I Asked If TDS Is Real: I Got Death Threats in Reply Proving It Is

Last month, when I published a column asking “Is ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ Real?” in the Wall Street Journal, I expected it to spark lively debate.

I didn’t anticipate a live demonstration of the very pathology I’d described.

My column outlined a pattern I see in my psychotherapy practice every week.

I call it “obsessive political preoccupation,” a presentation that resembles an obsessive-compulsive pattern in which one political figure becomes the center of intrusive thoughts, heightened arousal, and compulsive monitoring that takes over a person’s mental bandwidth.

TDS is not an actual diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and I made that clear in my article.