Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President (Hardcover)

by Justin A. Frank (Author) "Of course, this session never happened..." (more)
Key Phrases: untreated alcoholic, psychodynamic formulation, applied psychoanalysis, President Bush, Saddam Hussein, White House (more...)

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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Product Description
"I don't spend a lot of time trying to figure me out... I'm just not into psychobabble."
-- George W. Bush

For all his simplicity and affability, George W. Bush has remained, to paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill, "a mystery wrapped in an enigma." In Bush on the Couch, Dr. Justin A. Frank, a well-respected Washington, D.C.–based psychoanalyst and professor of psychiatry, unwraps that mystery, assembling 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 fearlessly builds his case ... and reaches conclusions that are at once highly persuasive and deeply disturbing.

Through a close analysis of Bush's public statements and behavior, 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 -- especially Barbara Bush, an acknowledged disciplinarian whose own insecurities may have prevented her from adequately nurturing her son -- Frank 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.

Among the other subjects Frank explores:

* Bush's false sense of omnipotence, instilled within him during childhood and emboldened by his deep investment in fundamentalist religion
* The president's history of untreated alcohol abuse, and the questions it raises about denial, impairment, and the enabling streak in our culture
* The growing anecdotal evidence that Bush may suffer from dyslexia, ADHD, and other thought disorders
* His comfort living outside the law, defying international law in his presidency as boldly as he once defied DUI statutes and military reporting requirements
* His love-hate relationship with his father, and how it triggered a complex and dangerous mix of feelings including yearning, rivalry, anger, and sadism
* Bush's rigid and simplistic thought patterns, paranoia, and megalomania -- and how they have driven him to invent adversaries so that he can destroy them

At once a compelling portrait of George W. Bush and a damning indictment of his policies, Bush on the Couch sheds startling new light on an administration whose record of violence and cruelty seems increasingly dependent on the unstable psyche of the man at its center. Insightful and accessible, courageous and controversial, Bush on the Couch tackles the question no one seems willing to ask: Is our president psychologically fit to run the country?

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper; First Edition, 4th Printing edition (June 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060736704
• ISBN-13: 978-0060736705
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (133 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #532,829 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

683 of 744 people found the following review helpful:

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

By A Customer

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.

67 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Kelly - See all my reviews

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"?

74 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent book. , October 23, 2005

By	Crinoline (Seneca, SC USA) - See all my reviews

The negative reviews of this book tend to pivot around one of the following dogmas:

1) Knee-jerk anti-Freudianism. I would recommend reading an actual book by Freud, rather than assuming you know about his theories because your favorite TV shows have off-handedly mentioned the Oedipus Complex. Furthermore, the many negative reviewers who associate Freud with liberalism are comically misinformed.

2) A misunderstanding of psychotherapy. Is it unethical to write a psychobiography of someone you haven't treated? Absolutely not. Freud wrote about Leonardo da Vinci, Moses, and others. The American Political Science Association has a "political psychology" caucus with scholars who write almost exclusively psychological biographies of political figures.

Attacks of either of these stripes are visceral defenses of Bush that pay little attention to the merits of Professor Frank's book.