David Brooks in New York Times says Donald Trump has many mental problems: What does it mean when a person gets multiple psychiatric diagnoses?

Previously, Brooks had said, as I mentioned in a previous post, that Trump has “multiple personality disorders.” It was not clear what Brooks meant.

Now, having spoken to “one trained psychiatrist,” Brooks says Trump is manic with “inflated self-esteem, sleeplessness, impulsivity, aggression,” with “speech patterns…straight out of a psychiatric textbook,” demonstrating the manic’s uninhibited “flight of ideas.”

Brooks also says Trump is “childlike” with a “fragile identity” and lacks “empathy.”

Brooks doesn’t mention Trump’s history of using pseudonyms (which I discuss in previous posts).

I cannot assess the validity of any of Brooks' assertions, because he has not provided sufficient information to support any of them. For example, if Trump has a “flight of ideas” on stage, does he still have a flight of ideas when he leaves the stage? A manic person would. Has he also had depressive episodes (since mania is usually part of bipolar disorder, aka manic-depression)? Has he ever been treated for mania or depression?

And how are Brooks’ assertions about Trump consistent with what Trump has accomplished in life? This is not to say that Trump has not, at various times, behaved in the ways Brooks says, but none of Brooks' psychological labels satisfactorily accounts for it all.

I cannot diagnose Trump, if any diagnosis is warranted, because I don’t have enough information. All I wish to add to the discussion is that it is common for a person who is eventually diagnosed with multiple personality to have a history of multiple prior psychiatric diagnoses that were at odds with each other.