Joining up the dots shows the true depths of Trump’s dangerous narcissistic pathology

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Ian | disorderedworld

There has only been one headline worth printing since Donald Trump was elected president. That headline is “Donald Trump suffers from a dangerous incurable narcissistic disorder which makes him incapable of empathy and reason. He is a grave danger to the US and the world.”

Instead of stating this disturbing fact, the evidence for which is voluminous, the mainstream media have over the last three years led America down the rabbit holes of normalising him and trying to understand him as you would a psychologically healthy human being. But Donald Trump is not a psychologically healthy human being and reporting on him as if he were, empowers him and disempowers people of reason. Acknowledging his pathology is fundamental to reversing this imbalance. Continue reading here.

Dangerous Case

Impeachment as a struggle to save democracy — from the pathological cult of Donald Trump

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Ian | disorderedworld

There are many different ways to view the Trump impeachment process, but perhaps the most important, if least recognized one is to view it as a part of struggle to preserve American democracy from destruction at the hands of predatory individuals utterly lacking in conscience.

Paul Rosenberg has written a must read article that makes sense of Trump’s angry narcissistic fog, the Republican Party’s capture by Trump ideologues, and why Trump’s core supporters are willing to accept authoritarianism over democracy. Read on here.

Disordered Minds - Ian Hughes

Three reasons why we need to talk about the mental health of political leaders

Posted on November 9, 2019 by Ian | disorderedworld

As the impeachment investigation and its fallout continues, Trump’s mental health is now receiving increased attention. Discussing the mental health of political leaders, however, remains deeply controversial. Still, as I’ve argued in Disordered Minds, there are compelling arguments for why we must talk about the mental health of political leaders. Read more in my most recent article for The Conversation here.

photo credit: Spencer Means The Carlottesville Terrorist via photopin (license)

Disordered Minds: Politics and Psychopaths discussed on Legalise Freedom podcast

Posted on July 8, 2019 by Ian | disorderedworld

Legalise Freedom radio online is hosted by independent UK writer and journalist Greg Moffitt and features interviews with some of the World’s foremost alternative thinkers and researchers. I am delighted to have had the chance to discuss the ideas in my book Disordered Minds with Greg. You can listen to our discussion here

photo credit: Mosa’aberising via photopin cc

The chaos of Trump and Brexit shows that democracy is not simply majority rule

Posted on May 18, 2019 by Ian | disorderedworld

Anger at neoliberalism’s broken promises has morphed on both sides of the Atlantic into vilification of immigrants and, in the hands of Donald Trump, into an almost daily display of hatred towards the poor. In both the US and UK, political leaders have emerged to scapegoat minorities as the cause of society’s ills and legitimise their truncated vision of democracy as majority rule as the solution.

This article on Euronews Vision warns that when, as Oscar Wilde warned, democracy comes to mean the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people, the worst is yet to come.

Entrepreneurs of hate

Posted on November 2, 2018 by Ian | disorderedworld

Is it possible to transform politics around values such as empathy, solidarity and love? Many progressive commentators think so, and have laid out different plans to put these ideas into practice. But empathy and love seem in short supply in the actuality of politics today, crowded out by hate and intolerance. In one society after another fear-mongering proceeds apace against poor people, immigrants, minorities and anyone else who is not part of the dominant group.

This article first appeared on Open Democracy Transformation.

Continue reading →

Disordered Minds: How Dangerous Personalities Are Destroying Democracy is published!

Posted on September 30, 2018 by Ian | disorderedworld

Irish author and scientist Ian Hughes talks about his new book Disordered Minds: How Dangerous Personalities Are Destroying Democracy which focuses on how a small proportion of people with dangerous personality disorders are responsible for much of the violence and greed that scars our world, with clinical psychologist Paul D’Alton .

Reviews:

Ian Hughes’ book Disordered Minds is essential reading in the era of Donald Trump. ~ Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University

Ian Hughes adds new scientific insight to one of the deepest conundrums of politics: that positions of power appeal to the narcissistic, paranoid psychopaths among us, with catastrophic results for humanity. ~ Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and the author of The Better Angels of Our Nature and Enlightenment Now.

Read this exceptionally fine and accessible work of scholarship and make it your business to keep these disordered minds from disordering our universe. – Mary McAleese, Former President of Ireland