Tag: Psychoanalysis

In a paper with the curious title, “Mr. Trump: How I learned to stop worrying and love the patient-aggressor,”1 Sidney Coren, relates his psychoanalytically informed treatment of a middle-aged white patient with a history of sexual abuse. Complicating the treatment is that the patient happens to hold political views opposite to that of the therapist. Where does Coren himself stand politically? We the American people had elected a businessman who used angry, bigoted rhetoric to heighten divisions amongst Americans into our highest political office. This is real. The American people finally woke up. At one point Coren even refers to his patient as “my Trump” because the patient projects negative aspects of himself onto the therapist, just as Trump displaces his aggression onto, say, minorities—and sees them as hostile and dangerous. He's fired!’” But Trump’s rhetoric created “oppositional categories by amplifying differences and disavowing similarities, negating intentions and denying subjectivities.” In other words, Trump subverted the protest’s intention into “an oppositional power dynamic with few options.” That is, either “submit and stop protesting” or choose to “resist, and by virtue of sadomasochistic dynamics, take on the very qualities that Trump's orotundity embodies: aggression, recalcitrance, intimidation, anger, power.” In therapy with his “Trump,” Coren struggles with similar dynamics: He feels the powerlessness that the patient disowns and projects, experiences shame, and feels “closeted” in his role as a therapist and feels forced to hide his true self. Reflecting on his earlier reactions to the patient’s politics, the author ponders, “How do we as clinicians effectively treat patients whose personal values...are diametrically opposed to our own?