The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump

37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President - Updated and Expanded with New Essays

By: Bandy X. Lee MD - editor

Narrated by: William Dufris, Hillary Huber, Alex Hyde-White, P.J. Ochlan, full cast

Length: 17 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

As this best seller predicted, Trump has only grown more erratic and dangerous as the pressures on him mount. This new edition includes new essays bringing the audiobook up to date - because this is still not normal.

Originally released in fall 2017, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump was a runaway best seller. Alarmed Americans and international onlookers wanted to know: What is wrong with him?

That question still plagues us. The Trump administration has proven as chaotic and destructive as its opponents feared, and the man at the center of it all remains a cipher.

Constrained by the APA’s “Goldwater rule”, which inhibits mental health professionals from diagnosing public figures they have not personally examined, many of those qualified to weigh in on the issue have shied away from discussing it at all. The public has thus been left to wonder whether he is mad, bad, or both.

The prestigious mental health experts who have contributed to the revised and updated version of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump argue that their moral and civic "duty to warn" supersedes professional neutrality. Whatever affects him affects the nation: From the trauma people have experienced under the Trump administration to the cultlike characteristics of his followers, he has created unprecedented mental health consequences across our nation and beyond. With eight new essays, this edition will cover the dangerous ramifications of Trump's unnatural state.

It’s not all in our heads. It’s in his.

This program is read by Alex Hyde-White, William Dufris, Hillary Huber, Rosa Maria Bramble, Nanette Gartrell, Leonard L. Glass, Prudence Gourguechon, Luba Kessler, Bandy X. Lee, James R. Merikangas, Elizabeth Mika, P. J. Ochlan, Richard Painter, Jennifer Contarino Panning, Thomas Singer, Steven Soldz, Rosemary Sword, Michael J. Tansey, Betty P. Teng, Lise Van Susteren, Kevin Washington, and Steve Wruble.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2017, 2019 Bandy X. Lee (P)2017, 2019 Macmillan Audio

A must read for every American!

It was fascinating and very educational to see how the various therapists looked at the same problem. I can't remember everything I heard but I certainly got the gist - Donald J Trump is dangerous!

Scary, uh yeah!

What to say really....”Damned if you do, damned if you don’t comes to mind.”
Is it so difficult to understand those who will say this Audible book is just another attempt at dividing our nation? Is it so difficult to understand those who will say this Audible book is a powerful call to the American people’s to pull their heads out of the sand and heed the warnings? Well yes to both questions.

I believe that the people who elected this president and continue to support him will do so no matter what he does. As Trump said himself, “I could shoot someone in the streets in New York and still not lose support.” (Paraphrased) it seems for now, he was correct.
Can or will rational thinking adults even listen to this book with an open mind? Or perhaps linking rational thinking with Trump supporters is a stretch. I don’t think it is entirely because many were and still are my friends. It’s given new meaning to my allegiance however to understand and accept friends who I now know think so differently from me.
Is it unreasonable to ask, indeed require the president to undergo rigorous psychiatric evaluation. Police officers have to have evaluations before the hiring process because you will be carrying a weapon and have authority to temporarily take away someone’s freedom. Yes, there are flaws in as much as we know there are police officers who somehow slipped through, but the important difference is that we (I am a retired law enforcement officer), don’t have the nuclear arsenals at our disposal should we have a severe psychotic moment(s). Same goes for military intelligence personnel and many other employees in high risk positions.

We can only hope that the instability of this president that is so obvious to millions of people yet somehow disbelieving of millions others, will not have to take us to the precipice of a nuclear holocaust before we finally agree on “The Dangerous Case of Donald J. Trump”

A Scary ride into the mind of Trump

All of these 27 psychiatric professionals paint a pretty grim picture of our future under a lying, cheating, racist, tyrannical narcissist POTUS! It truly is scary. I hope we can make changes in our laws to stop this kind of crazy from holding the highest office on the land in the future, or we will all be under dictator rule!!!!

Crazy!

Perfect lay out of danger posed by Trump drawn from credible information to portray a sad story in our nations history.

Are you kidding?

This is a must read. Whoever said 'disappointing' is not open to the obvious. Everyone is passing this book on to friends and family. A must read.

Eye Opening

This book could be subtitled "Anatomy of a Loser," but that would be cruel. Highly recommended reading.

Crucial Information for Every American

Everyone needs to listen to this fascinating series of essays! Those of us who have been appalled by observing Trump's crazy behavior during the presidential campaign and since his election are aware of the bizarre and frightening aspects of his personality. This book not only confirms what we know, but also gives us the professional perspective we need to articulate our concerns. Individual essays address his malignant narcissism, sociopathy, pathological lying, delusions of grandeur, etc. For those of us who have had great difficulty in adjusting to life in the Trump era, I can't recommend this book highly enough. We are not wrong and we are not alone!

Required Reading for Citizens

This book is essentially preaching to the choir, but it is an excellent, restrained, intelligent but urgent message lest we fall into complacency or denial of the current precarious state we find ourselves in. I learned a lot. I now understand my biggest mystery--why the supporters fervently support such madness and irresponsibility.

The Truth

Here's a great way to learn about the unfortunate truth of the occupant of the US Presidency.

Eye Opening

As someone with a psych background this was insightful and well written. I wish it was mandatory reading for anyone of age of voting in both the USA and abroad.

For those who've studied Psychology in any serious way, this is a great education on our sometimes conflicting duties and ethical dilemmas. It's great practice to help you determine where your line is drawn so you won't have to figure that out should the time ever come for you to take a stand.

Many people who are hateful of others who do not share their beliefs or preferences will rate this book negatively - by now we should all be aware of this phenomenon and take it with a grain of salt.

For those who do not hold formal education in psychology, some of the essays may seem redundant or meaningless, but it's not for those within the field. However, know that this is not a diagnosis of an individual - as explained no person not in a client-therapist role can determine with 100% certainty an exact diagnosis and the ethical contract would prevent them from sharing this even if they were in such a relationship anyway except in very few circumstances.

However risk assessment and exploration of potentialities... Well that's what we in psychology are well trained for. Giving a professional opinion and writing essays on said opinions and how one got there is what this book is about.

When it first came out those involved were attempted to be silenced by strong armed otherwise respected individuals in the field. They persisted and the consensus grew (Streisand effect). It initially was less than 30 essays. Now it's up to 37. There's a growing community of mental health and social workers who have seen the risk from the get go and frankly the risk applies to all countries with a growing population of hate groups and emboldened nationalist ideologies. Regardless of the overarching regulatory bodies we're taught to respect and not question - these are comprised of humans afterall and any person on power in a hierarchy should be held to account on legitimatizing their continued occupation in such a role. That's the reciprocal nature of respect and prestige - neither are a once earned forever attained constant variable. At least they shouldn't be.

We all have a lot of work to do to overcome this vs watching our communities disintegrate. This book is more on the reasons why and how this occurs via case example of an individual leader and their effects on others but also how this leader was given power in this role in the first place.

There's other texts on analysis and solutions available for what we need to do now. But this may be the motivation for resiliency in facing such obstacles in the weeks and years to come.