title:  American Psychoanalytic Association Gives Members Permission To Diagnose Trump’s Mental Health
text: Mental health professionals will now be allowed to openly diagnose Donald Trump.For the first time since 1973, a rule that prevents mental health professionals from publicly giving their expert opinion on the mental health of a public figure will no longer be enforced by the American Psychoanalytical Association.The rule was put in place after Barry Goldwater sued Fact Magazine for publishing a poll in which a majority of psychiatrists declared him mentally unfit to be president. Goldwater would go on to lose the presidential election of 1964.But ever since Trump declared his candidacy and began saying and doing insane things in public, many psychiatrists have openly defied the rule in order to inform Americans on his mental state.Fox News pundit Charles Krauthammer, who is also a board-certified psychiatrist, wrote a brutal diagnose of Trump s mental health last August. Trump s hypersensitivity and unedited, untempered Pavlovian responses are, shall we say, unusual in both ferocity and predictability. This is beyond narcissism. I used to think Trump was an 11-year-old, an undeveloped schoolyard bully. I was off by about 10 years. His needs are more primitive, an infantile hunger for approval and praise, a craving that can never be satisfied. He lives in a cocoon of solipsism where the world outside himself has value   indeed exists   only insofar as it sustains and inflates him. In addition, Dr. Drew Pinsky also expressed concerns about Trump s mental health. The question, though, is, are some of the reckless qualities that everyone is getting so disturbed about on the campaign going to be translated into office should he get elected? That s a pretty hard thing to predict. I don t know if this is just somebody playing politics, or is this somebody who really can t contain their impulses? When I hear people that are impulsive with their speech, I worry about hypomania and bipolar types of conditions. At the time, psychiatrists were warned to avoid diagnosing Trump without personally examining him first. But that has all changed.Six months into Trump s presidency, the American Psychoanalytical Association has given permission to their 3,500 members to do just that.And you can bet Trump s head is going to explode.Former APA president Dr. Prudence Gourguechon explained the decision to STAT News. We don t want to prohibit our members from using their knowledge responsibly since Trump s behavior is so different from anything we ve seen before,  Dr. Gouguechon said.Indeed, Americans need this knowledge now more than ever before as Trump continues to lash out at anyone who criticizes him and is even starting to throw members of his own administration under the bus. His emotions and behavior are so unpredictable that it is understandable that people would worry, especially considering that Trump has access to nuclear weapons.It s time for Americans and Congress to demand Trump undergo a mental health exam by a board-certified psychiatrist. Furthermore, it s time to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare Trump unfit to serve. This insanity has gone on long enough. America cannot continue to be led by an unstable narcissist. It s time to make America sane again.Featured image via Ralph Freso/Getty Images