A new critical documentary, that features interviews with various mental health professionals, argues that president Donald Trump is a malignant narcissist.
The new documentary, #Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump, that will be released on 1 September, features interviews from mental health professionals who argue that the president is not fit for US office.
According to CNN, multiple mental health professionals argue in the film that the president is a malignant narcissist, which comprises of paranoia, anti-social personality disorder and sadism.
The American Psychiatric Association states it is unethical for its members to speculate about the mental health of a public figure they have not personally examined, under the Goldwater rule.
The rule was introduced in 1964, after 1,189 psychiatrics said presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was not fit for office.
However, experts interviewed in the film argue that psychiatrists have a duty to share their diagnosis when they witness alarming behaviour, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
In the film, psychologist John Garnter argues that experts do not need to meet their patients, as “the psychiatric interview is the least reliable method of making a diagnosis.”
He adds: “The ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ is based on observable behavioural criteria... When you meet with someone, they can lie to you, they can say, ‘I never did that...,’ but if you could actually observe [someone’s] behaviour... you’d get a much more reliable indicator of how they behaved.”
The film highlights instances of the president displaying symptoms of the disorder, and focuses attention on Mr Trump’s comments over the last few years, such as “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”
One of the experts said that “Trump is a sociopath, a sadist, a con artist, a racist, a misogynist and a sexist,” and added: “I think that is a problem,” according to CNN.
Alleged lies are also used to back up claims for the diagnoses, and his inflation of the size of the crowd at his inauguration is featured as part of the film's argument.
At one point, veteran sportswriter Rick Reilly describes the many different ways the president cheats at golf, and adds: “He’s telling people he’s won club championships he hasn’t even played in ... six or seven [other] times, he was the only guy playing in the tournament!”
The experts in the film are not the only ones to attempt to diagnose Mr Trump, and 37 other mental health professionals speculated on the state of Mr Trump’s mental health in the book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President, edited by Dr Bandy X Lee.
In an interview with Ms Lee for Raw Story earlier this month, Dr John Zinner, the former head of the Unit on Family Therapy Studies at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), claimed that the president is suffering from narcissistic personality disorder.
“Donald Trump has failed us because he is, as he has always been, incompetent, and he suffers from extremely severe mental disorders, which render him incapable of attending to any issue beyond his own personal need for adulation,” Dr Zinner said.
“The mental condition he suffers most from is formally known as a severe instance of narcissistic personality disorder,” he added.
Dr Zinner said that the disorder “is the failure in childhood and beyond to develop an inner sense of worth or self-esteem,” and added that it “makes one’s worth entirely dependent upon admiration from others.”
