Robert spoke with Bill Moyers about his most recent book, Losing Reality: On Cults, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry, and how it relates to current events for Moyers’ podcast, Moyers on Democracy.
Listen to a SoundCloud recording of the interview and read a copy of the transcript on the Moyers website, or listen to the episode anywhere you get your podcasts.
Bill Moyers interviewed Robert Jay Lifton last week on the concerns expressed about the current president by a number of mental health professionals.
The central point is that a psychiatrist has a “duty to warn” when they perceive a risk of harm, but this duty is balanced by the Goldwater Rule, which warns against diagnosis outside of a clinical setting.
Dr. Lifton has written the foreword to The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, a collection of essays by psychiatrists assessing the mental health of Donald Trump. It will be published October 3 by St. Martin’s Press.
