Potential Space
by Lorrie Goldin, LCSW
DISORGANIZED ATTACHMENT IN THE OVAL OFFICE AND BEYOND
DISORGANIZED ATTACHMENT IN THE OVAL OFFICE AND BEYOND
In March, Joel Whitebook, Director of Columbia's Psychoanalytic Studies Program, published Trump's Method, Our Madness in the New York Times. Whitebook likened the disorientation of trying to make sense of the new president to working with psychosis. As the title of his piece suggests, Whitebook saw Trump as employing a deliberate strategy designed to sow confusion, anxiety, and exhaustion.
Now, the president's chaotic gyrations suggest less method than supposed. It may not be madness, but what we are witnessing bears the hallmarks of disorganized attachment.
Disorganized attachment can result when a child's primary caregivers are simultaneously a source of safety and danger. What Mary Main describes as "fright without solution" leads to a collapse of strategy. This and other characteristics of disorganized attachment -- erratic behavior, hostility, aggression, lack of empathy, problems with trust and truth, an incoherent narrative, and viewing the world as an unsafe place -- describe the president.
Trump's father, notoriously demanding, critical, and controlling, mercilessly targeted vulnerability. Young Donald was sent away to military school at age 13. Trump admiringly describes the tough and often physically abusive treatment there. Recapitulating the dynamic of turning to those who literally and figuratively whip him into shape, he's now stocked his administration with generals.
Paradoxically, Trump the boy -- for whom safety and danger were fused -- became President Trump in part by promising security to those fearful of a changing and often frightening world. Under the authoritarian guise of powerful protector, he fans and quells fear simultaneously, pitting one group against another. Just as he seeks but can never find safety, he promises but never delivers it.
Examples abound, especially Trump's treatment of the Dreamers. He is neither the first nor last politician to sell out vulnerable populations. What's unusual is how much Trump's actions reflect his erratic internal state. Harsh rhetoric intertwines with proclamations of love and caretaking for the Dreamers. Trump then rescinds DACA, sending his Attorney General to announce it. The president has since issued a stream of contradictory messages. The Trump/Sessions duo splits into two -- the one who cares yet cowers behind the one who bullies. But it is our singular president in whom safety and danger are incoherently fused, creating uncertainty and anxiety. With Trump's punt to Congress, maybe the Dreamers will be safe, maybe they'll be hung out to dry. Maybe it's method; more likely it's a collapse of strategy. How fitting that this most poignant example involves vulnerable children dependent on authorities who have the duty and capacity to protect, but instead endanger.
Now, the president's chaotic gyrations suggest less method than supposed. It may not be madness, but what we are witnessing bears the hallmarks of disorganized attachment.
Disorganized attachment can result when a child's primary caregivers are simultaneously a source of safety and danger. What Mary Main describes as "fright without solution" leads to a collapse of strategy. This and other characteristics of disorganized attachment -- erratic behavior, hostility, aggression, lack of empathy, problems with trust and truth, an incoherent narrative, and viewing the world as an unsafe place -- describe the president.
Trump's father, notoriously demanding, critical, and controlling, mercilessly targeted vulnerability. Young Donald was sent away to military school at age 13. Trump admiringly describes the tough and often physically abusive treatment there. Recapitulating the dynamic of turning to those who literally and figuratively whip him into shape, he's now stocked his administration with generals.
Paradoxically, Trump the boy -- for whom safety and danger were fused -- became President Trump in part by promising security to those fearful of a changing and often frightening world. Under the authoritarian guise of powerful protector, he fans and quells fear simultaneously, pitting one group against another. Just as he seeks but can never find safety, he promises but never delivers it.
Examples abound, especially Trump's treatment of the Dreamers. He is neither the first nor last politician to sell out vulnerable populations. What's unusual is how much Trump's actions reflect his erratic internal state. Harsh rhetoric intertwines with proclamations of love and caretaking for the Dreamers. Trump then rescinds DACA, sending his Attorney General to announce it. The president has since issued a stream of contradictory messages. The Trump/Sessions duo splits into two -- the one who cares yet cowers behind the one who bullies. But it is our singular president in whom safety and danger are incoherently fused, creating uncertainty and anxiety. With Trump's punt to Congress, maybe the Dreamers will be safe, maybe they'll be hung out to dry. Maybe it's method; more likely it's a collapse of strategy. How fitting that this most poignant example involves vulnerable children dependent on authorities who have the duty and capacity to protect, but instead endanger.
We see the effects of such traumas in our practices, and know how commonly they are acted out, how difficult to they are to heal. We also know that the arduous road to recovery comes from facing the pain of the past.
The effects of disorganized attachment are writ large in this man and across the globe.
Sad. For him, and for us.