We turn now to look at how a group of mental health experts are urging the examination of the Supreme Court nominee and stating he has, quote, "demonstrated a pattern that's consistent with someone struggling with an alcohol problem." In a letter, the mental health experts write of Kavanaugh's emotional and often explosively angry testimony last week, quote, "Judge Kavanaugh exhibited behavior that, if engaged in during his possible tenure as a Supreme Court Justice, would yield a dangerous combination of instability and power. At the hearing, Judge Kavanaugh manipulated and evaded direct and substantive responses, denigrated those who challenged him, and accused many of conspiring against him. All that behavior reflects an underlying belief that he is above norms and laws," unquote.
Well, for more, we're joined by the lead author of this letter, Dr. Bandy X. Lee. She's a forensic psychiatrist on the faculty of Yale School of Medicine, an internationally recognized expert on violence, the editor of the best-selling book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.
We'll get to the president in a minute, but you have issued this new letter around Judge Kavanaugh. Dr. Lee, explain what you observed, whether you have the right to observe from afar, not having analyzed him yourself personally, and what you're calling for.
DR. BANDY LEE: First of all, I would clarify that we're not diagnosing Judge Kavanaugh. And we don't purport to be able to make any assessment other than we can, other than calling for an evaluation, as we are doing, due to the troubling signs that we see.
The letter itself was actually written by a group of us in the National Coalition of Concerned Mental Health Experts. It's the same group that also called for an evaluation of the president.
Some of the troubling signs that we saw were poor regulation of emotion, evasion of questions, exaggerated entitlement - which actually makes someone more likely to be capable of violating others' rights. Other troubling signs that we've seen were paranoia, conspiracy theories and an inability to have empathy for others. Those were some of the signs that we feel, as mental health professionals—it is our duty to call out signs that are abnormal and signs that indicate possibly a troubling condition on the part of Mr. Kavanaugh.
AMY GOODMAN: How many people have signed onto this letter?
DR. BANDY LEE: So far, about 150 have signed on. Our group is actually quite large, several thousand in number, but it's often hard to get everyone mobilized within just a couple days. So, we issued the letter and sent it out to the FBI, to senators and to the media.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to Judge Brett Kavanaugh giving part of his opening statement last Thursday. Obviously, this was right after Dr. Blasey Ford, obviously enraged.
JUDGE BRETT KAVANAUGH: This whole 2-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons, and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups. This is a circus…
DR. BANDY LEE: Well, denial, deflection and annoyance at criticism about one's drinking are actually symptoms of alcohol use disorder. It comes with psychological signs, as well as the physiological dependence. And even just looking at him, there are signs such as rosacea or reddening of the central areas of his face. This does not mean that we can diagnose alcohol use disorder, but they certainly point to the possibility. Also, drinking that has begun at an early age and heavy drinking in one's youth makes one vulnerable to alcoholism later in life. So, it would be important to assess whether he suffers from it and whether it would affect his functioning…
DR. BANDY LEE: Yes. It's quite parallel to the concerns that we've had about the president. In fact, when the president was about to issue - or, nominate the Supreme Court nominee, we issued a letter to Senate and House members, expressing our concerns about the signs that the president was showing of, you know, a lack of a capacity to make important decisions. And so we actually thought that it was injudicious to allow him to nominate a Supreme Court nominee, as well as to make important trips such as the Helsinki meeting. And nothing really came of that. That was actually a different group, a group of prominent psychiatrists and myself. But in terms of the Duty to Warn, I know there's a group out there that took the name and call themselves Duty to Warn, but it came out of my conference, which I organized a year and a half ago…
DR. BANDY LEE: Well, denial, deflection and annoyance at criticism about one's drinking are actually symptoms of alcohol use disorder. It comes with psychological signs, as well as the physiological dependence. And even just looking at him, there are signs such as rosacea or reddening of the central areas of his face. This does not mean that we can diagnose alcohol use disorder, but they certainly point to the possibility. Also, drinking that has begun at an early age and heavy drinking in one's youth makes one vulnerable to alcoholism later in life. So, it would be important to assess whether he suffers from it and whether it would affect his functioning…
DR. BANDY LEE: Yes. It's quite parallel to the concerns that we've had about the president. In fact, when the president was about to issue - or, nominate the Supreme Court nominee, we issued a letter to Senate and House members, expressing our concerns about the signs that the president was showing of, you know, a lack of a capacity to make important decisions. And so we actually thought that it was injudicious to allow him to nominate a Supreme Court nominee, as well as to make important trips such as the Helsinki meeting. And nothing really came of that. That was actually a different group, a group of prominent psychiatrists and myself. But in terms of the Duty to Warn, I know there's a group out there that took the name and call themselves Duty to Warn, but it came out of my conference, which I organized a year and a half ago…
Some of the troubling signs that we saw were poor regulation of emotion, evasion of questions, exaggerated entitlement -which actually makes someone more likely to be capable of violating others' rights. Other troubling signs that we've seen were paranoia, conspiracy theories and an inability to have empathy for others. Those were some of the signs that we feel, as mental health professionals - it is our duty to call out signs that are abnormal and signs that indicate possibly a troubling condition on the part of Mr. Kavanaugh.
No comments:
Post a Comment