Book Review of
Psychologically Sound by Sheldon Roth
Jim Hutt, June 2020
If you are a Trump supporter, you will love the book. If you are not, your money is better spent elsewhere. And don’t squander your time reading this review, unless you’re a glutton for accuracy.
This book is really nothing more than a short biography of Trump, his family, and the circle of past and present people around him. I was hoping Dr. Roth would give us a book as impressive as his resumé, but no, he doesn’t even attempt, let alone approximate that. What the reader is left with is a disjointed manuscript filled with pseudo-analysis.
Beginning with the title of the book, Dr. Roth’s goal is evident: pronounce Donald Trump psychologically sound irrespective of any contrary evidence. I guess we are supposed to take his word for it, because between the covers of the book he presents no real evidence to back his assertion.
The book is filled with quotes from Trump supporters, which is understandable to some extent. At the very least, however, Dr. Roth’s background and training suggest that he could have attempted a modicum of objectivity. Instead, he went looking for, and naturally found, data which supported his hypothesis. It leaves him looking like more like an unskilled researcher than the seasoned clinician he was.
Dr. Roth knows it’s a clinical fool’s errand to diagnose an individual who has not been interviewed. So it also is for pronouncing that same person psychologically sound with no interview. But that is what Dr. Roth did. In the instance of POTUS Trump, at a minimum it is reasonable to question his mental soundness, particularly in light of Trump’s aggressive behavior as a youth, and his egregious comportment in his business, personal and presidential matters.
Ironically, toward the end of the book Dr. Roth provided several examples of Trump’s pathological behavior. Apparently, that stuff constitutes a boys-will-boys explanation of a psychologically sound Trump. I disagree.
Dr. Roth referred to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) in the book as if it is a manual of psychopathology, and claimed Mr. Trump fits no diagnostic category. Surely Dr. Roth knows the DSM is used strictly for insurance reimbursement purposes and has virtually no connection to psychopathology.
Dr. Roth quotes Dr. Allen Frances, whom he says is the author of the DSM. (Dr. Allen makes the same claim). In truth, Dr. Frances was chair of the DSM committee. It is misleading at best, and intellectually dishonest at worst for either of them to claim Dr. Frances as sole author.
Perhaps the most glaring inaccuracies of the book come in the form of naive proclamations about Trump’s displays of loyalty, love and empathy. Dr. Roth describes Trump’s mention of “Rosebud,” from Citizen Kane. Dr. Roth would have us believe that is evidence of Trump’s empathy.
Dr. Roth is just plain wrong about that. In no way does Trump empathize with Kane: he identifies with him. That is a huge distinction. Both Trump and Kane rage at having been whisked away from their respective families to boarding school with no warning. The sad outcome for them both is respective lives devoid of meaningfully deep, healthy, mutually inter-dependent intimate attachments.
Nevertheless, Dr. Roth is convinced Trump is loving because he allegedly values loyalty. Love and loyalty are distinct elements of many complex dynamics. In fact, the book is replete with examples of Trump’s non-reciprocal demand for what Trump says is loyalty. But it is not loyalty: it is compliance. He demands compliance from others at the expense of their integrity. When they refuse to compromise their integrity, he discards them as objects no longer useful.
Loyalty is typically punctuated with a commensurate degree of intimate reciprocity. For example, one hallmark of loyalty is telling a painful truth to someone you love, in spite of how hard your message may be to hear, and being valued by the recipient for caring enough to give a message that can be used for personal growth or betterment.
Trump’s anthem to would-be-loyal-intimates is clear—if you tell me what I don’t like hearing--if you don’t comply, I deem you disloyal—if you are not loyal, you don’t love me--I’m done with you. In other words, comply, or you’re outta here. That has absolutely nothing to do with loyalty and love, and everything to do with narcissistic entitlement.
Two of his three wives learned that in spades. As Trump himself has said: “There is high maintenance. There is low maintenance. I want no maintenance.” In other words, you must always be here for me, but I never have to be here for you. Love? No, that is narcissism. If it makes the reader feel better, consider my use of the word as a descriptor, not a diagnosis. It doesn’t make it any less true.
I could go on and on, as I’ve barely scratched the surface. But, you get the point.
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