What I'm Reading

From Publishers Weekly:

Bush Administration policies are not only a "great catastrophe" but the products of a disturbed mind, according to this provocative blend of psychological case-study and partisan polemic. Psychoanalyst Frank sifts through family memoirs, the writings of critics like Al Franken and David Corn and the public record of Bush’s personal idiosyncrasies for clues to the President’s character, interpreting the evidence in the rigidly Freudian framework of child psychoanalyst Melanie Klein.

He finds that Bush, psychically scarred by an absentee father and a cold, authoritarian mother, has developed a galloping case of megalomania, characterized by a Manichaean worldview, delusions of persecution and omnipotence and an "anal/sadistic" indifference to others’ pain, with removal from office the only "treatment option." The author’s exegesis of Bush’s personality traits-the drinking problem, the bellicose rhetoric, the verbal flailings and misstatements of fact, the religiosity and exercise routines, the hints of dyslexia and hyperactivity, the youthful cruelty to animals and schoolmates, the smirk-paints an intriguing, if exaggerated and contemptuous, portrait of a possibly troubled public figure.

Book Description

A renowned Washington, D.C.-based psychoanalyst examines George W. Bush's public persona-and asks serious questions about whether he is fit for the office he holds. In Bush on the Couch Frank offers a comprehensive psychological profile of President George W. Bush using the principles of Applied Psychoanalysis, the discipline of psychoanalyzing public and historical figure pioneered by Freud. With an eye for the subtleties of human behaviour sharpened through thirty years of clinical practice, Frank traces the development of Bush's character from childhood to present day, identifying and analyzing Bush's patterns of thought, behaviour and communication. A thorough and authoritative examination of Bush's public appearances and speeches, along with historical, biographical, and journalistic records, Bush on the Couch is a compelling portrait of George W. Bush, filled with controversial and disturbing revelations about our nation's leader. Insightful and accessible, courageous and controversial, Bush on the Couch sheds startling new light on the Bush psyche and its impact on the way he governs, tackling head-on the question no one seems willing to ask: Is our president psychologically fit to run the country? From the contentious presidential election of 2000 to 9/11, from the War in Iraq to the War on Terrorism at home and abroad, Bush's presidency is one of the most controversial in the history of the U.S. In Bush on the Couch, Dr. Frank dissects the psyche of President Bush and unearths shocking revelations about the mind of the leader of the free world. With three decades of experience, Dr. Justin Frank is an expert in the field of psychoanalysis. He has written and lectured widely on psychoanalysis and politics. A former columnist for Salon.com, the recipient of numerous teaching awards, co-director of the Metropolitan Centre for Object Relations in New York, a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at George Washington University Medical Centre, and a teaching analyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, Dr. Frank's copious credentials speak for themselves.