The point of the diagnostic process in medicine is to identify people who need medical treatment, not to identify bad people. Donald Trump isn’t a n*rcissist, because he’s simply a bad person. He does not have any illness that society bears responsibility for treating, except for cholesterol. Neurodivergent people deserve reasonable accommodations from society so that they can live a good life with their disability. Trump does not deserve any accommodations at all, because he’s not disabled. He’s not ill. He’s an evil, privileged, highly abled neurotypical. As a neurodivergent person, I’m deeply offended whenever someone denies that the reactionaries who hate us are privileged. Donald Trump is privileged. He is not a member of a disabled minority. What you are saying is as offensive as claiming that his spray tan makes him black.
How are you so sure he’s not a narcissist? He seems to fit many of the indicators. They also tend to be very good at exploiting people to gain power, which Trump has done frequently. If you think it’s offensive to entertain the idea that he’s a narcissist, I think you may be trying to exclude him from a group you identify with for bad reasons. He deserves no accommodation because he’s a privileged asshole, like you said, but that doesn’t also mean he isn’t a narcissist. He’s just shown no interest in solving this “issue” because it benefits him.
Many neurodivergent people live perfectly healthy lives with their differences. Requiring struggle to be neurodivergent is wrong. To use your analogy, you’re saying only poor people can be considered black. Success or failure has little to do with being neurodivergent, just correlations.
I’ve gotta say I don’t think it’s wise to diagnose people like this. Diagnostic categories are imperfect, heavily influenced by social norms and prejudices, and used to categorize and control people just as often as they are used to help people get needed treatment. Trump is a bad person. We know that without a doubt. I think trying to label it as an illness, or debating if a certain condition is or is not responsible for his behavior, misses the point (and kinda ignores how the dsm’s very messy model of mental illness categories functions in practice.) Some people suck, no clinical explanation needed. Diagnosis is for when you are alone with a therapist trying to figure out what you need. It shouldn’t be a shorthand for making inferences about strangers, or papering over abusive behavior. Diagnoses are socially determined and have a history of being weaponized against people who, say, have not serially sexually assaulted anyone or tried to do a coup. The guy is a bad duded who also loves attention, that’s all. I think it’s better for everyone if we don’t try to medicalize it, because people who have been through the medical diagnosis machine are (often seriously) harmed when evil monsters become what most people automatically think of when they hear about p ‘mental illness’. Trump is just a horrible person. That’s all. He knows what he’s doing and he’s responsible for it.
You’re right that neurodivergence in general doesn’t require disability, but NPD specifically does. If you wanted to claim he has autism, your argument he’s a perfectly functional person would hold water, though it would be an equally silly thing to argue. But you’re arguing he has NPD, which is associated with significant psychosocial impairment typically impacting career, friendships, romance, family, and general social status. Trump is demonstrably very socially gifted and does not struggle with being accepted by society or the people around him. You’re talking as though he overcame tremendous adversity to become president, but that’s not true. The deck was stacked in his favour from the start!
There’s many leaders through history who are assumed to have NPD, including business leaders. It’s a “disability” that allows for one to have no issue manipulating others. It can be very beneficial if you don’t care about personal relations and only care about gaining power and influence.
Power and influence within society ARE personal relations. People with NPD are socially disabled, they can’t compete with neurotypicals on an even playing field when it comes to the sorts of skills that win elections. There’s no such thing as a disability that makes people better at socialising, that’s a myth. Doctors diagnose problems, they don’t diagnose “being great at stuff”.
The point of the diagnostic process in medicine is to identify people who need medical treatment, not to identify bad people. Donald Trump isn’t a n*rcissist, because he’s simply a bad person. He does not have any illness that society bears responsibility for treating, except for cholesterol. Neurodivergent people deserve reasonable accommodations from society so that they can live a good life with their disability. Trump does not deserve any accommodations at all, because he’s not disabled. He’s not ill. He’s an evil, privileged, highly abled neurotypical. As a neurodivergent person, I’m deeply offended whenever someone denies that the reactionaries who hate us are privileged. Donald Trump is privileged. He is not a member of a disabled minority. What you are saying is as offensive as claiming that his spray tan makes him black.
How are you so sure he’s not a narcissist? He seems to fit many of the indicators. They also tend to be very good at exploiting people to gain power, which Trump has done frequently. If you think it’s offensive to entertain the idea that he’s a narcissist, I think you may be trying to exclude him from a group you identify with for bad reasons. He deserves no accommodation because he’s a privileged asshole, like you said, but that doesn’t also mean he isn’t a narcissist. He’s just shown no interest in solving this “issue” because it benefits him.
Many neurodivergent people live perfectly healthy lives with their differences. Requiring struggle to be neurodivergent is wrong. To use your analogy, you’re saying only poor people can be considered black. Success or failure has little to do with being neurodivergent, just correlations.
I’ve gotta say I don’t think it’s wise to diagnose people like this. Diagnostic categories are imperfect, heavily influenced by social norms and prejudices, and used to categorize and control people just as often as they are used to help people get needed treatment. Trump is a bad person. We know that without a doubt. I think trying to label it as an illness, or debating if a certain condition is or is not responsible for his behavior, misses the point (and kinda ignores how the dsm’s very messy model of mental illness categories functions in practice.) Some people suck, no clinical explanation needed. Diagnosis is for when you are alone with a therapist trying to figure out what you need. It shouldn’t be a shorthand for making inferences about strangers, or papering over abusive behavior. Diagnoses are socially determined and have a history of being weaponized against people who, say, have not serially sexually assaulted anyone or tried to do a coup. The guy is a bad duded who also loves attention, that’s all. I think it’s better for everyone if we don’t try to medicalize it, because people who have been through the medical diagnosis machine are (often seriously) harmed when evil monsters become what most people automatically think of when they hear about p ‘mental illness’. Trump is just a horrible person. That’s all. He knows what he’s doing and he’s responsible for it.
You’re right that neurodivergence in general doesn’t require disability, but NPD specifically does. If you wanted to claim he has autism, your argument he’s a perfectly functional person would hold water, though it would be an equally silly thing to argue. But you’re arguing he has NPD, which is associated with significant psychosocial impairment typically impacting career, friendships, romance, family, and general social status. Trump is demonstrably very socially gifted and does not struggle with being accepted by society or the people around him. You’re talking as though he overcame tremendous adversity to become president, but that’s not true. The deck was stacked in his favour from the start!
There’s many leaders through history who are assumed to have NPD, including business leaders. It’s a “disability” that allows for one to have no issue manipulating others. It can be very beneficial if you don’t care about personal relations and only care about gaining power and influence.
Power and influence within society ARE personal relations. People with NPD are socially disabled, they can’t compete with neurotypicals on an even playing field when it comes to the sorts of skills that win elections. There’s no such thing as a disability that makes people better at socialising, that’s a myth. Doctors diagnose problems, they don’t diagnose “being great at stuff”.