The Despot on the Couch: Personal Psychologies of Authoritarians

This part of the book will provide a clinical and mental health analysis of personality and psychopathology of authoritarian leadership. The developmental experiences of the future leaders are examined in terms of the ACE criteria of childhood abuse and neglect. Ratings for risk for commission of violence (HCR-20) and psychopathology were also examined; additionally, ratings of the ideological motivation and identity were also assessed. Acknowledgment of the stable authoritarian and their low level of abuse is discussed. Subsequent cluster analyses identified groupings of leaders in terms of childhood depravation/political ideology and violence risk/political ideology. These findings isolated leaders who employed genocide as a form of power vis-à-vis leaders (Stalin, et.al.) who engaged in intimate forms of violence against their peers and rivals. Findings also emphasized the difference of the anti-social and narcissistic leaders versus the few examples of sadistic control.