Bush on the Couch Rev Ed: Inside the Mind of the President | 
 enlarge | Author: Justin A. Frank
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 75606
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 006143065X
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.931092
EAN: 9780061430657
ASIN: 006143065X
Publication Date: November 1, 2007
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Product Description
With the Bush administration in permanent crisis, a renowned Washington psychoanalyst updates his portrait of George W.'s public persona—and how it has damaged the presidency. Insightful and accessible, courageous and controversial, Bush on the Couch sheds startling new light on George W. Bush's psyche and its impact on the way he governs, tackling head-on the question few seem willing to ask: Is our president psychologically fit to run the country? With an eye for the subtleties of human behavior sharpened by thirty years of clinical practice, Dr. Justin A. Frank traces the development of Bush's character from childhood through his presidency, identifying and analyzing his patterns of thought, action, and communication. The result is a troubling portrait filled with important revelations about our nation's leader—including disturbing new insights into: - How Bush reacted to the 2006 Democratic sweep in Congress with a new surge of troops into Iraq
- His telling habits and coping strategies—from his persistent mangling of English to his tendency to "go blank" in the midst of crisis
- The tearful public breakdown of his father, George H. W. Bush, and what it says about the former president's relationship to his prominent sons
- The debacle of Katrina—the moment when Bush's arrogance finally failed him
With a new introduction and afterword, Bush on the Couch offers the most thorough and candid portrait to date of arguably the most psychologically damaged president since Nixon.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 ADHD: The Elephant in the Room of Our Culture (and President) October 6, 2008
I read the first edition when it came out, so my memory is a bit foggy. But I recall it being a more heavily swayed by the psychoanalytic side, which is always highly subjective than the neurobiological. Moreover, psychodynamic theory too often misses the genetic inheritance; that is, that the child has most likely inherited his or her mental illness from one or both parents. For example, if the mother is narcissistic, did her behavior make the child narcissistic or did the child inherit the neurogenetic tendency to be narcissistic? After all, low empathy is a function of the brain; and narcissism is associated with low empathy.
But reading this revised edition, I see that the author more extensively and authoritatively documents his suggestion that Bush has Adult AD/HD. In fact, he does an astounding job linking untreated ADHD symptoms with Bush's lifelong patterns. For that reason alone, this book should be at the top of the bestseller list. Because while Bob Woodward's book excellently records the facts, what's missing in his account is the WHY.
There is so much befuddlement among all the pundits about why Bush has done the things he's done, and this is the book that explains much of it, for people who want to really know. The irony is, too many in the "liberal media" are as anti-science as some of the people they criticize in their writing. But if you're going to argue for evolution, you should argue for science as it affects the brain, too.
PLEASE keep in mind that ADHD has many different manifestations. It is a syndrome. There is no one-size-fits-all descriptions for ADHD, and most people ADHD are not like Bush or even close!. But it does seem clear that Bush suffers from his own personal variation of the core deficits of impulsivity, hyperactivity, and inattention.
Yet, to many Americans, Bush's impulsivity and impatience at working through ponderous details initially looked like "decisiveness." His inability to accurately assess risk and apply forethought was seen as "confidence." His intolerance for sustained mental effort was seen as a "CEO President" doing a heckuva job delegating. But oh, how wrong those perceptions were.
Until voters learn to recognize the signs of neurocognitive conditions such as ADHD, they will keep making ghastly misperceptions -- and our country will keep suffering the fallout. Untreated and unrecognized ADHD hurts mostly everyone: the adults who have it, their loved ones, and with the leader of the free world, the entire globe. It should be a sobering thought for every voter.
So, the part of the book I found most substantive was that which focuses on Bush's likely ADHD symptoms and explaining them in light of neuroscience. The rest -- the psychoanalysis - seemed a bit more like story-telling. Maybe true. Maybe fantasy. And, on the whole, not that useful, in my opinion. On the other hand, neurocognitive deficits are a lot more quantifiable, and obvious.
Examples from the book:
--"Impulsive, hair-trigger responses to real and perceived threats are also common for people with ADHD, who often act before determining whether the threat they perceive is in fact genuine."
--"To make matters worse, ADHD is often found to coexist with other learning disorders, the most common belonging to the family of dyslexias....Because the erratic attention span, impulsivity, and restlessness that are the primary symptoms of ADHD can make reading difficult, ADHD can mimic dyslexia, but they are two separate disorders. Bush's dyslexia is not officially documented, but his reading habits are, and they reveal several earmarks of the disorder. He has said repeatedly, with a pride that might mask defensiveness, that he does not read newspapers."
--"People with untreated ADHD can have difficulty functioning as members of a social group, because they find it hard to follow substantive discussion and social interaction. Finding it too hard to grasp thoughts coming from multiple directions, they often resort to telling jokes and disrupting the proceedings; they content themselves with being one of a group of fun-loving people, and avoid more serious interactions."
Another reviewer pointed to some of Bush's foibles as possibly being the result of cocaine or alcohol abuse. I would turn that around. It's well-known that many people with certain brain disorders "self-medicate" with substances; they are thought to be trying to calm the noise in their brains and find focus. In fact, adults with untreated ADHD suffer a higher risk of substance abuse, and these substances can stretch the gamut from overspending or overeating to excessively smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and so on. Even pursuing sports in an extreme way (daredevil mountain-biking, for example) or other physical risk-taking.
Some adults with untreated ADHD even self-medicate by initiating conflicts; the adrenaline quiets a too-noisy inner state and they feel eerily peaceful amid the tension. That was the first thing that crossed my mind when Bush was so antsy to go to war...he's self-medicating with conflict. Moreover, perhaps he was trying to be the hero, to make up for all the decades when everyone saw him as a big joke. He'd show them. He'd also show how "resolute" he was in opposing congress, but some who know ADHD might simply see this as self-medicating with oppositionality.
Sadly, this parallels what happens with some new recruits for Iraq. Many of these young people did poorly in school due to unrecognized/untreated ADHD. Their employment options these days are few. And, if they've had a few years to accrue debts (poor financial management is a common ADHD trait), the lure of those big sign-on bonus, combined with the stimulation of a big adventure, overcomes any thoughts of consequences. Moreover, studies show it's soldiers with untreated ADHD who are more likely to develop PTSD.
As an aside, it's ironic that the public sees only the risks to stimulant medications (which in fact are among the safest medications studied), not the the risks from the alternatives. But the biggest risk comes from ignorance that ADHD is real, and it's considered even more impairing than disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Gina Pera, author
Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.? Stopping the Roller Coaster When Someone You Love Has Attention Deficit Disorder
 A very serious book indeed October 1, 2008
This book is not hearsay. It is written by a well-known psycholoist. As such, it gives a clear insight into the character and mind of President Bush - indeed from an early age. Very saddening and very interesting indeed. diana m. de marco
Compassionate Bashing August 24, 2008
This book does not make excuses for Bush's behavior, but it does provide a compassionate psychological exploration of the life events and resulting behaviors surrounding the actions of our president.
Other books fuel outrage by comparing rhetoric to actions. This book explores both rhetoric and actions and offers the missing "why" to the story, and the sad "why" allows one to temper outrage with compassion. A little.
This is really an EXCELLENT book. Read also, "The Madness of George W. Bush," for an even more psychoanalytical approach which suggests that Bush is the manifestation of all that has gone mad about our society.
Revealing and frightening June 7, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I always suspected what I found in this book about Bush but never thought I would ever see it in print and from an expert in the subject. Sometimes you just don't want your fears to be founded. It is no wonder we find our country in the mess it's in right now. With 7 months left with Bush in the White House I fear even more now for what he might do. This book is a must read for anyone who wondered why this man acts the way he does. Unfortunately, the book won't be used for any impeachment proceedings but at least it can be used to kick start our truly elected officials to begin the proceedings before Bush can do any more harm.
Whoa! This guy's our president? May 23, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
In case you were wondering whether our president is truly damaged goods, you can now put your mind "at ease." As Dr. Frank points out, he's freakin' nuts. And this is not some liberal sneak attack on the president published for political purposes; it's actually a fascinating portrayal of an unusual mind by a leading psychologist/analyst. It's an easy read (not filled with jargon), doesn't play politics in the usual sense, and it helps put these difficult years into an airtight context. Now, how about "Cheney on the Couch"?
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