The interviewer Meghan Daum asks the therapist Dea Bridge in "What a Conservative Therapist Thinks About Politics and Mental Health" (NYT).
Daum: Do you think that Donald Trump made everybody go crazy?
Bridge: What do you mean by “made everybody go crazy”?
Daum: In my world, I know a lot of people who were so distressed about the election of Trump that they had to go on anxiety medication. They couldn’t sleep. It dominated their lives, their goals, their thoughts, their relationships, their conversations for four years and even to this day.
Bridge: That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Why would you let one person in the world control your life? Are you that weak?
Daum: They would say, “Well, he is the president of our country.”
Bridge: There were people who thought that Barack Obama was the Antichrist, too. They lived through that. People don’t agree with Joe Biden now, either. If you really give that much control to someone, there are a lot more deficits in your life than you recognize.
That's an example of something Bridge is consistent about: You need to "take responsibility for your choices and stop blaming other people for your feelings." She presents that as conservative, and I guess it is conservative if liberals won't adopt that position too. Which they could.
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“In my world…”
That’s not a tell us it? This interviewer wants to make the therapist look bad with gotcha questions and “pile on” the so called conservative therapist.
I love when the response is “That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard”
A long time ago, in law school, the criminal law professor asked a hypothetical involving a handgun. The student he called on didn’t answer the hypo except to say “in my world there are no guns”
Funniest damn thing I ever heard. Must be safe and comfy there, eh cupcake?
Which they should.
Fixed your last sentence for you, Althouse.
Because they can't handle the TRUTH??
If being so miserable and having someone else to blame for it didn't give people so much pleasure, they might not do it.
Leftist-Stalinist-loyalists lose their minds whenever they lose any election.
Democracy is over!!!!!!
Not a lot different than Jordan Peterson's observations.
The thing is, Donald Trump must love that, the idea that people are so consumed by and with him that they have to go on medication and can't sleep and are totally freaked out.
Most of us would not want that, we wouldn't want to feel so burdened by other people's needs and expectations, at least I wouldn't want that, it would make me go nuts. But I think Trump would revel in it.
This is a reason not to go crazy, because you give Trump what he wants! Deprive him of that power! Don't have Trump Tower tattooed on your forehead, letting the man live there rent-free, trashing the premises and refusing to leave.
Dea Bridge must be a Stoic. Pure Marcus Aurelius.
Modern people should learn Stoic philosophy. Start with Tom Wolfe's "A Man in Full."
He just exposed the psychosis that was already there...
As said by many, Liberalism is a mental disorder. If Trump drives you to take medication, you were already crazy. Liberalism a/k/a progressive politics is simply I have rights and you have obligations and if I am one of the preferred groups my rights trump yours.
protip:
those crazy loons, were Already Totally Crazy.. Know how you could tell? They voted for Hilary!
Trump formed a news narrative character, the guy who forecloses on the widow and ties her to the tracks, in a cheap soap opera. News tastes vary.
Article is in the NYT
Do you think that Donald Trump made everybody go crazy?
If you really give that much control to someone...
First, Donald Trump didn't make anybody do anything. Second, he doesn't have control over anyone, even if they "give" it to him. He's not a puppet master; we all have free choice of the will.
People choose Trump Derangement Syndrome. Trump has nothing to do with it.
It has been my observation for some time that a key indicator of liberal political philosophy is an inclination towards an external locus of control. Your life is bad because these other people are doing bad things, or your life is good because people are doing the things you want done.
My only disagreement with "take responsibility for your choices and stop blaming other people for your feelings" is that other people may certainly do things that generate your feelings but, as the first half of the statement correctly indicates, you are responsible for the choice in how you process them.
Maybe Bridge could provide pro bono therapy to Sam Harris.
The left has an unhealthy desire to rule, to dictate, to have power. And it was all going so well. Put up Hillary against Jeb!; sure. Win win, really.
Then Trump spoiled it all.
And it has driven the left and not a few establishment GOP people insane. They cannot abide by the fact that they don't have power over him.
It's rather funny, in a darkly amusing way.
Everyone and In My World seems to either dehumanize others or presume they exist on another planet.
Using the term “crazy” with a therapist is probably disheartening to them. I suspect it is similar to using the term “retarded”. Anxiety is the better word.
Note how “everyone” in the interviewer’s world is “crazy” because of Donald Trump, yet supposedly it is his supporters that are mad. Bridge properly notes that isn’t really the case. It matches the reality of progressives actually committing the violence that is blamed on right wing extremism.
It's got to strike you as weird, or maybe even sad, Ann, that what sounds like commons sense these days is often a character or reaction attributed to conservatives.
I've got so many seemingly intelligent liberal friends and relatives who, when it comes to social things and politics, seem unhinged to me. I probably seem unhinged to them. My New York crew is absolutely deep into their fears and meds to get through each week. My other liberal friends who just get their news from CNN or NBC news, seem to not know at all what's going on in the world or in the country, or in their own cities. (I mean, who would go to Portland, OR for a vacation these days?) I work so hard to avoid getting into any serious discussions with them because I've thought for some time that this would all pass and we could get back to 'normal' again. I don't think that's possible any longer and I consider the future with these friends as it's hard for me to talk to people who seem to be aware of so little. And even when confronted with reality, seem to prefer to cover their ears and eyes while making loud noises to not hear anything from anyone else. Then inevitably end up sputtering something about Trump!. It's like a chronic disease.
But then there's Liberals like you, who seem to get very clearly what's going on. And while you and I certainly don't agree on all things, I do respect that where you're coming from is sane, intelligent, thought out, and based on actual information and life experience. It seems the bulk of liberals these days are functioning only on the emotional level, with little regard for facts and known life experience. And given that, they're easily led into being needy, medicated little shells of their former selves.
Yes, I do think Trump broke the lot of them. It didn't start with Trump, but he came in and stomped all over their IDs.
"In my world, I know a lot of people who were so distressed about the election of Trump that they had to go on anxiety medication."
I was good and distressed by the election and, God help us, re-election of Barack Obama. And I was thoroughly expecting to be even more distressed by the election of Hillary Clinton. But at no point did it ever cross my mind that "anxiety medication" would improve the situation. Do you suppose these people really exist? Did they really go and find a psychiatrist, and describe their political views, and the shrink diagnosed them with a psychological disorder and prescribed some pills?
You grow up. You get an emotional pair. Your guy doesn't win an electiom. Doesn't mean a thing, drive on.
The world is not fair and so what? In a fair world we'd never have an Obama or a Biden, and Saint's Preserve Us--no Kamala Harris. But when you are an adult, you learn how to deal with it. These are life lessons liberals never learned.
The reason these people feel this way is when Democrats control the government they truly believe the government is looking out for them.
So when the Democrats don't control the government no one is looking out for them.
Their delusion is in the first sentence.
It was crazy to become consumed with a fervent belief that Trump won the 2016 election because of Russian collusion.
There was no October Surprise along the lines that a large number of Hillary Clinton's e-mails were revealed to the public a few days before the election. Nothing like that happened.
So, how did Russia help Trump win the USA's 2016 Presidential election?
Facebook advertisements? That is a crazy idea!
What else -- besides alleged Facebook advertisements -- did Russia do to help Trump win the USA's 2016 Presidential election?
Well?
What else?
The idea that Trump won the USA's Presidential election because of some imaginary Russian collusion is a crazy idea. It's just absurd.
It libworld it seems to be some kind of humblebrag to be that concerned.
In my world it's weak; why would you admit someone gets to you that badly? Jesus, life goes on. When Obama was elected I busied myself in my music for a few years, just forgot about politics. It's nice we can do that here.
Only, since 2015 I have not heard from any liberal friends. I didn't have to say a word; they just knew, and can't stand the thought of any contrary opinion, I guess.
They're that fragile.
He just exposed the psychosis that was already there...
Exactly, though I don't know if I would go so far as to call it psychosis. Mental illness, yes.
Say you have agoraphobia, and you need anti-anxiety drugs in order to go out. Is it the outside world's fault for existing, or do you have a problem that you must get help for?
But wait, they will say -it's situational anxiety, caused by Trump. Okay, say you were the victim of a car accident and you suffer PTSD as a result, requiring sleeping pills to sleep and anti-anxiety medication to get into a car. There are a lot of people who are in accidents who manage to make it through their lives without these aids. Is it the car accident's fault, or the fault of the car you now can't get into without a Valium, or do you have a problem requiring treatment?
I'm not trying to demonize the people who can't cope with a world that contains Trump. Someone I care about very deeply can't ride in a car driving along Highway 1 in California because of her extreme fear of heights. She's not a weak person because of that; she just has a problem that she can't deal with on her own.
I would like to see people get the help they need, but not to blame their troubles on the thing that they fear.
I usually shock people with the following admission: I've never had a feeling about a politician either way. Don't hate them. Don't love them either. They are just kinda 'there' - like furniture.
It's the manipulation of the masses by the media through fear that has created so much anxiety, and Trump was never behind that. Remember when Trump was always presented in photos with a "Dutch angle"? That was to create a sense of anxiety, so were the riots which caused more damage than hurricane Ian, but which we we assured, against all common sense, were "mostly peaceful." Of course people are going crazy when authorities tell them that the evidence of their eyes is lying to them.
"Do you suppose these people really exist? Did they really go and find a psychiatrist, and describe their political views, and the shrink diagnosed them with a psychological disorder and prescribed some pills?"
Some people think boys can be girls and girls can be boys and besides, who knows what a woman is, anyway?
So- yes. They exist.
"I was good and distressed by the election and, God help us, re-election of Barack Obama. And I was thoroughly expecting to be even more distressed by the election of Hillary Clinton. But at no point did it ever cross my mind that "anxiety medication" would improve the situation."
Exactly. Liberals are mentally ill. Mildly, perhaps, but their mental state is unhealthy. And given their proximity to power it is a real problem for our society.
Trump v Biden News Mentions from 5/7/2015 to 12/7/2020
"You need to "take responsibility for your choices and stop blaming other people for your feelings." She presents that as conservative, and I guess it is conservative if liberals won't adopt that position too. Which they could."
In a way, it's unfortunate that she is presenting that as conservative, since it need not be politically loaded. Once it is, as AA implies, progs, being progs, will resist. But that just reinforces the primacy of feelings, in the culture of the therapeutic and modern identity politics. Which Trump sensed and used. Two sides can play the feeling blame game.
I had been under the impression that "You can't control what other people do, but you can control how you respond to them" was mainstream psychological advice.
As an aside, I came across some stats recently about psychology and psychiatry. The gist was that psychiatry (along with infectious disease specialists) had by far the highest percentage of registered Democrats (~75%) as practitioners compared to other physicians. That was from a study from Yale researchers about the political leanings of medical specialties that was widely reported a few years ago. On the psychology side, a Brookings study indicated that men had gone from approximately 60% of psychologists to approximately 20% in the last few decades. (Other studies put the number a bit higher, but the trend was the same.)
Temujin writes, "Yes, I do think Trump broke the lot of them. It didn't start with Trump, but he came in and stomped all over their IDs."
Monsters, John...
Monsters from the Id!
Wonder IF these people were CRAZY, before Trump?
Here's a humorous Blast From The Past
Election Night 2016- SNL
"In my world, I know a lot of people who were so distressed about the election of Trump that they had to go on anxiety medication."
Sure, go ahead. Take a piss on your CPU. It's the latest overclock hack.
THIS in a nutshell...
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeTzvtXVIAAJ6JF?format=jpg&name=medium
That's an example of something Bridge is consistent about: You need to "take responsibility for your choices and stop blaming other people for your feelings."
Bridge's position is completely antithetical to the Progressive worldview. Leftists are all about victimhood and your rank in the hierarchy is all dependent on how much of a victim you are, complete with an ever-evolving pecking order of what ranks above what. We are witnessing individuals trying to shoehorn themselves into victim groups to get greater clout. When this is not possible, then they try to invent victim groups that they can be a member and then argue the group deserves to be ranked higher than other competing victim groups.
Bridge's position is, compared to the NYT worldview, extremely radical. Responsibility? The world is all about what others do to you, unfairly! Responsibility is literally impossible!
The left are so insane - they will take our nation an put it in the trash-heap over their delusional hated of Trump or any R.
Crook Biden and the Soros funded pro-crime left are fine and dandy with each other.
"Do you think Donald Trump made everybody go crazy?"
Confession by projection. People who say AOC makes people's heads explode are the ones whose heads have been exploding since November 2016.
From the post:
"She presents that as conservative, and I guess it is conservative if liberals won't adopt that position too. Which they could.
...but they won't. They love power too much, blissfully ignorant of its eventual use against them.
It is revealing about the state of education in American that so many of those who have "gone crazy over Trump being in office" are college-credentialed, often with multiple higher degrees
"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence."
Robert Frost
"Too much of what is called 'education' is little more than an expensive isolation from reality."
Thomas Sowell
So many advanced degreed, uneducated people. So many of them with tenured positions in universities.
"Usage: Education, properly a drawing forth, implies not so much the communication of knowledge as the discipline of the intellect, the establishment of the principles, and the regulation of the heart."
People don't know what to think if there isn't a word like "conservative" in the headline -- or rather, without such a word, people might actually have to think.
I'm against attributing political beliefs or behavior to mental instability, though. If you can do it to them, they can do it to you, and probably with more real world consequences.
The problem with so many lefties/Democrats is that they were already unstable. Before Trump Derangement Syndrome there was Bush Derangement Syndrome.
They are mental defectives who evidently believe there is an upside to open borders, skyrocketing crime rates, energy dependence, inflation, and corrupt federal law enforcement and/or cannot make the connection between those things and Democrat rule.
In Arizona, Mark Kelly (Sen) and Katy Hobbs (Gov) are actually claiming, among other nonsense, that they will lower taxes and enhance public safety. Despite there being no evidence on the planet that a Democrat has done either, the hook is set in Arizona Dems.
That dialog was so funny I read it out loud to my wife.
That's an example of something Bridge is consistent about: You need to "take responsibility for your choices and stop blaming other people for your feelings." She presents that as conservative, and I guess it is conservative if liberals won't adopt that position too. Which they could.
Liberals cannot accept responsibility for their actions. Their policies fail and they have to be dishonest about what they support. They are openly fascist.
They are terrible people. Their lives are miserable and they have to blame something other than themselves.
So no, they can't take responsibility for anything.
And taking responsibility isn't necessarily conservative. It is more libertarian.
Conservatives seem to want the government to do what they should be doing.
If Twitter and Youtube were around in the early 2000s, people would have displayed their craziness even more for Dubya and Dick Cheney.
“She presents that as conservative, and I guess it is conservative if liberals won't adopt that position too.”
What do you mean by “too”? Conservatives haven’t adopted that position.
"Which they could."
No; correct statement is "Which they used to." Liberals (before the rise of the "new left"/lefty-progs) were sane and reasonable. Now they're just frightened of being thrown out of their own tent by the crazies who've been squatting there since at least the 90s.
Given the English translation of Meghan's surname, she should've named her show, "Under My Thumb".
Every little blip on social media becomes quote unquote everybody. Another symptom of testosterone deficit disorder.
It's interesting that the NY Times found a really sensible therapist. I wonder how that happened ? And then they sent a typical leftist to interview her. How did that happen? Maybe a mole in the Times newsroom.
Blogger Kevin said..."The reason these people feel this way is when Democrats control the government they truly believe the government is looking out for them."
Interesting explanation.
Donald Trump ruins everything, especially his enemies.
I heard Rush make this argument many times during the Obama administration
[therapist Dea] Bridge: That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Why would you let one person in the world control your life? Are you that weak?
That's an example of something Bridge is consistent about: You need to "take responsibility for your choices and stop blaming other people for your feelings."
As I noted last night, David French wrote "Lifting Up the Rock on the Gutter Right: Lie after lie after lie" showing example after example of "cruelty and slander and how those dark sins are wielded as weapons of political and cultural warfare in the worst corners of the online right."
French noted that: "While politics has never been a gentle pursuit, the advent of Trumpism and the Trumpist ethos has spawned a host of popular voices who embrace lies as a tactic and character assassination as an objective."
I am unsure why Dea Bridge, the conservative therapist, hidden away in Grand Junction, got her interview but she is obviously unaware of what really has been happening for almost seven years now - with no end in sight.
"Despite there being no evidence on the planet that a Democrat has done either..."
Doesn't matter. For Democrats, what you say you intend to do trumps what you actually do. There is practically no connection in their minds between their actions and the results of those actions. Think "mostly peaceful".
It's silly, I know, but that's how they roll.
From the Greatest Generation to Eeek a Mouse.
Do you suppose these people really exist? Did they really go and find a psychiatrist, and describe their political views, and the shrink diagnosed them with a psychological disorder and prescribed some pills?
Yes. Absolutely. A couple friends from high school did exactly that. And then proceeded to tell everybody about their illness via FB posts. As if it was some sort of virtue to shout from the hilltops that a politician made you go nutbar.
And taking responsibility isn't necessarily conservative. It is more libertarian
Taking responsibility IS the conservative thing to do. Libertarians share some of our principles. Here's the math:
"Big Gov't Cons" = Bulwark = Progressives Pretending to Conserve Conservatism
Mike's maxim is "Oxymorons are the worst kind of moron" and the corollary is "big government conservatism" is an oxymoron.
"And what color is the sky in your world?"
I guess it is conservative if liberals won't adopt that position too. Which they could.
No, they can't
because a significant percentage of them are mentally damaged individuals who can not, and do not want to, take responsibility for themselves.
See "The Life of Julia"
'French noted that: "While politics has never been a gentle pursuit, the advent of Trumpism and the Trumpist ethos has spawned a host of popular voices who embrace lies as a tactic and character assassination as an objective."'
You're really citing David French?
He's a fucking moron.
"The idea that Trump won the USA's Presidential election because of some imaginary Russian collusion is a crazy idea. It's just absurd."
But it's not a crazy idea that Trump would not have won if the Clinton campaign, the DNC, and allied media had not intervened for Trump in the Republican primaries. No Democrat has ever paid a price for doing that.
Btw, the two biggest lies from any president in my lifetime have been 'If you like your plan you can keep your plan,' and 'I did not have sex with that woman...'
I forget which party affiliation they have...
Citing David French to explain the conservative and especially the pro-Trump Republican mindset???!!!!!
What's next, citing David BoBo in Paradise Brooks to back up French's observations?
I swear, some of the people commenting here are aiming to not be taken seriously ab initio.
The Hopeless gadfly: "French noted that:..."
The David French who supports BLM, CRT, Drag Shows for young children (which he literally called a "blessing of liberty"), and now has come out strongly for the extreme transgender agenda?
THAT David French?!
LOL
Holier than thou David is being well compensated by his far left paymasters to write drivel in support of leftist policies, so naturally gadfly is right there to help him spread his lefty messaging.
David French acts like he's the only person who ever encountered ugliness on the internet. There is also much in his account that is ambiguous and disputed in his account.
When I was in clinical practice, the vast majority of long term depressed patients were avid Democrats. Their moods were highly affected over Democrat victories and losses.
Trump's victory hurt them just as if it was Jeb Bush who defeated Hillary. It had nothing to due with Trump's abrasive personality or bullshit about Russian collaboration. It was because he was nominally a Republican.
Remember folks, before Trump was worse than Hitler, so was Reagan and Bush. So will be DeSantis.
"No Democrat has ever paid a price for doing that."
Well, Hillary lost an election that was her's to lose, so there's that.
I still remember a conversation I had with a professor during the George W Bush years. He was as gentle a soul as you can imagine, but once the topic of GWB came up, he clenched his fist and said through his teeth, "I hate him with a visceral hatred." I was taken aback and speechless.
Sure, people on the right hated Obama and hate Biden, but it is somehow different coming from the left. It's more unbridled. Hatred of Trump, too, is constantly stoked by the media because that's how they make their money now. Also, it's different from the left because the left runs everything, and they can make their displeasure widely felt.
As I noted last night, David French wrote "Lifting Up the Rock on the Gutter Right: Lie after lie after lie" showing example after example of "cruelty and slander and how those dark sins are wielded as weapons of political and cultural warfare in the worst corners of the online right."
French has turned pervert. Are you joining NAMBLA ?
The entire leftist goal is to have control over everyone. Feel sorry for the leftist idiots who support this now, but will find themselves at the bottom of the pile of leftist hierarchy. Rude awakening when they discover they will be the ones controlled as well.
You need to "take responsibility for your choices and stop blaming other people for your feelings." She presents that as conservative, and I guess it is conservative if liberals won't adopt that position too. Which they could.
This approach to life is impossible if you're not willing to recognize and defer to reality. So, no, they can't.
Statists/collectivists/progressives have the advantage in almost every way, controlling virtually every institution, in a world where conservatives put a lot of importance on the role of institutions and therefore are reluctant to burn them down, even if it means leaving progressive power entrenched. Until they get burned down, the best conservatives can do is one step forward and two steps back.
On the other hand, progressives are completely out of touch with reality.
And thank God for that. It is their albatross and will be their ruin.
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