose his own medical history, but it’s different for a psychiatrist who’s never met Elon. A diagnosis in that case would be informed by press releases and public appearances, rather than a conversation with the patient. It’s too narrow a view to take someone’s entire personality into account. You’re just going to be labelling a bunch of wacky media hijinks as a mental disorder. And no mental disorder should be represented by wacky media hijinks.
Medical professionals have received criticism in this very situation, for publicly diagnosing Donald Trump with a variety of disorders.
Even Allen Frances, the doctor who wrote the diagnostic criteria for NPD in the DSM-3, has spoken out against diagnosing Trump. Frances cites both the Goldwater Rule, and the requirement in the DSM that a mental disorder must be distressing to the patient. I do feel the need to note that in the linked sources here, Frances uses an ableist slur multiple times, so sensitive readers may wish to be careful about reading these. This blog does not condone Frances’ views on the use of the slur.
Now, while it’s considered malpractice for a psychiatric professional to diagnose a public figure with a mental disorder, there is no such rule against rebuking these claims, and saying that they do not have the disorder, as Dr Allen Frances has demonstrated. Frances argues that Donald Trump is not distressed by any grandiose behaviour he may have. And his argument is compelling.
Psychiatrists are not the arbiters of morality in society. They are doctors. Condemning the sinful and wicked is not the job of doctors, it is the job of priests. And we must keep this in mind when considering the purpose of mental disorder diagnoses. Many have argued that we must be able to accuse celebrities of mental disorders, because how else are we supposed to condemn immoral behaviour? While I understand that a layperson might espouse this point of view, it is abhorrent to see it from a medical professional. The purpose of a diagnosis is not to harm or attack a patient, it’s to help the patient. And that’s why diagnoses are only for people who need help.
And I do believe that Donald Trump deserves the fullest extent of harm and attack we are capable of leveraging against him. Everyone in My country is surprised he hasn’t been shot already. But that’s not something you do while acting in the capacity of a doctor. When you diagnose someone with a health problem, they are a patient. It is the responsibility of doctors to have sympathy for them and help them.
And I don’t want that for Donald Trump! I don’t want to have sympathy for him! I don’t want to help him! He’s an asshole! Just let Me hate him, goddamn it!
