Brad you said: What Bush does seem to exhibit through his dysphasia > (i.e., the way he mangles words in speaking) > is mild organic postnatal brain damage or congenital > defect. It would be interesting to know if he had > a difficult birth, or has suffered any head injuries, > in addition to the brain damage his abuse of cocaine > and alcohol (and other substances?) may have caused.
Rather than a dysphasia I would suggest a form of dysfluency. A type of block that appears towards the end of the sentence and that is pushed through by his sheer will. I've always believed that it related in someway to his substance abuse but I don't know much research on that. Speech Therapists tend not to relate it to psychology although under stress I have seen actors manifest it as an offshoot of hysteria. By the way, Clinton's problems with his throat were also related to some of these same mechanisms. We use phrases like "stuck in the throat" or a withdrawal of air at the crucial moment that makes the throat literally feel as if someone stuck it with a sharp object. With Clinton it felt as if he was holding something back from being expressed while with Bush it feels more like he's "high" and simply slides past the meaning of what he is trying to say. Maybe an excess of pleasure in the brain over where he is? "Surprise I got to be President!" REH ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brad McCormick, Ed.D." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2002 1:35 PM Subject: Re: Bush is not crazy ~ Well, then, what is he? > Who ever said George W Bush is crazy? Where did this > assertion come from? > > He probably has a narcissistic character disorder, > and he may, as someone here noted, be sociopathic. > He definitely has not resolved his Oedipal conflicts (to > use Freudian terminology), and it is not clear that > he has sufficient intelligence to be "analyzable". > > But he is not [so far...] psychotic, as far as anything I've seen, > although we may wonder how he would react to stress, e.g., > if he goes to war with Iraq and the Iraqis start winning or > strike back at American interests either in "the homeland" > or Europe or Israel. > > What Bush does seem to exhibit through his dysphasia > (i.e., the way he mangles words in speaking) > is mild organic postnatal brain damage or congenital > defect. It would be interesting to know if he had > a difficult birth, or has suffered any head injuries, > in addition to the brain damage his abuse of cocaine > and alcohol (and other substances?) may have caused. > > \brad mccormick > > -- > Let your light so shine before men, > that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16) > > Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) > > <![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ >
