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Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President
A renowned Washington, D.C.–based psychoanalyst examines George W. Bush's public persona–and asks serious questions about whether he is fit for the office he holds.
In Bush on the Couch Frank offers a comprehensive psychological profile of President George W. Bush using the principles of Applied Psychoanalysis, the discipline of psychoanalyzing public and historical figure pioneered by Freud. With an eye for the subtleties of human behaviour sharpened through thirty years of clinical practice, Frank traces the development of Bush's character from childhood to present day, identifying and analyzing Bush's patterns of thought, behaviour and communication. A thorough and authoritative examination of Bush's public appearances and speeches, along with historical, biographical, and journalistic records, Bush on the Couch is a compelling portrait of George W. Bush, filled with controversial and disturbing revelations about our nation's leader.
Insightful and accessible, courageous and controversial, Bush on the Couch sheds startling new light on the Bush psyche and its impact on the way he governs, tackling head–on the question no one seems willing to ask: Is our president psychologically fit to run the country?
o With the wild popularity of Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, his #1 New York Times bestsellers Stupid White Men and Dude, Where's My Country?, and anti–Bush reads by writers like Al Franken and Molly Ivins, the Bush–sceptical audience is more engaged and highly motivated than ever.
o From the contentious presidential election of 2000 to 9/11, from the War in Iraq to the War on Terrorism at home and abroad, Bush's presidency is one of the most controversial in the history of the U.S. In Bush on the Couch, Dr. Frank dissects the psyche of President Bush and unearths shocking revelations about the mind of the leader of the free world. With three decades of experience, Dr. Justin Frank is an expert in the field of psychoanalysis. He has written and lectured widely on psychoanalysis and politics. A former columnist for Salon.com, the recipient of numerous teaching awards, co–director of the Metropolitan Centre for Object Relations in New York, a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at George Washington University Medical Centre, and a teaching analyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, Dr. Frank's copious credentials speak for themselves.
247 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
October 20, 2019
Some interesting, although rather obvious, insights into the president's personality. Of particular note is his view of Bush as a "dry drunk," or untreated abstaining alcoholic, and how the judgmental, rigid nature of such a person's world view dovetails perfectly with Bush's Christian fundamentalism and military adventurism.
Still, it should be said that any psychiatrist's attempt to analyze a public figure purely on the basis of the public record, without the benefit of a single clinical interview, lacks authority and should be taken with a grain--okay, a generous sprinkling--of salt.
The same goes for Donald Trump too. No matter how tempting--or obvious--a diagnosis may seem to be.
January 14, 2008
Scary and thought-provoking. Dr. Frank continues the time-honored tradition of psychological analysis of prominent people that is one of the key tools of our own government in its dealings with foreign leaders and also an element of modern political campaigns; his research has been thorough and his conclusions, all based on the documented history of the president and his family, are rooted in established and time-tested psychological theory. He looks not only at George W. Bush but also at our own society's interaction with him, and what he sees is both discouraging and a call to action. Every citizen owes it to himself or herself to read this book and carefully consider what it has to say.
July 23, 2007
The author psychoanalytically profiles Bush from afar, gleaning what he can from interviews with loved ones, public transcripts, articles, school and work records, etc. -- in the same way that the FBI profiles world leaders and public figures from afar for the U.S. government.
He begins with the obvious, and often-speculated points (like the President's possible learning disorder/dyslexia), and then moves down the pike to name some psychological characteristics that I found fascinating (and a bit frightening).
This is not a perfect book (there is some redundancy, and a few claims that I felt weren't strongly supported). BUT... it is a very interesting book for anyone fascinated by psychology and/or politics.
He begins with the obvious, and often-speculated points (like the President's possible learning disorder/dyslexia), and then moves down the pike to name some psychological characteristics that I found fascinating (and a bit frightening).
This is not a perfect book (there is some redundancy, and a few claims that I felt weren't strongly supported). BUT... it is a very interesting book for anyone fascinated by psychology and/or politics.
July 27, 2019
Entertaining if you put aside the psychobabble
The problem with this book is that any analysis of George W. Bush based on psychoanalytic theory is itself highly suspect. Yes, there are still many psychiatrists who believe in the Freudian or quasi-Freudian construct. Justin Frank is one of them, although, as he acknowledges throughout the book, he is especially devoted to the theories of child psychoanalyst Melanie Klein who wrote among other works, The Psychoanalysis of Children (1932). And yes there are still institutes devoted to psychoanalysis. But with the growth of neurological science and cognitive and evolutionary psychology, the number of institutes and practitioners is decreasing as the "science" of psychoanalysis and its clinical efficacy are found wanting. It will not be long before psychoanalytical theory will be nothing more than an embarrassing relic from the past, like blood-letting and frontal lobotomies. Among the younger clinicians and theorists, that time has already arrived. If you talk to people in academia they will tell you that psychoanalytic theory is treated more or less as literature, not anything resembling science.
Still there is merit in taking a detailed and thorough look at the president's past, as Frank has done here. He has used news reports, memoirs by friends and members of the Bush family (he had especial fun with Barbara Bush's memoir), Internet sites, and TV and radio interviews to put together a portrait of the president that is highly unflattering to say the least. The problem is that George W.'s behavior doesn't have to be filtered through any psychobabble to be recognized as troubling--again to say the least. The many lies that he habitually tells, the disregard he shows for human life, the acute ignorance he displays about environmental concerns, his elitist mind set, his inability to admit mistakes, and his sense that God is speaking personally to him are all reasons for us to be concerned.
Nonetheless, if you can read this book strictly for the information while putting Frank's theories about Oedipal complexes and the like to the side, it is fascinating. One doesn't have to bring Oedipus Rex into the mix to realize that George W. was dead set on outdoing George H. W., nor does one have to resort to an ego/id/superego construction to note that George W. is not aware of some of his subconscious motivations. When he landed that jet on the aircraft carrier while announcing "Mission accomplished" no one watching on television needed any special training in human psychology to understand that in some respects this was a child acting out a fantasy and that he was emotionally quite distant from the actual death and destruction that his actions had caused.
Curiously as I was reading I found myself more in sympathy with George W. Bush, the person, than I had ever been. He had a lot of expectation placed upon his shoulders. Not as bright as his father, nor even as bright as an average Yale undergraduate, he was nonetheless expected to attend Yale and do well. He then went onto Harvard Business School where of course he was not a star. He couldn't compete academically, and so pathetically he continued his childish habit of making fun of others, pinning offensive nicknames on them and bully them with his sense of entitlement and privilege. How sad.
And while Frank was pinning the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder label on George W., I began to think, hmm, that certainly wasn't much of deficit considering that George W. overcame it to the extent of becoming President of the United States. And as far as his so-called dyslexia goes, that too is not only not a detriment, but a plus since it endears him to millions of people who are not exactly eloquent themselves. And as for his drinking, I couldn't disagree with Frank's position more. He tries to make a distinction between those who have stopped drinking and "are in recovery" and those who "are abstaining on their own" with the implication that the latter are not really free of the effects of alcoholism. Indeed, reading Frank one gets the sense that alcoholism is some kind of mental illness different from the chemical imbalance that modern science recognizes. My understanding is that alcoholism is a disease of brain chemistry that is cured by not drinking, period. Alcoholics cannot drink because the effects of the alcohol on their brain chemistry leads to increasing dependence on increasing consumption leading to disability and disease that comes from habitual over consumption. George W. Bush is to be commended for not drinking, and should not be burdened with any condemnation because he didn't do it through AA.
Obviously I don't think that George W. Bush is a good president and in fact I agree with those, like Dr. Frank, who believe he is dangerous and a threat to our way of life. However I don't think Frank's diagnosis of Bush as a megalomaniac (see p. 200 and following) adds anything to our understanding.
For those interested in finding out more about what makes George W. tick, I want to recommend three of the books that Frank relied upon in putting this treatise together since I believe they present a less cluttered and sharper portrait of the president. They are: The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)Leads America (2004) by Eric Alterman and Mark Green; The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception (2003) by David Corn; and The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder (2001) by Mark Crispin Miller.
Bottom line: a fun exercise in Bush-bashing, entertaining and (mostly) readable, but to be taken with a grain or two of salt.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
The problem with this book is that any analysis of George W. Bush based on psychoanalytic theory is itself highly suspect. Yes, there are still many psychiatrists who believe in the Freudian or quasi-Freudian construct. Justin Frank is one of them, although, as he acknowledges throughout the book, he is especially devoted to the theories of child psychoanalyst Melanie Klein who wrote among other works, The Psychoanalysis of Children (1932). And yes there are still institutes devoted to psychoanalysis. But with the growth of neurological science and cognitive and evolutionary psychology, the number of institutes and practitioners is decreasing as the "science" of psychoanalysis and its clinical efficacy are found wanting. It will not be long before psychoanalytical theory will be nothing more than an embarrassing relic from the past, like blood-letting and frontal lobotomies. Among the younger clinicians and theorists, that time has already arrived. If you talk to people in academia they will tell you that psychoanalytic theory is treated more or less as literature, not anything resembling science.
Still there is merit in taking a detailed and thorough look at the president's past, as Frank has done here. He has used news reports, memoirs by friends and members of the Bush family (he had especial fun with Barbara Bush's memoir), Internet sites, and TV and radio interviews to put together a portrait of the president that is highly unflattering to say the least. The problem is that George W.'s behavior doesn't have to be filtered through any psychobabble to be recognized as troubling--again to say the least. The many lies that he habitually tells, the disregard he shows for human life, the acute ignorance he displays about environmental concerns, his elitist mind set, his inability to admit mistakes, and his sense that God is speaking personally to him are all reasons for us to be concerned.
Nonetheless, if you can read this book strictly for the information while putting Frank's theories about Oedipal complexes and the like to the side, it is fascinating. One doesn't have to bring Oedipus Rex into the mix to realize that George W. was dead set on outdoing George H. W., nor does one have to resort to an ego/id/superego construction to note that George W. is not aware of some of his subconscious motivations. When he landed that jet on the aircraft carrier while announcing "Mission accomplished" no one watching on television needed any special training in human psychology to understand that in some respects this was a child acting out a fantasy and that he was emotionally quite distant from the actual death and destruction that his actions had caused.
Curiously as I was reading I found myself more in sympathy with George W. Bush, the person, than I had ever been. He had a lot of expectation placed upon his shoulders. Not as bright as his father, nor even as bright as an average Yale undergraduate, he was nonetheless expected to attend Yale and do well. He then went onto Harvard Business School where of course he was not a star. He couldn't compete academically, and so pathetically he continued his childish habit of making fun of others, pinning offensive nicknames on them and bully them with his sense of entitlement and privilege. How sad.
And while Frank was pinning the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder label on George W., I began to think, hmm, that certainly wasn't much of deficit considering that George W. overcame it to the extent of becoming President of the United States. And as far as his so-called dyslexia goes, that too is not only not a detriment, but a plus since it endears him to millions of people who are not exactly eloquent themselves. And as for his drinking, I couldn't disagree with Frank's position more. He tries to make a distinction between those who have stopped drinking and "are in recovery" and those who "are abstaining on their own" with the implication that the latter are not really free of the effects of alcoholism. Indeed, reading Frank one gets the sense that alcoholism is some kind of mental illness different from the chemical imbalance that modern science recognizes. My understanding is that alcoholism is a disease of brain chemistry that is cured by not drinking, period. Alcoholics cannot drink because the effects of the alcohol on their brain chemistry leads to increasing dependence on increasing consumption leading to disability and disease that comes from habitual over consumption. George W. Bush is to be commended for not drinking, and should not be burdened with any condemnation because he didn't do it through AA.
Obviously I don't think that George W. Bush is a good president and in fact I agree with those, like Dr. Frank, who believe he is dangerous and a threat to our way of life. However I don't think Frank's diagnosis of Bush as a megalomaniac (see p. 200 and following) adds anything to our understanding.
For those interested in finding out more about what makes George W. tick, I want to recommend three of the books that Frank relied upon in putting this treatise together since I believe they present a less cluttered and sharper portrait of the president. They are: The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)Leads America (2004) by Eric Alterman and Mark Green; The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception (2003) by David Corn; and The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder (2001) by Mark Crispin Miller.
Bottom line: a fun exercise in Bush-bashing, entertaining and (mostly) readable, but to be taken with a grain or two of salt.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
April 4, 2018
I am an empathetic person, perhaps to a fault. I should feel incredible empathy for George W. Bush but I don't and I never will. The man is a pathetic, alcoholic sociopath and deserves our complete scorn and rejection for the terrorism he has unleashed upon the world. As he is wont to do, I wich we could rewrite our history. Well written and insightful book, incredibly end-noted in all its living and gory color. GWB needs to be put away.
July 27, 2007
I loaned this book to my therapist. She still hasn't given it back to me! This is a very interesting diagnosis of our leader's mental health, by a foremost and well-credentialed doctor in the field. Read at your own peril. You'll have nightmares for weeks!
February 20, 2023
This is a very interesting psychoanalysis of President George W. Bush, it was rather entertaining indeed.
March 5, 2016
Is George W Bush a malignant narcissist? Dr. Frank makes a convincing argument for just that, delving into Pres. Bush's past, he utilizes forensic psychology to create a profile of a very troubled man.
I first read this book, just after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. I came away from it with a better understanding of what drove not only President Bush, but Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney.
There are those who would question the validity of his assessment, given that Bush was never a patient. He acknowledges this, but clearly lays out his methods (methods commonly used to profile criminals and historical figures like Stalin), explaining how he reached his final conclusions.
I found this book both informative and deeply disturbing. It leaves readers pondering many questions. How well do we know or understand the people who govern us? At what point does ambition cease to be an admirable trait and become a dangerous vice? How do we recognize the sociopaths walking among us? A very prescient question given the current rise of Donald Trump.
I first read this book, just after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. I came away from it with a better understanding of what drove not only President Bush, but Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney.
There are those who would question the validity of his assessment, given that Bush was never a patient. He acknowledges this, but clearly lays out his methods (methods commonly used to profile criminals and historical figures like Stalin), explaining how he reached his final conclusions.
I found this book both informative and deeply disturbing. It leaves readers pondering many questions. How well do we know or understand the people who govern us? At what point does ambition cease to be an admirable trait and become a dangerous vice? How do we recognize the sociopaths walking among us? A very prescient question given the current rise of Donald Trump.
Read
July 29, 2011I loved this book more then words. From the attention grabbing cover to the insightful information about Bush and the world's mind point, this book shoudl have been read by everyone before Bush got into offce. This is well foot-noted and researched. It looks to the pieces of his life that would seem to influence him today. I felt sadness in reading one of the things that influenced our president at a young age. This book is very intriguing. It goes back into Bush family history and delves into why our Presidents says and does the things he does. It does not "bash bush", it only seeks to understand his behavior. The writer does insert his opinion sometimes, which is negative of Bush, but it's easy to ignore these insertions, although they make the book much more colorful. All in all, the book looks at facts and tries to interpret them. Well written and a mostly unbiased account of the first four years of the Bush presidency.
May 5, 2009
I remember reading this just before the '04 election, while I was organizing for the New Hampshire primary, and thinking "Thank god the bastard will soon be out of office."
The best thing about Bush was how fast he faded away; even cracking jokes about him isn't funny anymore. It was as though the man existed in momentary spurts of stupidity and silence, and when those moments were gone there was nothing left but the horror of his presence.
Anyway, Mr. Frank's book was completely necessary at the time, but I can imagine has not traveled well in 4 years.
The best thing about Bush was how fast he faded away; even cracking jokes about him isn't funny anymore. It was as though the man existed in momentary spurts of stupidity and silence, and when those moments were gone there was nothing left but the horror of his presence.
Anyway, Mr. Frank's book was completely necessary at the time, but I can imagine has not traveled well in 4 years.
August 30, 2016
Excellent insight on GWB and his pathology. Well written and interesting. I read the companion book "Obama on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President", and found, unequivocally, that President Obama possessed mentally, emotionally and deliberately (in a careful and unhurried way) far more sound characteristic traits than President Bush, whom I found unsettling about his upbringing; and many of those flaws made its way to the U.S. Presidency! An excellent study of human nature and what motivates individuals to behave as they do from cradle to college and beyond!
July 15, 2012
This is an excellent analysis of the persona of George W Bush. The author uses speeches and other sources to build a picture and understanding of the mind of Bush. It is fascinating and alarming. The author describes the early childhood of the President along with critical life alterning losses in a clear and compassionate style.
The reader is not over burdened with psychological language yet is is not simplistic.
This is a must read for those who are interested in the "new" Republican party.
The reader is not over burdened with psychological language yet is is not simplistic.
This is a must read for those who are interested in the "new" Republican party.
July 20, 2016
It wouldn't take Freud to spot Bush as a sadistic, megalomaniac, Neanderthal with "Daddy" issues. At times, the most liberal of readers, however, wonder where where psychology ends and pure dislike of Bush's politics begins. While this reader is certain Bush is all the above and more, an exercise for the good doctor would be to analyze the piss out of a politician on the Democrat side. Let's face it, for good or ill, Bill would definitely fill a book.
October 6, 2016
A book which showed how this deeply psychologically scarred individual was unfit to be President.
Produced in 2005, it answered the question why such a troubled person would seek the presidency, starting with his self-medication (alcohol) in prep school, through college until his "born again" status in 1985.
While one does not have to love psychology to understand the findings, it nevertheless provides an insight in how some people come to be who they are.
Produced in 2005, it answered the question why such a troubled person would seek the presidency, starting with his self-medication (alcohol) in prep school, through college until his "born again" status in 1985.
While one does not have to love psychology to understand the findings, it nevertheless provides an insight in how some people come to be who they are.
March 4, 2008
This is the family book for this year (thanks to Lora and Adam). The analysis is very freudian, which i don't really like (the gender constructs and assumptions about Mother and Father) but at the same time it is a fascinating read. i agree with others who have said that it makes them both more scared of and bush and sad for him...
August 24, 2008
Very frightening book--Bush analyzed by a psychologist with very good writing skills. How was this man ever elected? He tortured animals as a child, tortured "brothers" in his fraternity house, and had fist fights with his father; apparently, his efforts to quit drinking "cold turkey" have not gone well either. Careful who I'd recommend this one to, though.
September 10, 2013
The content was so stomach turning, but then again the truth can be at times. To be sure, it is five-star worthy if for no other reason than the sheer amount tenacity required to complete a work like this. Undoubtedly, Frank must possess the trait spades! Very hard to get thru, but I'm glad I made it out the other side.
August 17, 2007
An amusing attempt to psychoanalyze the Prez, blaming his dislike of ambiguity on attitudes common to recovered alcoholics. I wonder if he's at all trying to reference the NR article from the 70s, "Kissinger on the Couch."
partially-read
March 18, 2008I started reading this but put it down after 60 pages or so. I might pick it back up again, might not. The author is such a hard-core Freudian that I have to take his interpretation with a grain of salt.
February 26, 2008
It's a fun read, with a lot of good insights, but obviously biased and made me want to psychoanalyze the author as much as read his analysis of Bush. The updated version is interesting to compare to the original because a lot of what he predicted proved to be so accurate.
Read
March 11, 2008Discusses how his charm fools some people to think he is a "nice, good ole boy" when he is anything but a nice guy.
IN hindsight a prescient book of an imbalanced chap whose incompetence has ranked him as the worst US President - including Buchanan.
IN hindsight a prescient book of an imbalanced chap whose incompetence has ranked him as the worst US President - including Buchanan.
July 28, 2008
While I enjoyed this book, I definitely felt like it was written by someone who dislikes George W. Bush. There was some information in it that I found to be useful and new but mostly it was a rehashing of things I already knew.
March 27, 2011
I had not made the "dry drunk" connection until I read this. While there is some criticism to diagnosis without actually talking to the "patient" certainly some observations that the author supports.
September 3, 2013
I don't agree with all of Frank's opinions but his ideas are worth reading and thinking about. Dr. Frank also wrote a book about Obama and I assume he will continue writing analyses of presidents. He needs to try to be a little less biased toward liberal politics.
October 4, 2007
Really, really, really scary.
January 3, 2008
psycho-history is generally garbage. This was entirely disturbing.
January 18, 2008
Well written. Frightening. Thank God, the end is near.
January 25, 2008
The man was incomprehensible (not to mention unlistenable) and through all the incomplete sentences and bruises, I just HAD to know what the hell was wrong with him.
February 4, 2008
Great description of our 42nd President. Gives the reader a clear understanding of why Bush is like he is. I recommend this book.
January 23, 2009
I finally gave up without finishing this and now I am just glad that I don't care anymore. Thank goodness...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews