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CounterPunch
October
11, 2002
Addiction, Brain
Damage and the President
"Dry Drunk" Syndrome
and
George W. Bush
by KATHERINE van WORMER
Ordinarily I would not use this term. But when
I came across the article "Dry Drunk" - - Is Bush Making
a Cry for Help? in American Politics Journal by Alan Bisbort,
I was ready to concede, in the case of George W. Bush, the phrase
may be quite apt.
Dry drunk
is a slang term used by members and supporters of Alcoholics
Anonymous and substance abuse counselors to describe the recovering
alcoholic who is no longer drinking, one who is dry, but whose
thinking is clouded. Such an individual is said to be dry but
not truly sober. Such an individual tends to go to extremes.
It was when I started noticing the extreme
language that colored President Bush's speeches that I began
to wonder. First there were the terms-- "crusade"
and "infinite justice" that were later withdrawn. Next
came "evil doers," "axis of evil," and "regime
change", terms that have almost become clichés in
the mass media. Something about the polarized thinking and the
obsessive repetition reminded me of many of the recovering alcoholics/addicts
I had treated. (A point worth noting is that because of the connection
between addiction and "stinking thinking," relapse
prevention usually consists of work in the cognitive area). Having
worked with recovering alcoholics for years, I flinched at the
single-mindedness and ego- and ethnocentricity in the President's
speeches. (My husband likened his phraseology to the gardener
character played by Peter Sellers in the movie, Being There).
Since words are the tools, the representations, of thought, I
wondered what Bush's choice of words said about where he was
coming from. Or where we would be going.
First, in this essay, we will look at
the characteristics of the so-called "dry drunk;" then
we will see if they apply to this individual, our president;
and then we will review his drinking history for the record.
What is the dry drunk syndrome? "Dry drunk"
traits consist of:
- Exaggerated self-importance and pomposity
- Grandiose behavior
- A rigid, judgmental outlook
- Impatience
- Childish behavior
- Irresponsible behavior
- Irrational rationalization
- Projection
- Overreaction
Clearly, George W. Bush has all these
traits except exaggerated self importance. He may be pompous,
especially with regard to international dealings, but his actual
importance hardly can be exaggerated. His power, in fact, is
such that if he collapses into paranoia, a large part of the
world will collapse with him. Unfortunately, there are some
indications of paranoia in statements such as the following:
"We must be prepared to stop rogue states and their terrorist
clients before they are able to threaten or use weapons of mass
destruction against the United States and our allies and friends."
The trait of projection is evidenced here as well, projection
of the fact that we are ready to attack onto another nation which
may not be so inclined.
Bush's rigid, judgmental outlook
comes across in virtually all his speeches. To fight evil, Bush
is ready to take on the world, in almost a Biblical sense. Consider
his statement with reference to Israel: "Look my job isn't
to try to nuance. I think moral clarity is important... this
is evil versus good."
Bush's tendency to dichotomize reality
is not on the Internet list above, but it should be, as this
tendency to polarize is symptomatic of the classic addictive
thinking pattern. I describe this thinking distortion in Addiction
Treatment: A Strengths Perspective as either/or reasoning--
"either you are with us or against us." Oddly, Bush
used those very words in his dealings with other nations. All-or-nothing
thinking is a related mode of thinking commonly found in newly
recovering alcoholics/addicts. Such a worldview traps people
in a pattern of destructive behavior.
Obsessive thought patterns are also pronounced in persons prone to addiction.
There are organic reasons for this due to brain chemistry irregularities;
messages in one part of the brain become stuck there. This leads
to maddening repetition of thoughts. President Bush seems unduly
focused on getting revenge on Saddam Hussein ("he tried
to kill my Dad") leading the country and the world into
war, accordingly.
Grandiosity enters
the picture as well. What Bush is proposing to Congress is not
the right to attack on one country but a total shift in military
policy: America would now have the right to take military action
before the adversary even has the capacity to attack.
This is in violation, of course, of international law as well
as national precedent. How to explain this grandiose request?
Jane Bryant Quinn provides the most commonly offered explanation
in a recent Newsweek editorial, "Iraq: It's the Oil, Stupid."
Many other opponents of the Bush doctrine similarly seek a rational
motive behind the obsession over first, the war on terror and
now, Iraq. I believe the explanation goes deeper than oil, that
Bush's logic is being given too much credit; I believe his obsession
is far more visceral.
On this very day, a peace protestor in
Portland held up the sign, "Drunk on Power." This,
I believe, is closer to the truth. The drive for power can be
an unquenchable thirst, addictive in itself. Senator William
Fulbright, in his popular bestseller of the 1960s, The Arrogance
of Power, masterfully described the essence of power-hungry politics
as the pursuit of power; this he conceived as an end in itself.
"The causes and consequences of war may have more to do
with pathology than with politics," he wrote, "more
to do with irrational pressures of pride and pain than with rational
calculation of advantage and profit."
Another "dry drunk" trait is
impatience. Bush is far from a patient man: "If we
wait for threats to fully materialize," he said in a speech
he gave at West Point, "we will have waited too long."
Significantly, Bush only waited for the United Nations and for
Congress to take up the matter of Iraq's disarmament with extreme
reluctance.
Alan Bisbort argues that Bush possesses
the characteristics of the "dry drunk" in terms of:
his incoherence while speaking away from the script; his irritability
with anyone (for example, Germany's Schröder) who dares
disagree with him; and his dangerous obsessing about only one
thing (Iraq) to the exclusion of all other things.
In short, George W. Bush seems to possess
the traits characteristic of addictive persons who still have
the thought patterns that accompany substance abuse. If we consult
the latest scientific findings, we will discover that scientists
can now observe changes that occur in the brain as a result of
heavy alcohol and other drug abuse. Some of these changes may
be permanent. Except in extreme cases, however, these cognitive
impairments would not be obvious to most observers.
To reach any conclusions we need of course
to know Bush's personal history relevant to drinking/drug use.
To this end I consulted several biographies. Yes, there was
much drunkenness, years of binge drinking starting in college,
at least one conviction for DUI in 1976 in Maine, and one arrest
before that for a drunken episode involving theft of a Christmas
wreath. According to J.D. Hatfield's book, Fortunate
Son, Bush later explained:
"[A]lcohol began to compete with
my energies....I'd lose focus." Although he once said he
couldn't remember a day he hadn't had a drink, he added that
he didn't believe he was "clinically alcoholic." Even
his father, who had known for years that his son had a serious
drinking problem, publicly proclaimed: "He was never an
alcoholic. It's just he knows he can't hold his liquor."
Bush drank heavily for over 20 years
until he made the decision to abstain at age 40. About this
time he became a "born again Christian," going as usual
from one extreme to the other. During an Oprah interview, Bush
acknowledged that his wife had told him he needed to think about
what he was doing. When asked in another interview about his
reported drug use, he answered honestly, "I'm not going
to talk about what I did 20 to 30 years ago."
That there might be a tendency toward
addiction in Bush's family is indicated in the recent arrests
or criticism of his daughters for underage drinking and his niece
for cocaine possession. Bush, of course, deserves credit for
his realization that he can't drink moderately, and his decision
today to abstain. The fact that he doesn't drink moderately,
may be suggestive of an inability to handle alcohol. In any case,
Bush has clearly gotten his life in order and is in good physical
condition, careful to exercise and rest when he needs to do so.
The fact that some residual effects from his earlier substance
abuse, however slight, might cloud the U.S. President's thinking
and judgment is frightening, however, in the context of the current
global crisis.
One final consideration that might come
into play in the foreign policy realm relates to Bush's history
relevant to his father. The Bush biography reveals the story
of a boy named for his father, sent to the exclusive private
school in the East where his father's reputation as star athlete
and later war hero were still remembered. The younger George's
achievements were dwarfed in the school's memory of his father.
Athletically he could not achieve his father's laurels, being
smaller and perhaps less strong. His drinking bouts and lack
of intellectual gifts held him back as well. He was popular and
well liked, however. His military record was mediocre as compared
to his father's as well. Bush entered the Texas National Guard.
What he did there remains largely a mystery. There are reports
of a lot of barhopping during this period. It would be only
natural that Bush would want to prove himself today, that he
would feel somewhat uncomfortable following, as before, in his
father's footsteps. I mention these things because when you follow
his speeches, Bush seems bent on a personal crusade. One motive
is to avenge his father. Another seems to be to prove himself
to his father. In fact, Bush seems to be trying somehow to achieve
what his father failed to do - - to finish the job of the Gulf
War, to get the "evildoer" Saddam.
To summarize, George W. Bush manifests
all the classic patterns of what alcoholics in recovery call
"the dry drunk." His behavior is consistent with barely
noticeable but meaningful brain damage brought on by years of
heavy drinking and possible cocaine use. All the classic patterns
of addictive thinking that are spelled out in my book are here:
the tendency to go to extremes (leading
America into a massive 100 billion dollar strike-first war);
- a "kill or be killed mentality;"
the tunnel vision;
- "I" as opposed to "we"
thinking;
- the black and white polarized thought
processes (good versus evil, all or nothing thinking).
- His drive to finish his father's battles
is of no small significance, psychologically.
If the public (and politicians) could
only see what Fulbright noted as the pathology in the politics.
One day, sadly, they will.
Katherine van Wormer is a Professor of Social Work at the University
of Northern Iowa Co-author of Addiction
Treatment: A Strengths Perspective (2002). She can be
reached at: Katherine.VanWormer@uni.edu
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2002
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