As far as I know, Trump has never been clinically depressed. As a matter of fact, he may not have ever experienced what Ghaemi describes as mild depression. Nevertheless, Trump may regularly alternate between what Ghaemi describes as mild manic symptoms and what he describes as the delusional optimism of mentally healthy peopleas I explain below.
But could Trump manifest certain mild manic tendencies, as do (or did) the Americans that Gartner and Whybrow discuss, without ever experiencing a full-blown hypomanic episode a psychotic break with reality? Yes, this could happen.
Ghaemi describes clinical depression as characterized by "anger and despondency" (page 12). He also characterizes full-blown mania as characterized by "impulsivity" (page 12). In addition, he says, "The core of [full-blown] mania is impulsivity with heightened energy" (page 15; his emphasis).
Ghaemi says, "Some people are neither depressed nor manic, but they aren't mentally healthy either. They have abnormal personalities or temperaments. . . . [M]any leaders, though not manic-depressive, have abnormal temperaments that are mild versions of manic-depressive illness" (page 15; his emphases).
According to Ghaemi, "Most studies on personality identify at least three basic traits common to all people: [1] neuroticism, [2] extraversion, and [3] openness to experience. One of these [personality] traits is anxiety we're all more or less anxious (neuroticism) Another [personality trait] is sociability some of us are more extraverted, some more introverted (extraversion). Another [personality trait] is experience seeking some of us are curious and take risks, others are more cautious (openness to experience. We each have more or less of these [personality] traits, and, with well-designed psychological tests, one can establish how they're distributed among thousands of normal people. One can then know where any single person stands on each [personality] trait, near the middle of a normal [bell-shaped distribution] curve and thus near the average or toward the extremes" (page 16).
Just as Ghaemi focuses on three personality traits, so too he works with three specific personality types. He says, "These [personality] traits can combine to form specific personality types. [1] Some people are always a little depressed, low in energy, need more than eight hours' sleep a night, and introverted. This personality type is called dysthymia. [2] Other people are the opposite: always upbeat, outgoing, high in energy. They need less than eight hours' sleep a night and have more libido than most of us. This [personality] type is called hyperthymia, and it occurs often in great leaders, like Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. [3] And some people are a little of both, alternating between lows and highs in mood and energy. This [personality] type is called cyclothymia" (page 16; his emphases).
Like FDR and JFK, Trump appears to be characterized by what Ghaemi refers to here as hyperthymia. (The prefix hyper- means more than. Like Gartner and Whybrow, Ghaemi is silent about women and mild manic symptoms. In addition, he is silent about women and dysthymia and cyclothymia. In my estimate, former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton did not and does not manifest hyperthymia nor do any of the women who entered the 2020 Democratic primary.)
However, unlike FDR and JFK, Trump appears not to have ever suffered deeply or to have experienced any significant depressive episodes in his life.
By way of digression, I want to point out here that both Plato and Aristotle use the Greek word that can be transliterated as thumos or thymos to refer to one part of the human psyche (or soul) the root word in the psychiatric terminology about dysthymia, hyperthymia, and cyclothymia. Whoever coined these psychiatric terms not only knew ancient Greek, but also knew how Plato and Aristotle discuss this part of the human psyche. For Plato and Aristotle, this part of the human psyche can be likened to a spirited horse that needs to be cultivated and tamed by the virtue of courage, which they operationally defined as the mean between the extremes of pusillanimity (cowardice) and brashness. For Plato and Aristotle, each human person can be likened to Hector, the tamer of horses that is, each person faces the challenge of taming the spirited horse in his or her psyche.
Now, my favorite scholar the American Jesuit polymath Walter J. Ong (1912-2003; Ph.D. in English, Harvard University, 1955) does not happen to advert explicitly to Plato and Aristotle in his relevant discussion of male agonistic tendencies in his book Fighting for Life: Contest, Sexuality, and Consciousness (Cornell University Press, 1981), the published version of his 1979 Messenger Lectures at Cornell University a theme Ong also explored at length earlier in his book The Presence of the Word: Some Prolegomena for Cultural and Religious History (Yale University Press, 1967, esp. pages 191-222 and 236-241), the expanded version of his 1964 Terry Lectures at Yale University.
However, for Aristotle, the cardinal virtue of courage is a key part of the overall matrix of cardinal virtues that includes moderation, prudence, and justice (that is, personal justice, as distinct from, say, legal justice and social justice).
Even though Ong stopped well short of formulating anything as complicated as Aristotle's interactive view of the four cardinal virtues, Ong does explore the interactive non-cognitive agonistic structures with the cognitive conceptualizations that emerge in his 1982 plenary address "The Agonistic Base of Scientifically Abstract Thought: Issues in Fighting for Life: Contest, Sexuality, and Consciousness" that is reprinted in An Ong Reader: Challenges for Further Inquiry (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2002, pages 479-495).
Taking certain hints from Ong, I explore male agonism in the American novelist William Faulkner's life and novels in my essay "Faulkner and Male Agonism" in the book Time, Memory, and the Verbal Arts: Essays on the Thought of Walter Ong, edited by Dennis L. Weeks and Jane Hoogestraat (Cranbury, NJ; and London: Associated University Presses, 1998, pages 203-221).
Faulkner was an alcoholic who tended to suffer from mildly depressive symptoms. He may represent either what Ghaemi refers to as a dysthymia personality or a cyclothymia personality. However, Thomas Sutpen in Faulkner's novel Absalom, Absalom! (1936) represents what Ghaemi refers to as a hyperthymia personality. What Gartner, Whybrow, and Ghaemi describe as persistent mildly manic symptoms in certain men (and Thomas Sutpen in Faulkner's novel) strike me as ordinary male agonism on steroids. End of digression.
In any event, perhaps we can liken Trump's hyperthymia personality to a spirited horse that still needs to be tamed by his inner Hector, tamer of horses. Good luck with that, eh?
I suspect that Mick Mulvaney urged senior White House officials to read Ghaemi's book primarily because of his discussion of hyperthymia personality as possibly applying to Trump. However, Ghaemi also discusses certain prominent political leaders that he claims are psychologically normal. In this discussion Ghaemi works with an elaborate contrast between what he styles as depressive realism, the byproduct of having experienced depression, versus unrealistic optimism, the byproduct of never having experienced depression. In my estimate, Trump characteristically expresses delusional (according to Ghaemi) optimism of mentally healthy people this is a key feature of his salesman persona.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
