Madness of King George

21 April 2006
GEORGE WACKO BUSH
PROFESSOR: HE'S MAD AND VERY DANGEROUS
By Bob Roberts, Deputy Political Editor
GEORGE W Bush shows all the signs of being a paranoid schizophrenic, a leading psychiatrist claims today.


Prof Justin Frank said the president is a danger to the world because he actually believes he is all-powerful and beyond the law.


His book Bush on the Couch, written after studying his medical records and behaviour, argues that the US leader has a condition common in schizophrenics - megalomania. He thinks the condition could drive him to invent then destroy enemies to demonstrate his power.


Prof Frank said: "The defining characteristic of megalomania is the need, driven by internal fear of persecution, to pinpoint then annihilate all persecutors perceived as outside threats."


The psychiatrist at George Washington University in Washington DC said: "Behind Bush's affable exterior operates a powerful but obscure delusional system that drives his behaviour."


He blames his mental state on his untreated alcoholism as a youth, his fundamentalist religious beliefs and his love-hate relationship with his former president dad George Bush senior.


Prof Frank said it had created an individual living in his own inner world largely "untroubled by external reality". Psychologist Oliver James said: "Frank leads us to the conclusion that the most powerful man in the world is only a short skip away from being completely mad."


The White House wouldn't comment saying: "We don't do book reviews." Bush, who was meeting Chinese president Hu Jintao yesterday, has said in the past: "I don't spend a lot of time trying to figure me out. I'm not into psychobabble."


bob.roberts@mirror.co.uk