Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President 
A renowned Washington, D.C.-based psychoanalyst examines George W. Bush's public persona-and asks serious questions about whether he is fit for the office he holds.
In Bush on the Couch Frank offers a comprehensive psychological profile of President George W. Bush using the principles of Applied Psychoanalysis, the discipline of psychoanalyzing public and historical figure pioneered by Freud. With an eye for the subtleties of human behaviour sharpened through thirty years of clinical practice, Frank traces the development of Bush's character from childhood to present day, identifying and analyzing Bush's patterns of thought, behaviour and communication. A thorough and authoritative examination of Bush's public appearances and speeches, along with historical, biographical, and journalistic records, Bush on the Couch is a compelling portrait of George W. Bush, filled with controversial and disturbing revelations about our nation's leader.
Insightful and accessible, courageous and controversial, Bush on the Couch sheds startling new light on the Bush psyche and its impact on the way he governs, tackling head-on the question no one seems willing to ask: Is our president psychologically fit to run the country?
o With the wild popularity of Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, his #1 New York Times bestsellers Stupid White Men and Dude, Where's My Country?, and anti-Bush reads by writers like Al Franken and Molly Ivins, the Bush-sceptical audience is more engaged and highly motivated than ever.
o From the contentious presidential election of 2000 to 9/11, from the War in Iraq to the War on Terrorism at home and abroad, Bush's presidency is one of the most controversial in the history of the U.S. In Bush on the Couch, Dr. Frank dissects the psyche of President Bush and unearths shocking revelations about the mind of the leader of the free world. With three decades of experience, Dr. Justin Frank is an expert in the field of psychoanalysis. He has written and lectured widely on psychoanalysis and politics. A former columnist for Salon.com, the recipient of numerous teaching awards, co-director of the Metropolitan Centre for Object Relations in New York, a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at George Washington University Medical Centre, and a teaching analyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, Dr. Frank's copious credentials speak for themselves.
Reviews
The image of Bush on the Couch is very funny because it's so clearly fantastic. Bush would NEVER submit to any psychological examination, in fact the whole family scoffs at any reference to any psychological reality at all. It's part of what makes them all so scary.
A family so wrapped up in secrecy is not about to welcome anyone into its personal psychological world. But beyond that, it seems to maintain a barrier to its own recognition of any psychological realities more subtle than what is right on the surface.
Even though author Justin A. Frank M.D. could never in his wildest dreams get Bush to submit to any face-to-face analysis, his analysis has legs. The psychological profiling of people from a distance is an acknowledged practice, so much so that the government itself invests a great deal of money in what is called "applied psychoanalysis" of world leaders by the CIA.
The CIA is so interested in applied psychoanalysis it has a facility entirely devoted to it, the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior, which employs psychiatrists to review biographical material and develop psychological profiles on dozens of world leaders. The practice predates the CIA with the commissioning by the Office of Strategic Services in the 1940s for two profiles on Hitler.
Although applied psychoanalysis must be conducted without the benefit of a face-to-face encounter, there is a great deal of material that can be used in the case of someone like George W. Bush whose life has been under the spotlight to some extent since he was a young man.
What emerges from the study is a subtly drawn picture of someone with severe psychological problems, problems that would be of serious concern in any husband, father or employee, and carry particularly striking ramifications in the case of someone holding the position of president of the United States.
And once it has established that George W. Bush is a damaged human being, the book raises questions about what that means about the population that embraces him as its leader. Like I stated earlier...this is grim stuff indeed.
It's very sad about what happened to him when his sister died: his parents evidently thought it best to not tell him until some time had passed. There was apparently not much time taken for her funeral, either. This I don't understand, because he never got the chance to even say good-bye.
George suffered quite a bit as a child, but he has no remorse for anything he has ever done. Again, another sign that he is NOT a recovering alcoholic, but a dry drunk as Mr. Frank states. The Twelve Steps of AA can be broken down into three sections: Trust God, Clean House, and Help Others. I think W. could actually do them if he wasn't so convinced he was God. That's just my opinion, but he is a perfect example of "self-will run riot" (page 62 Alcoholics Anonymous).
He is trying to run the show his way, yet can't seem to see that other people have their own script. It is indeed very sad. I wish he was in AA recovery, because then he would see that he has caused a much of his own troubles. Unfortunately, he has wreaked much more damage on the rest of the world, too. God grant me the serenity...