Category Archives: Human Behavior

Human Behavior

The Climate Crisis Will Be Just as Shockingly Abrupt – The New Republic

As with the pandemic, responses to climate change have often emphasized individual actiontraveling less, eating more sustainably, switching to more efficient energy sources. But both crises require the kind of large-scale structural interventions produced by national and international policies, like designing more sustainable infrastructure and transportation and alternate work arrangements, as well as creating emergency responses and strengthening social safety nets for the most vulnerable. Thats not to mention governments regulatory role. We need stronger regulations, Otto said.

With national governments and the European Union rolling out subsidy programs for industries hit hard by the virus, Otto proposes attaching sustainable strings to this aid. For instance, the aviation industry is strongly dependent on fossil fuels, she said. Why not ask them for plans [on] how to decrease the emissions within, like, 50 percent within the next 10 years and maybe become carbon neutral by 2050 or so? I think this could be used as an incentive to encourage companies to make plans [for] how they want to achieve carbon neutrality. Otto argues against re-creating the systems countries had before the pandemic. If we dont build a more resilient system right now, we will, in a way, lose this opportunity, she said. In addition, investments in green initiatives, like renewable energy, could boost the economy.

The coronavirus pandemic has reshaped the way we live, work, and interact in a matter of weeks. It has also shown that governments are ableand in many cases are expectedto take swift, significant action on crises. Under these extraordinary circumstances, there can be quite decisive action from governance and policy that changes the way were all living day to day, Lenton said. It is possible to change large-scale patterns of human behavior, pretty quickly.

The question is whether governments, and voters, can appreciate the true urgency of the task. In reality, the climate crisis cannot be solved incrementally, Lenton said, because its taken too long to spur action: Many warming-related changes are already underway. Global greenhouse gas emissions must be dramatically reduced and eventually eliminated. If were going to avoid the worst of bad climate tipping points, then were going to need to find some positive tipping points in society and ourselves to transform the way we livein a generationto a more sustainable but also perhaps a more flourishing kind of future, Lenton said.

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The Climate Crisis Will Be Just as Shockingly Abrupt - The New Republic

Human Behavior

How culture affects the spread of pandemics like COVID-19 – Futurity: Research News

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Events such as the 1918 influenza pandemic and the resurgence of measles in the US and Western Europe can help researchers understand how culture influences the current spread of COVID-19 worldwide.

Carolyn Orbann, an associate teaching professor of health science in the School of Health Professions at the University of Missouri, studies how cultural behavior can play a role in the spread of infectious diseases.

Here, Orbann shares her insight on how cultural behaviors influence the spread of infectious diseases in human populations, including why this can help us understand the current spread of the COVID-19 virus and why the choice to go on spring break during a pandemic is a complex decision:

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How culture affects the spread of pandemics like COVID-19 - Futurity: Research News

Human Behavior

Doctor’s 11 Tips To Boost Your Immune System And Stay Healthy In This COVID-19 World – Coronado Eagle and Journal

We all know by now that some of the best ways to reduce the spread of COVID-19 are to focus on things like social isolation, self-quarantining, washing hands and not touching our faces. But what else can you do to boost the immune system, optimize your health and stay safe?

I am a human behavior and performance expert who has spent years studying the neurological and psychological connection to physical health. My patients have been asking how they can stay healthy and protect themselves.

Here are his 11 tips:

Drink a lot of water: Staying hydrated is always good advice. As it relates to COVID-19, water can help washout the body and help rid it of viruses. Coconut water is also a good alternative because it has a lot of potassium. When your sodium and potassium levels are in balance, youre going to be healthier.

Get enough vitamins and minerals: In other words, eat a lot of fruits and veggies, especially green vegetables. It is best to get the nutrients you need through real living food, but during this pandemic you can also supplement with the use of high-quality vitamins and minerals.

Boost your immune system with vitamin C, zinc and echinacea. Of course, always talk to your own personal physician first. This can help you avoid the Coronavirus and fight it off if you do get it.

Drink apple cider vinegar: Drink one to two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar mixed with water each day. The health benefits are many, but as it relates to Coronavirus, it will detox your body, boost the immune system, clear your sinuses and increase your energy.

Avoid sugar and processed foods: This is also good advice in general, but even more so during these times. Sugar will proliferate a virus. It causes inflammation and obesity. If you cant cut it out altogether, eliminate it as much as you can. Similarly, avoid processed foods and stick to living foods which will aid in digestion.

Stay away from acidic foods like meat: Now is a good time to reduce your meat consumption or cut it out all-together. Too much meat brings acidity to the body, or a condition called acidosis. This has a host of side effects that can make it tougher to fight off viruses like COVID such as respiratory issues, kidney problems, fatigue, headache, shortness of breath and more.

Avoid dairy: Dairy has casein which some people are allergic to. This can cause havoc on your digestive system and brings all kinds of unpleasant side effects, reactions and lower the immune system. Stick to water when possible.

Dont drink OJ: While Orange Juice may be high in vitamin C which can boost the immune system, its also loaded with sugar. opt for eating a real orange instead which is much healthier and has loads of vitamin C.

Get a lot of Aerobic exercise. The idea is to get the blood pumping and oxygenate the lungs. One of the simplest ways to do this is to go for a walk every single day. It can help protect you from viruses and is great for your overall health.

Avoid family arguments: If you are avoiding crowds and self-quarantining, you are going to be spending a lot of time around family. Tensions can quickly rise and you can become stressed. Too much stress lowers the white blood cell count, and white blood cells are needed to fight off infection. Focus on coming together and appreciating the time together.

Do something productive toward combating the virus: Whether its social isolation, self-quarantining, washing your hands, wiping down surfaces in your home, doing something that gives you a sense of accomplishment toward beating the virus is a good immune system boost. It also changes your mental attitude for the better knowing you have taken steps to protect yourself and your family.

For more information, visit http://alignedperformanceinstitute.com/.

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Doctor's 11 Tips To Boost Your Immune System And Stay Healthy In This COVID-19 World - Coronado Eagle and Journal

Human Behavior

Coronavirus a ‘Clear Warning Shot’ From Nature to Humanity, Top Scientists Say – Common Dreams

While healthcare providers and government officials around the world work to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and mitigate the effects of a resulting economic crisis, scientists urged authorities to also seriously consider a long-term strategy for preventing another infectious disease outbreakcalling the coronavirus a "clear warning shot" from nature.

Previous warningstaking the form of the Ebola epidemic of 2014, the SARS outbreak in 2002-2003, and MERS in 2012have gone unheeded, U.N. Environmental Program director Inger Andersen said Wednesday

"Never before have so many opportunities existed for pathogens to pass from wild and domestic animals to people," she told The Guardian, thanks to widespread habitat destruction through deforestation, mining, exploitation of animals for profit, and the climate crisis.

"Our long-term response must tackle habitat and biodiversity loss," Andersen said.

Wildfires throughout Australia and Brazilwith the latter linked to President Jair Bolsonaro's administration in the interest of ranching and agribusiness interestsrising global temperatures brought on by fossil fuel extraction, and other extreme weather caused by the climate crisis are all to blame for a loss of "wild spaces," Andersen said.

This "continued erosion," she told the outlet, "has brought us uncomfortably close to animals and plants that harbor diseases that can jump to humans."

"We are intimately interconnected with nature, whether we like it or not. If we don't take care of nature, we can't take care of ourselves." Inger Andersen, U.N. Environment Program

With 75% of infectious diseases originating from wildlife, Andersen and other experts said, increased demand for animal products around the world could be putting humans at risk for outbreaks like the coronavirus pandemic.

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The coronavirus, officially known at SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19, is thought to have spread from a species of horseshoe bat to another animal in a live animal market in Wuhan, China, allowing it to spread to humans.

"The origin and pathway of the coronavirus pandemic shouldn't surprise us," World Bank environmental specialist Daniel Mira-Salama wrote last week."TheSARS epidemic in 2003jumped to humans from civet cats, sold in markets as pets and as a delicacy.MERS was transmitted to humans from camelsin 2012. Avian influenza, Nipah virus, Ebola, HIV all of these and many other Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs) originated in animals and were transmitted to humansa phenomenon called zoonosis."

Ending illegal animal trades would help cut down on the spread of infectious diseases in markets, which the experts called an "ideal mixing bowl," according to The Guardian.

"We should be taking this as a clear warning shot,"Professor Andrew Cunningham of the Zoological Society of London toldThe Guardian. "It's almost always a human behavior that causes it and there will be more in the future unless we change."

A global governmental effort similar to the concrete, far-reaching government reforms to stop the climate crisis demanded by Greta Thunberg and other campaigners around the world is needed to face "the deadly impacts of collapsing ecosystems," Irish Wildlife Trust campaign officerPdraic Fogarty tweeted.

While President Donald Trump has claimed numerous times that COVID-19 "came out of nowhere" and is a crisis that "nobody expected," its emergence and spread was "not only predictable, it was predicted," Cunningham told The Guardian.

Scientists have warned for years that "there would be another viral emergence from wildlife that would be a public health threat."

Humans, particularly those in positions of power, the experts said, must now face the consequences of their appetite for illegal animal trades, extractive industry profits, and other profit-driven activities which lead to the destruction of animals' habitats around the world. Once the coronavirus pandemic is over, there must be a new focus on protecting biodiversity and wildlife.

"We are intimately interconnected with nature, whether we like it or not," Andersen said. "If we don't take care of nature, we can't take care of ourselves. And as we hurtle towards a population of 10 billion people on this planet, we need to go into this future armed with nature as our strongest ally."

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Coronavirus a 'Clear Warning Shot' From Nature to Humanity, Top Scientists Say - Common Dreams

Human Behavior

KINNEY: The foundations of socialism and capitalism | Opinion – Main Street Newspapers

At their foundations, Socialism (central planning) and Capitalism (free markets) arise from two very different, opposing views of human behavior.

The fundamental differences between the two economic models explain why. Historically, free markets have flourished and central planning has a record of abject failure.

Capitalism embraces the reality that the human race responds best to a program that rewards initiative and satisfies the self interests of the individual.

Free markets embody that philosophy believing we are all better off in an economy that allows the most people to pursue their personal goals independent from outside political pressures, regulations and directives.

Socialism requires a strong central planning element that defines the best outcomes for all the citizens regardless of the personal goals and ambitions of any individual.

Central planning is built on the idealistic model that a few well-informed and well-intentioned people in authority can build a successful economy better than one driven by the individual goals and ambitions of its citizens.

Neither Socialism nor Capitalism as implemented by its proponents functions without problems and disparities ... but the economic model which best describes and harnesses human nature has a proven record of creating wealth and the highest standards of living for its citizens.

Free market economies have proven historically to harness the power of individual goals and dreams for the maximum benefit for the maximum number of its citizens.

Central planning economies have a history of failing to produce the utopian promises of its leaders and traps more people in poverty and despair than free markets have ever done.

Socialism functions for the benefit of the ruling elite who are prospering from the hard work of others. Although motivated by their own personal self interests, they expect the citizens to be more motivated by selfless altruism foregoing personal self interest. On the other hand, Capitalism acknowledges that humans produce the best results when pursuing their own self-interests.

Ironically, studies on the subject shows that the more freedom and opportunities an economy provides, the more philanthropic its citizens. While in societies directed by authoritarian central planning efforts there is measurably less willingness by its citizens to give to charitable causes.

It is impossible for a socialist economic model of any size and complexity to function without a strong bureaucratic government. Said another way ... with minor exceptions, history reveals that to establish and maintain a socialist state, the development of a strong authoritarian government is a prerequisite.

Capitalism, at its core believes what you produce is yours .... Socialism believes what you produce is theirs.

Capitalism, at its core believes you can spend your money best .... Socialism believes they can spend it better for you.

Capitalism, at its core believes you can best define your own self-interests .... Socialism believes they know whats best for you.

Capitalism, at its core believes you preform best when pursuing your own self-interests .... Socialism believes top performance can be achieved without personal incentives.

Capitalism, at its core believes in personal property rights .... Socialism believes the government owns it all.

Capitalism, at its core believes you are smart enough to make your own decisions .... Socialism believes you need their help.

Capitalism, at its core believes in smaller government .... Socialism demands bigger government.

Capitalism, at its core prioritizes the value of each individual .... Socialism elevates the state above all.

As they say, It dont take a rocket scientist to figure out why free markets work and central planning doesnt!

Capt. Jim Kinney USN (ret) is a highly decorated 26 year veteran of Naval aviation with extensive experience in DC. He served on Gov. Huckabees presidential campaign staff. A noted international speaker, Capt. Kinney is available to speak to civic groups for special events, luncheons, dinners and retreats. Contact him at Captain5772@gmail.com

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KINNEY: The foundations of socialism and capitalism | Opinion - Main Street Newspapers

Human Behavior

My Word: Thanks to all in these trying times – Eureka Times-Standard

In a crazy time like this, a little kindness toward, and appreciation of, those in our community that are on the front lines goes a long way.

Thank you to our local journalists, who are keeping us very well informed. Your hard work and dedication to providing our community with accurate and up-to-date news is beyond admirable.

Thank you to our local educators, who are scrambling to figure out a new way to deliver an education to our students that live in very diverse home situations. Your devotion to our children is appreciated more than you know.

Thank you to our first responders, who are always ready to help us whenever we need it. We dont say thank you nearly enough.

Thank you to our grocery clerks, and everyone else behind the scenes that keep our food supply stable. Daily, you are witnessing the best and the worst of human behavior, as well as having to leave your families at home while you come to work to make sure we all have food and supplies. Thank you!

A giant thank you to our medical support teams, from our local doctors and nurses, to all of the others that support them (lab workers, assistants, receptionists, and especially the housekeeping staff that are doing their best to keep everything disinfected). You are truly on the front lines, and we cant thank you enough. You are always there to take care of us, and right now we need to do everything we can to take care of you, by following all guidelines, washing our hands regularly, and keeping our distance socially.

And finally, a thank you to our community leaders, who are bravely trying to lead us through these uncharted waters. We know you are doing your very best for all of us, and the personal sacrifices you make in order to help all of us are deeply appreciated.

Together, as a community, we will make it through this but only if we work together. Be kind, and remember to thank people as often as you can.

Lisa Bethune resides in Arcata.

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My Word: Thanks to all in these trying times - Eureka Times-Standard

Human Behavior

Does The Mayor Have Authority To Closes Businesses? – And Response (3) – The Chattanoogan

I am curious where the mayor gets the authority to close businesses in the city.

I have looked through the state code and cannot find that authority. It appears to reside in the governor and the Health Department.

I note that several cities have decided they do not have such authority after legal consultation. Cities such as Dickson and Sevierville have stated as much.

Just curious why nobody has asked the question.

Gary Curtis

* * *

Gary, you pose a good question here, maybe the answer is best answered in three months.

Just curious, can you list every person youve been near in the last 14 days, and know every person theyve been near does not carry COVID-19? I make blown glass for a living. Maybe I should start making crystal balls, they help bring answers too.

Essentially human behavior and human actions are boiled down to two factors, one is love, the other is fear. The doctors say stay at home, the mayors take heed and repeat that. Traffic by our house shows about 90 percent of my neighbors are listening. The other 10 percent I hope are in necessary occupations and take the same precautions I do.

Until testing is at a logical level for a situation such as this, Im taking the mayor at his word and staying put. I have no gold plated health insurance, so I cant afford to get sick.

My take with all this back and forth about economics and health is there is a middle ground. That being all the places that have gotten past the initial swell of cases have done so by rigorous testing and trace contact. South Korea has not slowed business with that approach. New Rochelle, N.Y. did a lockdown upon getting 108 cases. Total cases there stand at 252 because people stopped mingling and spreading.

Eldridge Cleaver summed it up best. He said of societal issues, Youre either part of the solution or part of the problem.

Prentice Hicks

* * *

Touche, Prentice Hicks.

And lets pray the governor does soon.

Mickey Spence

* * *

Personally, I do believe the mayor has the authority to close businesses in times of emergency. And probably did the right thing here.

Im just surprised Mayor Berke believes he has the authority to do it given the fact he doesnt seem to think he has the authority to fix potholes.

Paul Anthony

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Does The Mayor Have Authority To Closes Businesses? - And Response (3) - The Chattanoogan

Human Behavior

Can the Internet Break From Overuse? | HowStuffWorks – HowStuffWorks

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The coronavirus pandemic (and its self-quarantine measures) is keeping adults and kids at home and on their computers and smartphones for work, school or recreation, making unprecedented demands on the internet. In fact, Netflix and YouTube are reducing streaming quality in Europe to prevent internet overload. The changes came after EU officials asked streaming services and individual users to stop using high-definition video "to prevent the internet from breaking," as CNN put it on March 20.

This news has a lot of us asking: With so many people at home using huge amounts of data, could the internet suddenly just stop working?

You can rest easy. Outright internet failure is possible but unlikely, say experts who observe technology and internet usage around the world. Cyberattacks or the physical cutting of cables under the sea that carry enormous amounts of internet traffic are more likely to disrupt the internet than too much activity.

"Nothing, including the internet, is invulnerable to overload. But the internet has an enormous amount of redundancy and backup in its systems," says Paul Levinson, professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University. "This means that although one app or system can go down, it's unlikely that the whole system will collapse. Also, given that the people who work on the internet are used to working from home, many of them are already in place to work [this way], even in this time of crisis."

Ookla chief technology officer Luke Deryckx says the real concerns are not the internet infrastructure but rather the increased numbers of end users all sharing the same WiFi system (such as family members). His company analyzes internet traffic patterns and provides speed tests to people who want to understand how fast (or slow) their online connections really are.

Ookla detected slowdowns in residential internet speed in early March, specifically in places like New York and California, where COVID-19 has either struck hard or caused shelter-in-place orders. Other nations that suffered early in the virus outbreak, like China and Italy, experienced noticeable slowdowns, too but China, with its dwindling number of reported illnesses, is on the rebound.

Internet service providers (ISPs) are, however, seeing a shift in the demand for their services. According to Cloudflare, a web security company, in the U.S., peak demand for the internet was typically around 7:30 p.m., as families settled into their nightly routines, which included watching streaming channels. Now, the peak demand is around 11:00 a.m., and it lasts longer than normal, another sign of shifting lifestyle patterns.

For now, though, in most places, "the bottom line is that the networks are holding up," says Deryckx.

That's not necessarily the case for individual apps and websites.

"Beyond the ISPs, there are also the service platforms that people are using," he says. That's why even though your ISP might be working just fine, Netflix or Zoom might struggle to keep up with high traffic volume." For instance, they might not have enough servers to handle the increased traffic.

At the moment, video conferencing services, which are useful for remote learning, meetings and even entertainment, are experiencing some intermittent sluggishness. Financial market trading tools stopped working repeatedly as the stock market plunged repeatedly in early March. And Facebook is struggling to deal with both the massive increase in traffic and the fact that its 45,000 employees are all working remotely for the first time.

You can monitor the slowdowns and outages of various services by searching on Down Detector. At the time of publication, video game Call of Duty, video conferencing service Zoom and food delivery service Doordash were all suffering from intermittent issues, a clear reflection of current events.

To prevent the same kind of thing from happening to the internet at large, communications companies are already hard at work.

"The best way of preventing an overload crash is not to limit usage, but make sure the systems are robust, and even put in new backups into the system," says Levinson. Deryckx echoes that sentiment, saying that right now, engineering teams all over the world are scaling up their baseline network infrastructure to support their increasing user volume.

"We're witnessing an unprecedented shift in human behavior, not just internet trends. And I think that the internet in our everyday lives is just becoming more and more essential," says Deryckx. "And you can see that happening day to day; it is a really interesting thing to be a part of."

If the pandemic continues for 18 months or more, which some experts believe is possible, online services will be incredibly critical for every aspect of our lives. In turn, this scenario could widen America's so-called digital divide, a term used to describe the fact that many Americans don't have reliable access to high-speed internet.

For those unfortunate citizens, education, work and other life fundamentals will be harder than ever to pursue. That's especially true for Americans who make less than $30,000 per year a third of them don't have smartphones, and nearly half don't have broadband internet or even a regular desktop computer, according to Pew Research Center.

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Can the Internet Break From Overuse? | HowStuffWorks - HowStuffWorks

Human Behavior

‘Devs’ Episode 5: Kenton threatens Forest and Katie further complicates the philosophies of Amaya – MEAWW

As things progress further in Alex Garlands science fiction/philosophical miniseries (or as he believes, a movie in eight parts), the plot gets clearer as well as more complicated at the same time. This is somewhat in line with the shows paradoxical philosophy of fatalism and determinism versus free will.

Episode 4 of the show answered many questions about the top-secret project going on inside Amayas development division. When Lyndon (Cailee Spaeny) makes a breakthrough he taps into the multiverse and projects a different version of Jesus Christ, he is fired from the organization by Forest (Nick Offerman), who is clearly struggling with moral and philosophical dilemmas. On the other hand, Lily (Sonoya Mizuno) is forced to go to a psych evaluation by the firms head of security Kenton (Zach Grenier).

Kenton, who now knows that Lily is not the paranoid-schizophrenic she claimed to be, likely drives her to where she would meet her end. Lily, sensing danger, has a physical altercation with him while hes driving. They crash and Lily escapes.

She then calls the cops to tell them that her boyfriend Sergei was murdered by the folks at Amaya. But things go topsy-turvy and cops arrest her, instead, claiming she had caused reckless endangerment. As her ex-boyfriend Jamie (Jin Ha) follows her into the hallway, trying to stop the police from taking her, he's pushed back inside his apartment by Kenton, who draws the shades, leaving viewers certain that Jamie too was now in danger.

Episode 5s summary reveals, Kenton pays Jamie a visit to guarantee his silence, while Katie covertly exploits the Devs system for her own ends. This, for one, guarantees that Jamie is not going to get killed off so soon. But there really is no telling with Garland.

However, the preview for the episode reveals more.

We see Forest asking Katie (Alison Pill), Do you think any of them understand what were really doing in here? to which, Katie responds, Im not sure you even understand what were doing here You had choices.

That is the essence of the show. The idea of choices. The show is based on the principle of causal determinism, and to a degree fatalism, which dictates that everything that happens is necessitated by antecedent events and conditions. Every person and every action taken by that person goes on a fixed path. There are no choices. But Katie claiming Forest had choices, implies free will in the face of that very idea the idea that is the basis for the quantum computing technology they have developed in the eponymous Devs division that predicts human behavior.

The promo also sees Jamie being tortured, likely by Kenton. Hes being drowned, possibly for the sake of figuring out what exactly does Lily know about Devs and the murder of Sergei. At the same time, we see Kenton telling Forest that the terms of their deal were null and void: Im not going to prison. One can only assume that it is about the murder of Sergei and the possible other dirty deeds carried out by him on the behest of Amayas clearly unhinged owner.

There is no mention of how Katie covertly exploits the Devs system for her own ends, but there is an odd scene where Forest is standing in the middle of a road, narrowly missing getting hit by two oncoming cars.

If the fourth episode was revealing, the promo for the fifth only makes things murkier.

Devs drops on FX on Hulu, every Thursday at 12 am.

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'Devs' Episode 5: Kenton threatens Forest and Katie further complicates the philosophies of Amaya - MEAWW

Human Behavior

Dr. Justin Frank: Trump "could see dead bodies" from coronavirus "and step over them" – Salon

Dr. Justin Frank literally wrote the book on Donald Trump's mind and behavior. In "Trump on the Couch,"Frank tracks Trump's life from childhood to adulthood and reveals a man who is mentally unfit in many ways from his intelligence, values, emotions and temperament down tothe deepest parts of the psyche to be president of the United States of America.

In the conclusion of Frank'sbook he warned that Donald Trump would represent a dire threat to the safety, security and future of America and the world. In all, the power of the presidency is too vast and the opportunities for abusing that power are too great for a personality and mind such as Donald Trump's to resist.

On both a day-to-day basis, and in crises such as the Russia and Ukraine scandals and now the coronavirus (all of which are largely self-made and self-inflicted) Donald Trump's poor mental health has only gotten worse. Unfortunately, the presidency, with its uniqueburdens and responsibilities,have not forced Trump to become a better person and to rise to the occasion. Instead, he has been caught in the undertow of a public downward spiral.

Trump's lies, delusions,greed, corruption andmalignant narcissismhave thrown theUnited States and the world into peril as this unstable president has confronted thecoronavirus pandemic in increasingly erratic fashion. It'sa crisis of science and empirical reality that he cannot simplywish away or ignore, much as he has tried.

In addition to "Trump on the Couch,"Frank is also the author of bestsellers about the previous two presidents,"Bush on the Couch" and "Obama on the Couch."He is a former clinical professor of psychiatry at the George Washington University Medical Center and a physician with more than 40 years of experience in psychoanalysis.

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In this conversation, Frank told methat Donald Trump is essentially a sociopath who has no feelings of care, concernor empathy for other human beings. More frightening still, Frank raised the possibility that Trump is notcapable of feeling guilt or remorse. Not only will Trump feel no responsibility for thethousands if not millions of Americans who may die inthe coronavirus pandemic,Frank said, he is likely to blame Barack Obama and the Democrats for the carnage. Trump's followers, Frank warned, now perceive him as an infallible deity, and will obey his commands even at the risk of their own lives.

You wrote a book about the dangers represented by Donald Trump because of his mental health. You warned that he should not become president. Did you believe that Trump's behavior and the damage he is causing to the country and the world would get this bad?

Here is a quote from my book "Trump on the Couch": "Failure to intervene places the nation's people, rights and institutions at increasing risk of ending up as collateral damage in the wake of the externalization of Trump's epic internal struggle."

In other words, the struggle between building and breaking is an epic one for Trump. Trump's impulses towards breaking things has been winning and we are all going to be victims of it. The only way to deal with Trump is to remove him from office. Trump cannot be reasoned with. In many ways Trump is like a space alien, a force totally foreign to our world and human society.

I think this book predicted this, and that the only way to deal with it is stop him. You cannot reason with him. Like I said before, he's like an alien. He is a force.

During these last few days at his "briefings" on the coronavirus, and throughhis pronouncements on Twitter, Trump's behavior has further devolved. He cannot help himself. At this point, hisbehavior islike an entry from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Trump says the media itself hates him. He insists that media coverage of his response to the virus is unfair and negative. Beyond Trump's malignant narcissism and sociopathy lies paranoid thinking.

Trump escalates his attacks. A characteristic of paranoid thinking is rigidity he never gives up his paranoid worldview about whatever he fears attacked by. Thus, the press remains the enemy, and if he feels that the market is tumbling down and is losing the battle against the virus, he escalates his suspicion of questions,feeling attacked more often than not.

In his press conference on Monday, when he had free rein to ask a question himself, he first attacked the press with a question to Dr. [Deborah] Birx. He said, "We have a lot of very angry media all around this room, and they want one of these seats. Because of social distancing we are keeping them empty. Will there ever be a time when all those really angry, angry people who don't like me much to start off with and now they really don't like me will there ever be a time when those seats are full like they used to be?"It's as if he misses them, since paranoid people also need enemies for friends. The paranoid Trump needs them to feel complete, to keep his projected hatred nearby.

On Monday he also tweeted that the cure may be worse than the disease, and that social distancing can wreak havoc on our economy. Will he end social distancing because he needs the attention at his rallies?

President Trump himself is a public health risk. What I mean is that his paranoid behavior risks America's physical and emotional health. Because he is obsessed with the press being out to ruin him, he cannot accurately assess reality even the reality of his own intelligence services. He ignored the threat of coronavirus when presented with it on Jan.24. He didn't even think much about it because it didn't fit with his delusional belief system about "fake news."

There seems to be no bottom to Trump's pathological behavior.

There is no bottom. The only time you know about a bottom in human behavior is when a person reflects back on their behavior. One can say they hit rock bottom only in the past tense. One does not have the perspective in the middle of the journey. Everything that Donald Trump does is making things worse with the coronavirus. He has dismissed the reality of the virus. He was late to respond. He called it a hoax,ignored the experts anddid not order more tests for the virus.

It is very important to understand that if a person has a lifelong history of lying,the first person you lie to is yourself. The reason people lie to themselves is they do not want to face facts and reality. When a person lies like Trump does, they are attacking reality itself on an unconscious level. It even impacts how a person perceives things. For example, Trump could not perceive the dangers of the virus and therefore he is ill-equipped to respond to the pandemic. Because Donald Trump lies about reality so much, he does not have the ability to cope with it.

Donald Trump has told at least 16,000 public lies. He is a pathological liar. What happens when someone with that sickness is forced to confront reality? For example, what does a mind such as Trump's do when he actually sees thousands of people dead from the coronavirus something he very recently suggestedwas a hoax.

In my experience such a person will conjure up new lies. I've actually seen it happen in hospital settings. You can't convince a person out of a preconception if the person has been lying to themselves as extensively as Trump has. It is almost impossible. Donald Trump could see dead bodies lying in the street from the coronavirus and step over them. Trump would say to himself, "Whyare all these people lying around? How did that happen?" Trump would never think that he had anything to do with all of the deaths.

There is a part of Trump that is not even fully aware of the depth of his destructiveness. Trump recently sent out a tweet that said,"The world is at war with a hidden enemy. We will win." Unconsciously Trump is at war with an internal enemy, which is between wanting to be a builder and wanting to be a destroyer. The internal enemy is Trump's inner destructiveness.

The "hidden enemy" is also hidden from Trump himself. Other people see that Trump is the real "hidden enemy."

The hidden enemy is the president of the United Statesbecause he is the enemy of our collective well-being, of our feeling of safety, of our security, of leading the country in a time of crisis.

The coronavirus is just one of many scandals for Donald Trump. There wasRussia, Ukraine and impeachment, his numerous other scandals ofmalfeasance and corruption, etc.How do you connect the dots between these events?

One of the things that happens to every paranoid person and Trump is a very paranoid person is that the more they attack other people, the more frightened of other people they then become. So the more Trump attacks say the press, the more frightened of the press he becomes. The more he attacks Joe Biden, the more frightened of Joe Biden Trump becomes. Donald Trump is afraid of his actions coming back to hurt him.

When a person expresses hatred, and expels it, the hatred does not just dissipate. That hatred can bounce back at you. In psychoanalysis and psychiatry there is a term called the "return of the repressed." The thing that you've forgotten and gotten rid of can come back to get you.

The coronavirus is finally a reality he cannot attack and somehow alter or make go away. The coronavirus is reality coming back to get Trump. Unfortunately, the virus is hurting the rest of the American people and the world. Whatever Trump believes, he cannot stop the coronavirus with a wall.

Trump has gone from saying the coronavirus was a hoaxto claiming he was the first person to have used the term"pandemic" to describe it.How does hismind make such a huge move?

How does a mind like this convince itself? Because he really believes he's the first person to have said it's a pandemic. He really believes it.

Trump also believes he's the first person to realize that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. Trump is like a child who discovers something and says, "Did you know this?" It is all new to Trump, so therefore he thinks he discovered it before anyone else.

When a person such as Donald Trump has a long history of lying to himself, he has eradicated or attacked reality. This means for Trump the coronavirus is a "hoax." It's "fake news." Such claims are how Donald Trump protects himself from reality,especially if that reality is something negative about himself that he wants to reject.

But then reality must seep in. In this case, the coronavirus is penetrating Trump's delusional reality. Now Trump goes from calling the coronavirus a hoaxto imagining himself as some type of savior who was the first person to realize the dangers posed by the virus. Now Trump tells people he will make everything all better. This is very dangerous. Trump believes he can control reality, like some type of god. In clinical terms this what is called a"manic triumph." Trump believes he is going to triumph over the danger that he created. This also explains why Trump said that he is not responsible for the coronavirus pandemic because then he is free to say it is a threat that he alone can stop.

Trump, quite predictably, is now saying thatthe Democrats and Barack Obama are really responsible for the coronavirus pandemic. Well, if the Democrats are the disease, what do you do with the disease? You eradicate the disease. Trump and his mouthpiecesare againencouraging violence against their "enemies."

Yes, it is an encouragement to violence. Ironically, it is the coronavirus which is threatening and attacking Trump when he himself is a germ-phobic person.

In your book "Trump on the Couch" you document Trump's germ phobia.How is he resolving his deep fear of germs and his reaction to the coronavirus pandemic?

A germaphobe is a person who is frightened of germs, and they see them everywhere. The germs unconsciously represent parts of the self that have split off from the whole. It is another manifestation of deeply troubled feelings and beliefs that in some way are poisonous. For Trump, those germs are his destructive impulses.

When he talks about the coronavirus pandemic, Trump does not appear to care about the harm it is causing people. He always defaults to himself and then seeks praise from the members of his court. Trump appears to be incapable of empathy or sympathy or any level of human concern for others.

When Trump is basically saying, "Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!" it reflects a lack of genuine love from his parents, either one or both of them. Such behavior is an effort to compensate oneself by loving yourself more and more and more. That is narcissismor grandiosity.Those are behaviors and feelings which are compensatory for not feeling loved. That describes Donald Trump.

He delivered the eulogy at his father's funeral. Trump said one or two sentences about his father and the rest of the speech was about himself. He does the same things today. None of Trump's behavior as president is new.

Trump has repeatedly shown that he has no internal governor on his behavior. There seems to be a total inability to act in a moral and virtuous way. Is such a life liberating? Is it terrifying? Thrilling?

It is in fact liberating, frightening and terrifying. It's all of those things for Trump. It feels momentarily liberating because, "I've triumphed over guilt. I've triumphed over any anxiety about wrongdoing." And then it's terrifying, because of the return of the repressed. "I'm going to get it back. They're going to come and get me." All that hatred is going to come back at Trump. He fears it. "Allthe enemies of the people, the press, is going to come back and get me."

It is all so terrifying. The destructiveness is terrifying because ultimately you can end up destroying something you may also love. Trump may have loved his Trump Towers, but he's destroying them, one after the other. It truly is an epic struggle in Trump's mind.

Let's assume one of the worst-case scenarios, that the coronavirus may kill more than a million people in the United States. Will Trump have some type of emotional breakdown because of this loss of life? President Lincoln was horribly guilty about all the deaths in the Civil War. Will Trump have similar feelings?

No. It is not an option. Donald Trump does not feel guilt. He is incapable of it. I have not seen Trump ever display any form of guilt for his behavior. If there were a million dead, Trump would still say that Obama did it.Trump would still say the Democrats did it.Now Trump calls the coronavirus the "Chinese Virus." Trump would say it is the Chinese who did it. Trump is never responsible for his own behavior.

Donald Trump learned from his father to never admithe is wrong. That lesson there is also to never have any guilt for one's behavior. One would think that repressing all that guilt would cause Trump or someone like that to have nightmares. But I don't think that Trump does.

Trump leads a political cult. Until very recently, he has been telling his supporters that the coronavirus is a hoax, and that they should go out and hug each other, gather in large groups, and mock the scientists and Democrats.How do we make sense of Trump's followers and the love and loyalty they feel for him?

The followers are listening to their god. One of these people was interviewed and he said if he died from the coronavirus at least he would die believing in Christ. There are many fanatics in the world. They are very disturbed and sick people. These fanatics yearnfor an all-powerful protector. Trump's followers feel safe and triumphant because of him. It is a grandiose self-destructive fantasy between Trump and his followers.

As in other cults, the members are in love with the leader. Trump's followers are very damaged people. As such, whatever Trump commands them to do they will do,even if it means getting sick and dying from the coronavirus.

That is correct. Such a level of mass fanaticism is very disturbing, and issomething that we have not seen in the United States on such a large scale. We have seen it with Jim Jones and other cults. People follow the cult leader to their doom. Of course, there was a similar type of fanaticismin Germany with Adolf Hitler. Trump's followers really needa strong leader to make them feel safe. It could be a strong father figure, a god, anyone who is powerful enough to make them feel loved and safe.

Trump's followers,like other cult members,also want someone who will accept their aggression and destructiveness as being good and normal. These people are devoted to Trump. That devotion is more important than anything else.

What's going to happennext?

The only chance the American people have is to vote Donald Trump out of office.

See the original post:
Dr. Justin Frank: Trump "could see dead bodies" from coronavirus "and step over them" - Salon