What disorders or illnesses do you think some of the worst dictators suffered from?

[likelysuspect]

Just watching a programme about Mussolini. I havent really looked into this person much before. Ive read a lot and seen a lot of programmes about Hitler for example but not this one, or many of the others to be honest

But they describe him as quite violent from a young age but shy and instransigent. Later being excluded for stabbing a pupil. Being sent to boarding school and then felt isolated. Apparently he struggled to learn to speak.

People like him and Hitler and others clearly didnt have what would be today described as SEN or learning needs as such but what was wrong with them exactly?

Yes I was going to mention narcissism, its overused on this forum of course but this is what its likely to look like.

Yes Trump is another one, forgot about him because I was focussing on dead people. Theres been quite a lot of discourse about what potential disorders he could suffer from.

Well as mum used to say 'practice makes perfect'. You are an awkward child and turn into a devil.

He supposedly also became much more volatile, cantankerous, and incendiary after the jousting accident.

He also had a head injury

I wonder what starmer had there was a good article on his inability to consider other view points

Yep

Henry VIII is supposed to have changed personality quite a bit after his Jousting accident where he sustained head damage. I suppose it depends how far back you want to go?

I think it's fairly well known that those at the top of business & politics have a higher incidence of sociopathic & psychopathic traits than the standard population.

X post re Henry VIII.

But every day we see Trump babbling utter nonsense and know he is unhinged and yet he is still in charge of one of the world's leading superpowers, the major nation of Western Civilisation. And he was voted back in for a second term!

I think grandiosity means assuming yourself to be above others, best at what you do or want to do. And many people lap it up. If someone has a very high opinion of himself, he is more likely to get promoted than a self-doubter. Doesn't mean they are fit for purpose.

How? I think it is relevant. The world seems to be in the grip of some very unsavoury and untrustworthy leaders right now. Isn't it wise to think about why and look to history for examples?

It is interesting to consider and can help.our understanding of these disorders. I imagine there is researchers studying this.

I've come across this type of hypothosising in other contexts as well. There is a theory that religious visions mau be related to epilepsy. And that fictional characters who were sickly or took to there beds may have been based on coeliacs and other allergies.

Historians don’t think he had syphilis, as he was never treated for it. Though it’s a rumour which keeps being repeated.

He did have a brain injury after his jousting accident, which altered his behaviour, although it has to be said that he was already capable of being ruthless towards people who had previously been friends, see his treatment of Katherine of Aragon and Sir Thomas Moore. But there’s no doubt his paranoia got worse after the injury.

I would say that he was definitely a narcissist and probably a psychopath as well. Despite him going on about his conscience.

Yes I agree about Trump but its too simplistic again to say he is 'unhinged'.

Theres been a lot of conversation, I think one of his own family members is a psychotherapist or something like that, about what is wrong with him and therefore how dangerous that makes him in power.

Yep he threw a lot of people under the bus. Even though buses hadnt been invented yet.

Yeah but better to armchair diagnose long dead dictators than other posters on mumsnet

There was a program on TV fairly recently about Hitler. Genetic analysis showed he had genes associated with ADHD, autism and schizophrenia

'Hitler’s DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator'?
Watch it here on Channel 4: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/hitlers-dna-blueprint-of-a-dictator?cntsrc=socialshareandroidhitlersdnablueprintofadictator

Narcissist. They see no wrong in what they are doing.

I'll try to watch that

I thought they didnt know where his body ended up and he never had kids so Im not sure what DNA they found

Does having only got one ball count?

All is revealed in that program!

The Soviets/Russians have held fragments of his skull since 1945. There are also fairly close living descendants around, or at least there were until recently, who they can use for comparison.

Anyway, it's long been established that Psychopaths are far more prevalent at the very top of business due to the fact that ruthlessness is a helpful trait in achieving that, so it stands to reason that politics, and especially demagoguery would be no different. I don't see how it's "distasteful" to ponder it.

He threw people under the Sedan Chair Palanquin

Im just reading about his poor half nephew who grew up in Liverpool of all places.

Should, of course, have said "living relatives" rather than descendants, because no, he did not father any children.

We don’t always have to pathologise arsehole-ry you know.

Horrible arsehole doesn’t = mental illness and vice versa.

(said by someone who works in psychiatry and also has a very severe and enduring MH condition. Sick to death of armchair psychologists / psychiatrists / TikTok obsession with diagnosing everything, even plain old-fashioned cunt-ness).