A Manhattan psychotherapist is confirming what conservatives have warned about for years: Trump Derangement Syndrome is real, it’s spreading, and it’s shredding the mental health of millions of Americans who can’t emotionally cope with the existence of Donald Trump.
During an interview on “The Faulkner Focus,” Jonathan Alpert, a well-known psychotherapist who practices in New York and Washington and writes for the Wall Street Journal, revealed that three-quarters of his patients are now suffering from what can only be described as a political obsession so unhinged it borders on clinical impairment.
Alpert explained that within five minutes of a session, many patients launch into rants about Trump. Not policy issues. Not debate. Pure emotional meltdown.
Harris Faulkner:
Jonathan is in focus with me now. So, first of all, identify it for us. You’re in a session, and you pick up on what?Jonathan Alpert:
Well, Harris, it doesn’t take long for me to pick up on this. People are obsessed with Trump. They’re fixated — they’re hyper-fixated on Trump. And they talk about some of the features of this disorder: they can’t sleep, they feel traumatized by Mr. Trump, they feel restless. I had one patient who said she couldn’t enjoy a vacation because any time she saw Trump in the news or on her device, she felt triggered. So this is a profound pathology, and I would even go so far as to call it the defining pathology of our time.Harris Faulkner:
These people come to you for the things that you described — can’t sleep, traumatized, perhaps depression. I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but at first you are there to treat an illness, a disorder of some kind, and what you figure out is that’s the trigger.Jonathan Alpert:
Well, and Trump is the trigger for many of these people. To be that fixated on a figure — on a person — it’s simply not healthy. Our country has strayed so far away from where we once were. If you look at the ’80s, when President Reagan was shot, people were united. He famously said to the surgeons, “I hope you’re all Republicans.” The response was, “Today, Mr. President, we’re all Republicans.” But our country has lost that. We’ve strayed so far from that unity.Harris Faulkner:
What do you see? Because you told me off camera that three-quarters of your patient load right now has what you’re calling this TDS.Jonathan Alpert:
Well, three-quarters of my patients will present with a lot of these symptoms, and within probably five minutes of seeing me, their hatred for Trump comes up. So if you’re that hyper-focused on Trump, that’s an issue — and it’s worth being treated.
Hellbound and Down 