There are nearly 300 disorders listed in the DSM-5. Not one of them addresses racism. by Andrew P. Brown III, Ph.D.

There are nearly 300 disorders listed in the DSM-5. Not one of them addresses racism. 

Andrew P. Brown III, Ph.D.

Licensed Psychologist, State of New Jersey

Abstract

There are nearly 300 disorders listed in the Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders - Fifth Edition (DSM-5). Not one of them addresses racism. The author describes racism as a mental disorder with constructs derived from DSM-5 criteria for Social Phobia, Paranoia and Antisocial Personality Disorders. Selected criteria are merged and modified to form clinically applicable nomenclature under the proposed heading of: Racial Psychopathological Disorder. Additionally, the author explains how this pathology manifests in the Make America Great Again (MAGA) sociopolitical movement, specifically, how it renders its participants susceptible to psychological denial and Delusional Disorder. A case study history contrasting Nazi Germany with MAGA culture is presented to illustrate the potential outcome of a manifested state of group psychopathology in this regard and the urgent need for American federal government Justice Department policy reform.

The Case For Psychological Denial and Need For Federal Government Department of Justice Policy Reform.

For several years now, I have said, to anyone willing to listen, that White separatists are having a knee-jerk reaction to the demographic transition that has been ongoing for, at least, the last 50 years. It is as if they suddenly woke up and realized that "their" country is slipping away. Recall the oft-heard rallying cry from a particular segment of the American population when Barack Obama became president of the United States of "we want our country back." Shortly after Obama's election came something called the Tea Party, whose participants claimed that somehow, all of a sudden, the Constitution of the United States was under attack. This psychologist saw the formation of the Tea Party for what it was (note the past-tense): an organized expression of psychological discomfort, inherent to a particular group of people, to the presence of a Black man and his family in the White House.

From that point forward, my analysis of events has led me to conclude that we are living witness to the last days of White supremacy and White segregation in America. "Their" country is not slipping away; it's already gone.

The demographic transition occurring in America resembles a speeding locomotive without brakes. Enacting travel bans, erecting border walls, hate inspired tiki-torch marching, the opportunistic murdering of people of color, and the cartoonish display of an alternate reality mindset, symbolized by delusional toy soldiers posing with ridiculous looking firearms, are all symptoms of a state of psychological denial. As with the Tea Party, these displays are morphed versions of Racial Psychopathologic Disorder and the corresponding expression of denial will not reverse or stop the inevitable demographic reality.

The United States is at a crossroad and a functional American government will be tasked with preparing the public for the undergoing transition. It requires mature adult lawmakers introducing bills and passing legislation compatible with the needs of the ethnically-diverse demographic that has now redefined what it means to be American. To do otherwise is to sustain a state of nation-wide dysfunction caused by government policy that reflects a perpetual form of mental illness.

At present, the American lawmakers currently at the helm have chosen an unsustainable course that is antagonistic to preparation for this new dynamic. Rather than introduce and pass modern legislation to secure equal rights, protection, and privileges under the law for the new and present America, the only things being passed by the United States Senate, led by majority leader Mitch McConnell, are grossly unqualified judicial appointees whose sole purpose is to reinterpret citizen rights afforded by the Constitution in a way to oversee, limit the access of, and control the burgeoning demographic. These judicial appointments represent an attempt to embolden the power of the Court to permanently render citizens of color as mere subjects (i.e. citizens in name only) while at the same time securing the full rights of citizenship for the coming state of a White minority.

Given the task of passing legislation that secures equal rights and protection under the law for all citizens, the Trump administration, instead, has re-invoked Department of Justice law enforcement policy in an attempt to "make America great again." This policy shift, among other unfortunate events, has allowed unabated infiltration of law enforcement by White separatists.

In a three part series of online articles published June 14, 2019 (1), Will Carless and Michael Corey found that hundreds of active duty and retired law enforcement officers across the United States are members of Confederate, anti-Islam, misogynistic or antigovernment militia groups on Facebook.

These authors found numerous examples of police officers posting violent and racial content on their public Facebook pages, and furthermore, their investigation shows that officers and agencies across the country have actively joined private hate groups and are participating in the spread of extremism on Facebook. The authors describe their methodology:

"To find cops with connections to extremist groups, we built lists of two different types of Facebook users: members of extremist groups and members of police groups. We wrote software to download these lists directly from Facebook, something the platform allowed at the time. In mid-2018, in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and after we already had downloaded our data, Facebook shut down the ability to download membership lists from groups. Then we ran those two data sets against each other to find users who are members of at least one law enforcement group and one far-right group.

We got 14,000 hits."

These authors noted further: "the groups cover a range of extremist ideologies. Some present themselves publicly as being dedicated to benign historical discussion of the Confederacy, but are replete with racism inside. Some trade in anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant memes. Some are openly Islamaphobic. And almost 150 of the officers we found are involved with violent antigovernment groups such as the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters. These cops have worked at every level of American law enforcement, from tiny, rural sheriffs departments to the largest agencies in the country such as the Los Angeles and New York Police Departments. They work in jails, schools, and airports, on boats and trains and in patrol cars. And, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting discovered, they also read and contribute to groups such as White Lives Matter and Death to Islam Undercover."

The authors revealed that at the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, marchers flew a "Blue Lives Matter" flag alongside anti-Semitic and White supremacist messages.

By reversing or stifling Obama era Department of Justice reforms, the Trump administration has infused police forces throughout the nation with White segregation militia. The proliferation of White militia within the ranks of law enforcement, coupled with a judicial system engineered to suppress equal application of protection and civil rights, render the infrastructure necessary to execute a facsimile of South African Apartheid rule in the United States. This would force the majority of citizens to survive under a system of law enforcement in concert with a judiciary that enables a state of suppression and control. In essence, Make America Great Again, deconstructed, represents a sociopolitical movement, driven by a culture derived from psychopathology, that makes operational a blueprint for an American Apartheid.

Case Study

For the mental health expert, it is always critical to understand the client's history in order to assess, analyze and design a course of treatment. Case Study history of mental illness in the research literature allows mental health practitioners the ability to determine a course of treatment leading to the best outcome for the client in question. The psychopathology of racism is no different. To determine the fate of an entire nation of untreated racial psychopathology, one need look no further than Nazi Germany to serve as a Case Study.

I reference February 28, 1933, when the German government issued a decree which suspended Constitutional civil rights and created a state of emergency in which official decrees could be enacted without parliamentary confirmation. It seems that Trump has angled to establish this form of self-empowerment from day one of his presidency. Recall in the first week of his administration when Stephen Miller implored that the presidents authority shall not be questioned.

Consider the almost daily rants by this president as having absolute power to do whatever he pleases. Consider how he has been exonerated of any wrong doing by the Republican held Senate despite obvious evidence presented to the contrary. Even the conservative majority Supreme Court seems to endorse this grab for authoritarian rule.

The parallel with Adolf Hitler and his henchmen is no coincidence. The dehumanization policies of Stephen Miller channels the Third Reich's Joseph Goebbels, American right-wing media channels Hitler's Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda which shaped German public opinion and behavior. That Ministry incited hatred and fostered a climate of indifference to the fate of European Jews. In the modern context, the role of the daily right-wing messengers is to sustain the state of racial animus by inciting hatred and indifference to the Blacks, the Mexicans, the Asians, the Indians, the Muslims, the Latinos, and the Jews; to anybody from any group distinct from them. They adhere to Hitler's 1924 proclamation on propaganda:

"task is not to make an objective study of the truth, in so far as it favors the enemy, and then set it before the masses with academic fairness; its task is to serve our own right, always and unflinchingly."

Recall the opening salvo across the bow on day one of the Trump administration when Press Secretary Sean Spicer came out and gave an account of inauguration attendance that did not comport with reality. The MAGA movement is a manifestation of racial psychopathology that is self-actualizing as a Fourth Reich within the United States of America.

As a mental health expert, I am well aware that the horror and trauma imposed on the American psyche by the Trump administration has exposed, in the raw, a state of mental illness that has festered in American culture since the country's inception. There is no other figure than Trump himself who exemplifies this mental illness. A pattern of pathological lying, inability to accept responsibility for his actions, grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy, aptly defines this narcissistic and immature creature of White privilege.

Trump is chief metaphor for all the mentally deranged, paranoid, inspired ills of White separatism that have plagued American culture for centuries. But oddly enough, thanks to Trump, we are seeing the visceral reaction of utter disgust by the new America. And it is this exposure of mental illness that now propels the nation toward cultural change with slingshot velocity.

In the world of mental health treatment, psychotherapy is routinely performed to heal. The client typically transitions from a state of psychological dysfunction characterized by denial due to poor awareness or a refusal to acknowledge mental impairment, to a functional state of improved mental health, primarily the result of enhanced awareness. Just as psychotherapy is key in treating the individual, I believe it is also key in treating an entire nation.

In order to effectuate change from the culture of hate inspired racism and promote the process of healing, it requires that the post-Trump legacy not be celebrated. Rather, the Trump legacy, much like the legacy of Adolf Hitler, must be upheld as the standard example of immoral leadership and evil for all future American generations. For example, it would be useful to contrast photos of pre-war and immediate post-war Berlin with pre-Trump and post-Trump America. Preservation of the Trump legacy for future generations must communicate the consequences for what becomes of a leadership that is immoral at its core.

Victims of mental illness are usually blind to the consequences of their actions, again due to poor awareness and denial. In the current context, I have observed that the psychopathology of racism, for example, renders those afflicted to support a messianic personality who is immoral at the core.

Those afflicted with this illness are not able to comprehend the relationship between a devastated economy and empowering a man who separates families and puts children in cages, who brags about grabbing women by their private parts, who cheats on his pregnant wife, who lies impulsively, who has openly defrauded thousands of people over the years without concern for the financial damage he caused to their lives, who incites violence at rallies, who won't show his tax returns, and who gleefully talks about not even paying taxes.

At his victory speech in the Nevada primary, candidate Trump even told the crowd that he loves the poorly educated, and the audience roared. Mental illness compromises awareness and overrides prudent judgment and reasoning; the only thing important to Trumps populace of support is the false promise of securing an incompatible state of American White supremacy in defiance of the American multicultural/ethnically-diverse reality.

Adolf Hitler's surviving followers woke up to see the nightmare he created far too late; not only was there no economy, there wasn't even a country to speak of at the war's end. Case studies allow mental health professionals to see the next series of frames in the sequence of a given patient that has not been treated. Likewise, I can clearly see the next frame in the sequence in an America that refuses to change its culture. Therefore, the treatment for America, much like post-war Germany, requires that Trump not be immortalized in any celebratory manner, rather, his presidential library must exemplify the end of White supremacy and separatism in America by illustrating the constellation of authoritarian behavior, racial terror, torture, murderous behavior, trauma, hate-spewed destruction and shame he and his sycophants represent.

Like Auschwitz, the Trump edifice should serve as a constant reminder, for generations to come, of where we as a country, must never go again.

Racial Psychopathological Disorder Defined

The election of Donald Trump, in the midst of the new American cultural ethos defined by ethnic-diversity, has allowed for an unvarnished view of the psychopathology of racism. So what exactly characterizes the psycho-pathology of racism? What symptoms are present in the individual suffering from this form of mental illness?

Racial Psychopathological Disorder is defined as a pattern of pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of ethnically diverse others such that their motives are interpreted as malevolent. Individuals with this disorder demonstrate a pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others from population groups distinct from their own. Additionally, these individuals frequently lack empathy and tend to be callous, cynical, and contemptuous of the feelings, rights, and sufferings of others.

They have an inflated and arrogant self-appraisal and may be excessively opinionated, self-assured, or cocky. They may display a glib, superficial charm and can be quite voluble and verbally facile (e.g., using technical terms or jargon that might impress someone who is unfamiliar with the topic).

A fundamental aspect of this disorder is that these individuals assume that others, from population groups distinct from their own, will exploit, harm, or deceive them, even if no evidence exists to support this expectation. They suspect, on the basis of little or no evidence, that these others are plotting against them and may attack them suddenly, at any time and without reason. They often feel that they have been deeply and irreversibly injured by ethnically diverse others even when there is no objective evidence for this. They minutely scrutinize the actions of ethnically diverse others for evidence of hostile intentions, and any perceived slight serves to support their underlying assumptions. Because they are constantly vigilant to the harmful intentions of ethnically diverse others, they very often feel that their character or reputation has been attacked or that they have been slighted in some other way. They are quick to counterattack and react with anger to perceived insults. Individuals with this disorder may be pathologically jealous and may gather trivial and circumstantial "evidence" to support their jealous beliefs.

They exhibit a strong need to establish complete control in interactions with ethnically diverse others and assume a self-justified empowerment that entitles their right to constantly question and challenge the whereabouts, actions, and intentions of these others.

An essential feature of Racial Psychopathological Disorder is marked and persistent fear of ethnically diverse individuals. These individuals experience a marked, persistent, and excessive or unreasonable fear when in the presence of, or when anticipating an encounter with, ethnically diverse people. There often appears a positive relationship between the intensity of the fear and gradations of skin tone (i.e., the darker the skin the greater the fear). Mature adults with this disorder recognize that the fear is excessive or unreasonable. The associated diagnoses of Delusional Disorder is added for adults who do not mature to recognize that their fear is excessive and unreasonable. In some people, insight into the excessive or unreasonable nature of the fear tends to increase with age.

With regard to associated features: individuals with Racial Psychopathological Disorder tend to have a self-imposed sense of superiority, which serves to justify their need to have a high degree of control. When around ethnically diverse people, they are often rigid, critical, and unable to collaborate. They have great difficulty accepting criticism and tend to blame ethnically diverse others for their own shortcomings.

Individuals with this disorder seek to confirm their preconceived negative notions regarding ethnically diverse people or situations they encounter, attributing malevolent motivations to others that are projections of their own fears and insecurities. They may exhibit thinly hidden, unrealistic grandiose fantasies, are often attuned to issues of power and rank, and tend to develop negative stereotypes of the population groups distinct from their own. Attracted by simplistic formulations of the world, they are often wary of ambiguous situations. They may be perceived as "fanatics" and form tightly knit "cults" or groups with others who share their paranoid belief systems.

Racial Psychopathological Disorder may appear as the premorbid antecedent of Delusional Disorder. Individuals with Racial Psychopathological Disorder may also develop Major Depressive Disorder and may be at increased risk for Agoraphobia and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Alcohol and other substance abuse or chemical dependence frequently occur. The most common co-occurring personality disorders appear as Anti-social, Narcissistic, Avoidant, Schizotypal and Borderline.

Summation

Recognizing racism as a form of mental illness, at both individual and systemic levels, allows lawmakers to recast consideration of policy by determining an absence or presence of pathological elements inherent to the policy under examination.

It is imperative that policy decisions incorporate recognition and understanding of the longstanding presence of psychological dysfunction embedded within American culture. Sigmund Freud described psychopathology as a type of moving energy that takes on different forms. In the current example, the Tea Party has now morphed into MAGA culture. Both are amalgamations of racial psychopathology and its participants, whether they recognize it or not, have repressed or overt racial

psychopathological behavioral tendencies. They are supporting concepts that are not sustainable given the imminent demographic reality. While they may fashion themselves as "patriots", they are simply exhibiting, for all to see, the racial psychopathology that has comprised and defined American culture, in its various forms, over the centuries.

In order for America to move forward toward a society that is fair, equal and just for all, especially in light of the demographic transition from a White majority to a White minority, racism as a social ill, must be redefined as a mental disorder. Racism, at the individual level, is an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the greater culture, it is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in childhood, adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment. It encapsulates a disordered mental state that validates behaviors, transgressional in nature, upon distinct others in routine fashion. When practiced at the group level, it influences government policy and legislation that affects the mental, physical and financial health of the greater societal good. Government policy that emanates from a sustained state of psychopathology is incompatible with the burgeoning ethnically-diverse demographic dynamic that has become America.

In order for America to properly transition, it is critical that the federal government reverse course and prepare for a multicultural reality. Lawmakers must recognize and identify federal policy that originates from Racial Psychopathological Disorder in order to 1) modify or eradicate the policy and 2) allow for the creation of policy based in debate and decisions that, at the fundamental level, are mentally sound. Sustained propagation of policy steeped in MAGA culture only sustains the psychopathology. It is imperative that federal, state and local governments recognize the presence of this pathology in established policy in order to support an America that affords opportunity and is fair, just and equal under the law. For this to happen, America as a nation must undergo a healing process to treat as many individuals afflicted with Racial Psychopathological Disorder as possible. This is best accomplished through recognition and awareness leading to policy creation that is incompatible with constructs derived from mental pathology.

In order to treat any disorder, the symptoms corresponding to the ailment must be described, and that description is offered here. It is a prescriptive initial step that cannot be overlooked as the American experiment transitions from a climate of racial animus to a culture that serves the greater good.

There are nearly 300 disorders listed in the DSM-5. Not one of them addresses racism. This makes all the more relevant the compelling insight of the late Curtis W. Banks regarding the revolution of science:

?        When the state of the art in a discipline is overturned, the ensuing crisis inevitably finds most of its practitioners napping. This is in part because the state of the art is normally quite advanced before its failures accumulate sufficiently to compel its decline. By that time its conventional modes of practice have become so commonplace that its adherents hardly pay attention anymore; and if they are caught unaware by its overthrow, it is as much because the old conventions are so boring as because their demise is so sudden.

Most people seem to recognize mental illness when they see it. The murder of George Floyd captured on video rendered bare the consequences of a culture defined by unrecognized and untreated mental health. The American nation and the world have awakened because of the exposure of a raw and unedited visual portrayal of a state of psyche dysfunction. Racism is not simply a "social ill"; this psychologist advocates that it is a mental disorder that will remain perceived as a "social ill" until so classified. No parent wants their child to be "sick" and likewise, no policymaker wants to create and implement policy that contains elements of a known and classified mental illness. Designating racism as a form of psychopathology allows for advanced worldwide civility through sociopolitical transformation.

https://www.revealnews.org/article/inside-hate-groups-on-facebook-police-officers-trade-Racial-memes-conspiracy-theories-and-islamophobia/

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition    (DSM-5) American psychiatric Association (2013).                                                                  

Howard University Professor W. Curtis Banks – 1982 (in Jones & Korchin, Minority Mental Health, Praeger)

Unpublished manuscript. Copyright 06/02/20: Andrew P. Brown III, Ph.D. Licensed psychologist, State of New Jersey.