Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President [Hardcover]

Justin A. Frank (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 15, 2004

In Bush on the Couch, Dr. Justin A. Frank, a Washington, D.C.?based psychoanalyst and professor of psychiatry, assembles a comprehensive psychological profile of President Bush. Using the principles of applied psychoanalysis - the discipline of psychoanalyzing public and historical figures pioneered by Freud -- Frank builds his case, reaching controversial conclusions. Through a close analysis of Bush's public statements and behaviour, as well as the historical record provided by journalists, biographers, and those who have known the president well, Frank traces the development of Bush's character from childhood to the present day. Examining closely the role of the president's parents, he finds in Bush's childhood the roots of a dramatic psychic split that remains a dominant influence on his adult worldview. Frank argues that this split has inevitably hampered Bush's ability to manage his emotions, charging his psyche with restless anxiety, and conditioning him to view the world in the black-and-white terms that have so evidently shaped his administration.

Editorial Reviews

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. But Frank’s attempts to translate psychoanalysis into political analysis are unconvincing. Indeed, if Bush’s reneging on campaign promises is a form of clinical "sadism," and his budget deficits an "unconscious attack on his own parents," then Karl Rove, the Cabinet, and both houses of Congress belong in group therapy with him.
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About the Author

Justin A. Frank, M.D., is a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at George Washington University Medical Center. Since 1980 he has been a teaching analyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. He is past president of the Greater Washington Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Dr. Frank lives and practices psychoanalysis in Washington, D.C.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper; First Edition edition (June 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060736704
• ISBN-13: 978-0060736705
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (136 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #960,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #77 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Propaganda & Political Psychology

More About the Author

Justin Frank M.D. is a highly regarded psychoanalyst and teacher. A clinician with more than thirty year's experience, Dr. Frank used the principles of applied psychoanalysis to assemble a comprehensive psychological profile of President George W. Bush in his 2004 New York Times bestselling book Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President (HarperCollins). His newest book, Obama on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President is being published by Free Press/Simon & Schuster on October 18, 2011.

Dr. Frank currently writes a biweekly column for Time.com. He also contributes to HuffingtonPost.com, DailyBeast.com and Salon.com, and is a frequent writer and speaker on topics as diverse as politics, film, and theater. He is Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at George Washington University Medical Center, and the co-director of the Metropolitan Center for Object Relations in New York.

Dr. Frank did his psychiatric residency at Harvard Medical School and was chief resident at the Cambridge Hospital. He was also awarded the DuPont-Warren Fellowship by Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Frank lives in Washington DC.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

692 of 755 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars We are in BIG trouble. June 28, 2004

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I'm 56, a grown woman descended from a long line of Republicans, including a
multi-term Republican State Senator.

Actually I had voted for a Republican candidate in every
Presidential election since I was 21 years old.

But when George W. Bush was running for President I saw a History Channel
documentary during which one of "W"'s oldest friends was being interviewed. The man
merrily related an anecdote he considered hugely amusing...

To make a long story short, although former First Lady Barbara Bush had
suggested to her new daughter-in-law Laura that it would be unwise to ever
criticize "W", Laura Bush made the mistake of doing just that.

Once.

It was during the period of time when Bush was newly entering politics. He gave
a speech that Laura had listened to very carefully.

Driving home from the political rally, George asked his young wife how she
thought he did.

She told him honestly that she didn't think he had done as well as he might
have.

The friend relating the story laughed that Bush was so furious at Laura's criticism
that he drove clean through his back garage wall and right out the other side
of the building.

The friend of George Bush who related the story thought it absolutely hilarious.

I didn't find it the least bit funny.

What I did think, was that it suggested a major character flaw and a horrifying
lack of self control.

And I found the very idea of that kind of flaw in a Presidential candidate to
be very unsettling.

And the idea of a violent, uncontrolled response to nothing more than a minor
criticism left me extremely uncomfortable with the idea of having George W.
Bush at the helm of this country....

So although I HAD voted for his father, for the first time in my life I chose
NOT to vote Republican when George W. Bush ran for President.

Actually, the more I saw of George W. Bush in the years AFTER he assumed the
Presidency, the MORE uncomfortable I became.

And after 9/11, and the invasion of Iraq. one thought kept resurfacing....."This whole scenario just
doesn't FEEL right".

I received an email from an old friend which mentioned a book by Dr. Justin A. Frank, a Washington, D.C.-based psychoanalyst and professor of psychiatry.

In his book, "Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President", Frank wrote, "....when the most powerful man on the planet consistently exhibits an array of multiple, serious, and untreated symptoms -- any one of which I've seen patients need years to work through -- it's certainly cause for further investigation, if not for outright alarm".

Clearly I wasn't the only one with the feeling that something is just not quite right.

Saturday, out of curiosity, I went to see Michael Moore's documentary
"Farenheit 9/11".

Personally, I don't particularly care for Michael Moore.
But to give credit where credit is due, he does do his homework.

And I was curious. So I went.

By about halfway through the movie, the entire audience had become deathly
silent.

You could have heard a pin drop in that theatre.

So this is my take on the movie.

It doesn't matter whether you're a Democrat or a Republican.
It also doesn't matter whether you're a Christian, a Jew, a Buddhist, a Muslim,
an Athiest or an Agnostic.

Do yourself a favor and leave your political and religious affiliations at
home.

Walk in the theatre door as simply an average American citizen.

I believe that you will emerge every bit as shaken as each and every person in
that theatre did Saturday afternoon.

Do you consider yourself a reasonably intelligent human being?.

Presented with fair and unbiased information, do you think you can analyze a
situation and draw your own conclusions?.

Occasional sardonic movie commentary from Moore aside, there's MORE than enough
fair and unbiased historical video in that film to scare the living hell out of

ALL of us.

Because much of what you're going to see has been edited out of our evening
news.

You're also going to see candid interviews with our duly elected officials.
From BOTH political parties.

Read the book. Go see the documentary. Make your own decision.

My humble opinion? Man, we are in BIG trouble. Read more ›

103 of 108 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fool me twice... Can't get fooled again March 29, 2006

By Edwin C. Pauzer VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Without a personal interview, I believe all a psychiatrist can tell about a subject, in most cases, is whether he is alive or dead. But then, there's George Bush. While the author spoke in paradigms I did not understand or accept, he brought up some interesting events and behaviors in the life of George Bush that literally crawl with clues:

The loss of his sister, and not being told she died until after the fact. (Guilt?)

Putting firecrackers up the behinds of bull frogs and lighting the firecracker. (Psychopathic?)

His temper tantrums on the golf course. (Infantile? Can't get his own way.)

Following his mother's advice not to use the same word over and over, he gets a Thesaurus to find another word for tears. He adds to his essay, "The lacerates came streaming down her face." (Learning disability?)

Telling a college professor that the poor are lazy, and wish to remain that way. (Limited thought processes?)

As governor he presided over more executions, more than any other in the state's history. One was a woman who had been domestically abused by her husband for eighteen years. Even prominent religious leaders pleaded on her behalf. George let her die. (Again, psychopathic?)

As governor he received another plea from a murderer to have her execution stayed. He play-acted a woman pleading for her life, to a stunned (conservative) commentator named Tucker Carlson. (Again, really psychopathic?)

His rather simple and linear thinking. Responding to the question why terrorists hate us, he said, "They hate our freedoms." (Inability to think in complex abstracts?)

George cannot read the line: ".... shame on me." The type was quite clear. His inability to admit a mistake.... George Bush has still failed to admit any major mistake since he took office. (Rigid?)

George has trouble speaking English properly. "Is our children learning?" (Again, learning disability?)

He blames others for what goes wrong, particularly the media. (Projects his limitations onto others?)

He has not attended any funerals for servicemen or women killed in action. (Inability to feel compassion?)

Arrested for vagrancy and drunk driving. (Alcoholism?)

Holds a basic belief that he is superior to others, that his position is a birthright. (Narcisstic?)

Trying to emulate Daddy at every level and failing. Daddy: youngest pilot in the Navy; George: lowest score accepted for pilot training (25th percentile) in the Air National Guard; Daddy: Yale; George: Yale; Daddy: baseball team; George: Cheerleader; Daddy: Oilman; George: Starts Arbusto Drilling. Texans soon call it El Busto. (A need to gain parental approval?)

The author doesn't imply that George Bush may be sociopathic, but it is there for anyone who wishes to infer it.

Finally, the most powerful man in the world is on vacation, on his home turf, surrounded by secret service, family and friends, and appears afraid to meet with Cindy Sheehan, especially considering that he could have put any spin on the meeting he would have chose to. (Cowardice?)

Doesn't this author make you wonder? Does Bush really have the capacity to lead the country, and does he really give a damn about Americans? Read more ›

71 of 74 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hits the nail on the head February 4, 2006

By Kelly

Format:Hardcover

Having been a psych RN for years, I think Dr. Frank has hit the nail on the head with his analysis of Bush's behaviors and actions. For the record, he rarely mentions that Bush is a Republican (and when he does, it's usually in a situational reference to his being the Republican candidate running against the Democratic candidate), he doesn't say that all Republicans are like this, and he doesn't say that the reason Bush does and says these things is because he's a Republican. This is not a political book that way.

Instead, he focuses on one human being's very public behaviors. He has a lot of insight into the motivations of this president based on an extensive review of an enormous amount of factual information--including autobiographies of members of the Bush family, as well as everything Bush has said or done in public. For example, incidents during his childhood which were written about in his parents' autobiographies could have come up in a session. Instead, Dr. Frank was able to read about them. He also looks at situations Bush has faced during his political career, and explains that how he handled those challenges gives us a glimpse into his character and motivations.

I think it's interesting that Bush supporters criticize Dr. Frank for analyzing Bush based on the mountain of PUBLIC behaviors and statements that come right from the horse's mouth, despite not having spoken with him personally. If no one could ever be judged by their words and actions, why do we know in our hearts that "actions speak louder than words"?