Neuroscience
Yesterday, The Times published an article of questionable virtue by its resident medical columnist, Dr Thomas Stuttaford, in which he implies that both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have personality disorders.
Link to Times article about leaders and personality disorders.
Link to British Psychological Society report on personality disorders (for a roundup, see this article from The Psychologist magazine).
PS. The views expressed in this post are my personal views. I'm not speaking for the Society.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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Neuroscience
Does Gordon Brown have a personality disorder?
Yesterday, The Times published an article of questionable virtue by its resident medical columnist, Dr Thomas Stuttaford, in which he implies that both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have personality disorders."...[I]t is interesting that Tony Blair, charming and charismatic as he is, scores a full house of ticks for a histrionic personality disorder, and scores in the boxes of a few other personality disorders too" writes Stuttaford.
And he observes that Prime Minister Brown:
"...shows symptoms of the personality disorders grouped together in DSM4 as cluster A disorders. He is likely to be demanding, self- absorbed, have difficulties in relationships with others, suffer discomfort in social situations with unfamiliar people, have vaguely unsettling inappropriate gestures or facial expressions and may be so focused that he finds it difficult to concentrate on subjects other than that which has caught his immediate attention."Stuttaford's main thesis is that it takes someone a bit odd to reach the very top. Whilst there may be a kernel of truth to that claim, I'm not convinced that anyone wins from this kind of arm chair diagnosis: It surely detracts from the suffering of those people who really do have a personality disorder, and feeds the cynicism of those who think psychiatrists are desperate to slap a diagnosis on everyone and his dog.
Link to Times article about leaders and personality disorders.
Link to British Psychological Society report on personality disorders (for a roundup, see this article from The Psychologist magazine).
PS. The views expressed in this post are my personal views. I'm not speaking for the Society.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- The Special Issue Spotter
We trawl the world's journals so you don't have to: Focus on social neuroscience (Nature Neuroscience). Complexities of mild traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder (virtual issue of Journal of the International Neuropsychological...
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Emotion and disorders of emotion (Nature Neuroscience). Sociologies of problem gambling (American Behavioural Scientist). Personality and personal relationship processes (Journal of Social and Personal Relationships). Making instructional cartoons...
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