Trump on the Couch

Inside the Mind of the President

By: Justin A. Frank

Narrated by: Fred Sanders, Justin A. Frank

Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

"A great public service - critical for our time." (Bandy X. Lee, M.D., M.Div., Yale psychiatrist, expert on violence, and editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump)

The New York Times best-selling author of Bush on the Couch shows that Donald Trump is mentally and emotionally unfit to execute the duties of president.

No president in the history of the United States has inspired more alarm and confusion than Donald Trump. Questions and concerns about his decisions, his behavior, and his qualifications for office only seem to multiply with time. How can he behave so callously and irresponsibly? Does he pose a true danger to our country? How could he even have been elected?

In answer, noted psychoanalyst Justin A. Frank takes a deep dive into the psyche of our president. Using observations gained from a close study of Trump's patterns of thought, action, and communication, Dr. Frank gives us a full portrait of the personality we saw on display during his remarkable campaign and helps us understand what has driven the decision-making during his first years in office. The result is filled with important revelations about our nation's leader and disturbing insights into his childhood, his family, his business dealings, and his unusual relationship with alternative facts, including how:

• The absence of a strong maternal force during childhood has led to Trump's remarkable lack of empathy and disregard for women's boundaries (as well as his unusual hairstyle);
• His compulsion to polarize America has grown out of the way he perceives the world as full of deceitful and destructive persecutors;
• His inability to tolerate the pain of frustration has triggered his belief that omnipotence will finally remove it;
• His idiosyncratic use of language points to larger issues than even his tweets might suggest.

With Dr. Frank's penetrating examination of how we as a nation got here and, more importantly, where we are going, Trump on the Couch offers a candid assessment of the man who is arguably the most psychologically damaged president we have yet had.

©2018 Justin A. Frank (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"I've known Trump a long time and I have even tried my own hand at psychoanalyzing him on television. But, Dr. Frank has shown a more complete picture inside our 45th President's mind than I ever dared to consider. Behind all Trump's tough guy theatrics, his petty cruelties and bloated ego is a tangled knot of pathologies that should terrify us all. Trump on the Couch is a great first step to sizing up the President's inner demons.” (Donny Deutsch, cohost on MSNBC’s Morning Joe)

"Trump on the Couch has spared me the extra grief of hoping against hope that our President will change. Dr. Frank’s analysis helps explain the genesis of Trump’s bullying, cruelty, dismissiveness, sexism, sadism, narcissism and more to help us understand that very sick man. Now I can brace myself in a more efficient way - not teetering between disbelief and denial but accepting what is, and continuing to resist." (Joan Baez)

“A breathtaking book! While I have maintained that a full psychological analysis is not possible from a distance, Dr. Frank has convinced me that there can be an exception. A rare convergence of top-tier clinical prowess and rigorous research into high-quality data, Trump on the Couch is thoughtful, accurate, and responsibly informative in ways that make it a great public service - critical for our time.” (Bandy X. Lee, MD, MDiv, Yale psychiatrist, expert on violence, and editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump)

Educational and Insightful

Intriguing and understandable in-depth observation and description of the psychological conundrum which creates the Trump enigma.

Witten like an intelligence report

I was happy to learn this is not an isolated attempt at psycho-analyzing a president. Justin Frank writes a clear and understandable description of the adult Donald Trump's actions and desires based on his childhood and family relations. Much of his puzzling politics is made crystal clear. A fun read you won't want to put down.

Know Trump more intimately than yourself...

This clinical analysis explains every characteristic, every aspect of his behavior and it finally and catastrophically makes sence.

Intelligent and insightful

I enjoyed being able to look at Trump’s behavior from another perspective. Read -it further confirmed my own studies (and intuition) about 45. And I was able to see much more of myself there than I could stand.

Putting The Pieces Together

Psychology at it’s finest.
Donald Trump is the most dangerous person to ever hold office. Fred Trump should have stayed in Germany.

Accurate

Being extensively trained in psychoanalysis, I can confirm most of his statements. I’ve mentioned it myself for decades: narcissistic personal disorders and Borderline has become a common diagnosis. And since Trump is just mirroring his folks, we can securely state, that ‘Houston, we as human society, have a serious problem.

Just as Freud, I consider nation states as entities that can eventually be diagnosed similar to individuals. And just like Germany 1933, those people who long for a canvas like Trump to project their desires on, large amounts of people, sometimes whole nations, there are pretty much people that are suffering just as ‘The Donald’. Can we fix that?

Very interesting & educational

I've wondered about the mind of a narcissist & how this behavior comes about. This book is very informative & an eye opener. Everyone needs to read, especially going into 2020.

Good read

One of the best books I have read on understanding why Trump is like he is. It helped me better understand my own self as well. This is a great read.

A VERY REVEALING & INFORMATIVE BOOK

The Book Was A Very Revealing And Informative Piece Of Work
Explaining The President's Personality And Consciousnes.

Doesn't disappoint!

As someone who's studied psychology(MA) and psychoanalytic theory, this book does not disappoint. This is the first "On the coach" book I've listened to or read by Dr. Justin Frank, MD and I'm thrilled the book I "cut my teeth" on was about Trump. I'm a neophyte as far as the intricacies of psychoanalytic theory and I've never been a fan of Freud but when it comes to Trump there doesn't seem to be a better theory to use to describe him. Dr. Frank gives clear real-life examples of how Trump and his "personality" fit the mold of psychoanalytic theory in terms that anyone not familiar with psychoanalysis will understand. If I had had Dr. Frank as a psychology professor I might have taken more of an interest thankfully I know enough to make me giggle.

I highly recommend this audiobook/book to anyone who wants a peek into the mind of Trump from an outsiders perspective.