American Psychosis

This is an intervention from Australia

Disclaimer: America, I love you.

G’day America…

My name is Dr Kylie Harris. I’m 41 years old. I believe in taking care of myself, and a balanced diet and a rigorous exercise routine. In the morning, if my face is a little puffy, I’ll put on an ice pack while doing my stomach crunches*…

Na mate, just kidding. America, this is an intervention. From Down Under. You’ve always been like a big brother. But, well… how shall I say this? Something just isn’t right. You’ve changed…

America, I believe you are suffering from a psychotic disorder. Your actions are not only affecting yourself, they’re affecting those around you. They’re affecting our relationship. In fact, they’re affecting the entire planet. Please. You need help.

My blunt honesty comes from a place of tough love and desperate anguish over your dire situation. America, I understand it’s hard for you to see the insanity of your actions and the choices you are making. So, I’ll try to help you understand (bear with me as I get a tad technical, just to reassure you that I know what I’m talking about)…

Within Western psychology and psychiatry, psychosis is diagnosed via the following symptom domains:

• Hallucinations (weird shit that others can’t see or hear);
• Delusions (strong as fuck beliefs despite conflicting evidence);
• Disorganised thinking (identified via verbal diarrhea or word salad);
• Grossly disorganised or abnormal motor behaviour (childlike, silly, or catatonic behaviour);
• Reduced emotional expression (stone-face);
• Avolition (no motivation towards shit you should care about);
• Alogia (poverty of speech);
• Anhedonia (zero pleasure factor); and
• Asociality (zero social skills).

According to the DSM-5 (aka, The Mental Illness Bible), a diagnosis of psychosis requires hallucinations, delusions, or both. Psychotic disorder may also be diagnosed on the basis of Formal Thought Disorder, a disturbance of the organisation and expression of thought, expressed as an impaired capacity to sustain coherent speech. Symptoms include derailment (going off the rails), thought blocking (um, where was I?), and poverty of speech (can’t. find. words).

Within other schools of thought, psychosis is described as a state of disconnection from consensual reality, a fragmentation of the psyche, a breakdown of ego structures. It may manifest as severe cognitive disorganisation (a fucked up head space) as the individual undergoes a cognitive paradigm shift (nothing makes sense anymore).

Okay, with the technicalities out of the way… America, I believe your current condition fulfils the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for psychotic disorder in the following ways:

• Your rigidly fixed self-perception of being the best nation on earth represents a grandiose delusion developed in utero and maintained throughout the lifespan, despite the overwhelming conflicting evidence. For example, while you may be “winning” at COVID-19, you are not winning in your pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. Your COVID-19 “win” has cost 128,000 lives and counting, your freedom doesn’t look very free (you have the highest incarceration rate in the world), and your happiness is rapidly declining (over 10 million adults have serious thoughts of suicide and over 2 million youths have depression with severe impairment).
• Also, despite being the most powerful nation on earth, you are not the richest. Sure, you have the world’s largest economy, but there are about 40 million Americans living in poverty, with the Top 1% owning more than 30% of the nation’s wealth, and the Top 10% owning 70% of America’s wealth. So, unless you’re in the top 1–10% of greedy shitbags, you’re not really winning financially.
• You ARE #1 on gun ownership though! Hoorayyy… You own nearly half of the world’s total number of civilian-owned guns. In fact, you love your guns so much, you think it’s cool and normal for kids to get murdered at school each year. For 14 to 17 year olds, guns are the leading cause of death. SHIT! March 2020 was the first March since 2002 without a school shooting (depending on the definition of “school shooting”). That’s right, it took a global pandemic to stop kids getting murdered at school. In fact, rather than just putting away your guns, you would rather inflict demonstrably horrific and traumatising drills upon your kids to teach them that school massacres are just a part of life. C’mon man…

• Which leads to the next delusional belief that unfettered gun rights are necessary to keep ya’ll safe. Almost five million American children are exposed to unlocked and loaded guns in their own homes. Guns are the second highest cause of death among American children accounting for more than 3,000 per year in total. You would rather accept toddlers shooting people on a weekly basis, than just put your fucking guns away. Seriously. Boundaries.
• Americans are 25 times more likely to die from gun violence than citizens of other developed nations. To the rest of the developed world, it is delusional beyond belief to think that more guns will protect against gun violence. However, you continue to arm an emotionally unstable population under the guise of an amendment (dude, it’s an AMENDMENT — it can be amended) that has been utterly and idiotically misinterpreted and misrepresented (from an Aussie perspective). Indeed, American gun sales in March 2020 were the highest on record. Please… guns are not “essential”… just put them away and stop killing each other.

• You’re exhibiting religious delusions (e.g., your obsession with “End Times” biblical prophecy), infiltrated by Mike Pence and the evangelicals advising your President and running your country (check out the National Prayer Breakfast if you don’t believe me). The problem is, a quarter of you still believe that the Bible (with all its contradictions) should be taken literally. Including a literal apocalyptic “rapture”, preceded by signs including war, fire, drought, famine, earthquakes, floods, hailstorms, tornadoes, locusts, plagues... Any (or all) of these sound familiar? Now think about the fact that Mike Pence is in charge of the coronavirus taskforce. Holy fuck.

• Thought disorder is apparent through your inability to finish discussing one national catastrophe before commencing another (i.e., derailment). First there were the sexual assault allega… then the grab ‘em by the pu… then the Stormy Dan… then the Russia hoa… then the perfect phone ca… then the impeach… then the global pandem… then the race rio…have I missed any? Undoubtedly. But my head hurts.
• You continue to vote against leaders who represent policies that would serve your best interests (i.e., thought blocking — an unanticipated and immediate total emptying of the mind)— e.g., universal healthcare, the equitable distribution of wealth, environmental responsibility. You have been so severely abused that you protest for your right to contract a virus, you believe you should sacrifice your own lives for the economy, and you think that saving the planet impinges upon your civil liberties.

• You cannot seem to identify the one man in your midst who could save us all (psst, it’s Bernie). Rather, you think it’s Yankee Doodle Dandy to run the 2020 Presidential campaign between two old white guys, one of whom will continue to grab your democracy by the pussy, the other a nothing-burger who will not change a thing. This example of thought blocking may be co-morbid with your religious delusions… (the Book of Revelation warns of a “False Prophet”, a “Beast”, and an “Antichrist”… take your pick). Remember Trump’s proclamation that he is “the chosen one”? His declaration that the US will now recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a step toward the fulfilment of Christian Zionist End Times prophecy? You know, God’s promise to “curse” those who curse the Jews and “bless” those who bless the Jews?… But hang on, Bernie’s Jewish orientation hasn’t scored him any political points… it’s a bit confused.
• A significant portion of you (i.e., the Democratic Party) is basically catatonic (of or in an immobile or unresponsive stupor). The Dems also largely demonstrate poverty of speech at crucial times, such as at the Trump Impeachment trial. And during the current hostile takeover of your democracy.

The presence of delusions and thought disorder (with catatonia), as described above, is sufficient to fulfill the DSM-5 criteria for psychotic disorder. However, to add weight to this diagnosis, consider the following:

You have manifested a leader who caricatures the American ego in all its narcissistic glory, down to his catch phrase: “America First”. Donald Trump truly believes he is doing a “tremendous” job and that he has been unfairly treated by the “fake news media” more than any other American President, including those who have literally been murdered while in office. These are strong as fuck beliefs despite conflicting evidence (i.e., persecutory delusions).

Trump illustrates a textbook case of the wounded child, with so many conflicting voices in his head, he doesn’t know which ones to listen to, so he ends up listening to them all (i.e., auditory hallucinations). The good, the bad, and the utterly insane, Little Donny’s voices ensure he covers every possible angle in his messaging (“I didn’t do it but if I did do it, it would be ok, and I did do it so you should be thanking me because if I hadn’t done it, things would be so much worse. You’re welcome”).

“Show me someone with no ego and I’ll show you a big loser.” — Trump: How To Get Rich, 2004

Consider, in particular, that Formal Thought Disorder is an impaired capacity to maintain coherent discourse, expressed through the patient’s written or spoken language. Despite being a self-proclaimed “stable genius”, Trump’s thoughts appear constantly derailed – just go to one of his therapy sessions... I mean, rallies. He seems utterly incapable of completing a sentence, his speech disorganised to the point of verbal diarrhea, nonsensical word salad.

“Despite the constant negative press covfefe” — Donald Trump, Twitter, 31/05/2017

His behaviour is very often grossly disorganised, childlike, and silly, like when he is mocking disabled reporters, wandering aimlessly around the rose garden, defacing hurricane maps with a Sharpie, or staring at total eclipses. There are other examples of inappropriate behavior, but place him more in the realm of sociopath, such as when giving a thumbs up while holding an infant recently orphaned by a domestic terrorist incited by his own racism.

At times, Trump has displayed diminished emotional expression (stone face), such as when told about an eight year old orphaned boy’s family who had been killed in a tornado. However, again, this is more in line with sociopathy, as he is actually highly emotional. His rubber faced emotional expressions are just unnervingly inappropriate. For example, prior to the unflinching moment described above, he spoke with childish excitement about the boy’s miraculous survival after being “ripped out” of his house during the devastating tornado. He described with frothing glee the assassination of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and how he “died like a dog” after “whimpering, screaming, and crying” during his final moments.

“My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body.” — Donald Trump, New York Post, 2011

While Trump does appear to express interest in maintaining his personal appearance, he displays no motivation towards other shit he should care about (i.e., avolition), such as being President. His poverty of speech (i.e., alogia) appears limited to “good”, “bad”, “dumb”, and occasionally “tremendous” (yes, poverty can afflict billionaires). Not to mention the slurring (“… the United Schtates of ‘Murica”).

Trump displays anhedonia (i.e., zero pleasure factor) in certain roles, such as President, father, husband, and just as a human being in general. Except when he is behaving like a sociopath, as described above. Finally, he demonstrates asociality (i.e., zero social skills), as evidenced by his isolation at world events such as the 2019 NATO summit, and his refusal to attend traditional events such as the White House correspondents’ dinner, or even his own impeachment hearing.

“I loved my previous life. I had so many things going. This is more work than my previous life. I thought it would be easier.” — Donald Trump, Reuters, 28/08/2017

America, it pains me to watch you fight to preserve your constitutional rights by pushing to the brink of civil war to support the one leader in your history who may actually take them all away (psst: this leader is the tyrannical one you’ve been prepping for). Trump promised to run you as a business. Problem is, you are now one of his businesses, and you are experiencing, in real time, what it means to be the experimental brain child of a wanna-be gangsta dictator who has filed for corporate bankruptcy six times.

You are the chips in the hands of a “really rich” conman magician who has driven four casinos into the ground. A player whose failings render him “too big to fail”. A shrewd snake oil salesman. A reality game show host. A pop culture demagogue, “uniquely insulated from the consequences of his own mistakes”. A reptilian creature able to suck up the spotlight and adapt to any situation. A scared little boy who didn’t receive enough love or discipline as a child and has no boundaries or conscience but who suddenly has the keys to the cabinet – only the cabinet contains the nuclear codes. How’s that workin’ out for ya?

As your cities burn, you are showing us what happens when the consequences of racism, abuse, ignorance, and injustice ignite like a blazing fire within the collective psyche of the most powerful nation on earth. You are imploding, and the effects are spreading like a nuclear holocaust across the globe. Oh shit, and Trump hasn’t even pushed the button yet. Suddenly, the Doomsday preppers look like the sane ones. Even Trump’s bunkered down.

America… Bro… it does appear that you are suffering from a psychotic disorder. You are severely disconnected from consensual reality, your national psyche is fragmented into red vs. blue. Your ego structures are breaking down, on daily display via your cartoon president, who literally amounts to being a cult leader initiating mass suicide.

You are experiencing severe cognitive disorganisation, as you undergo a paradigm shift of epic proportions. Beware of comorbidities, such as Trump Derangement Syndrome, and Trump Anxiety Disorder, particularly confounded by pre-existing conditions (e.g., systemic racism). Your health insurance probably won’t cover you.

“What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.” — Donald Trump, 24/07/2019

“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — George Orwell, 1984

In conclusion, America…

There are no more barriers to cross. All you have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vicious and the evil, all the mayhem you have caused and your utter indifference toward it you have now surpassed. Your pain is constant and sharp and you do not hope for a better world for anyone. In fact, you want your pain to be inflicted on others. You want no-one to escape, but even after admitting this there is no catharsis. Your punishment continues to allude you, and you gain no deeper knowledge of yourself; no new knowledge can be extracted from your telling. This intervention has meant nothing**…

Yeah, na, just kidding mate. She’ll be right!

Recent research has demonstrated that psychotic-like experiences may actually be a manifestation of existential crisis, of a tremendously turbulent awakening. I think this might be what’s happening for you! A systematic breakdown of your ego structures, a dissolution of all boundaries, a cognitive paradigm shift. In which case, there is light at the end of the Dark Night tunnel… which may become much longer if Pence becomes President (please God, no). If one is able to navigate this tumultuous journey, one can reemerge on the other side. Transformed. Reborn. Revolutionised.

In fairness America, I think this is a global psychosis. But you are the epicentre. So, there it is. I hope you don’t hate me. I know this is a lot to take on board. I’m here to help but you have to help yourself (but seriously, please help yourself ‘cos we’re all fucking drowning here mate). Remember, I am saying this because I love you.

Take heart America! You got this. And if not, you’ll always have covfefe.

NOTE: This article is satire and does not replace formal diagnosis.

*Adapted from the opening lines of American Psycho

**Adapted from the closing lines of American Psycho