No pills for leaders

Highlighting in 2013 the evident behaviours and opinions expressed by the then-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentine physician and journalist Nelson Castro aptly warned us about the "Hubris Syndrome.”

This syndrome is defined as "the disease of power," causing those who suffer from it to "think they know everything, that reality is what they believe it to be, and not what it is; they obviously think others know nothing and, as such, despise them."

These behaviours and discourses are evident – not only in the former president – but can also be observed in many people who acquire some kind of political, economic, or even sectoral power, such as union leaders, businesspeople, etc.

Success in any specific matter seems to confirm the validity of any of their actions or thoughts on any subject

The central question to ask is: where do these "delusions of grandeur" or false interpretations of reality end and where in fact do extremely dangerous psychopathic behaviours begin?

Are genocidal psychopaths like Hitler, Stalin or the notorious organisers and perpetrators of historic serial killings like the Khmer Rouge, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, Ali Khamenei, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah and various Latin American and African dictators waving left-wing and right-wing flags affected by this syndrome? It simply doesn't seem to be the case.

Meixuan Yang, in a 2023 paper, argues that “childhood trauma, including abuse, neglect, and abandonment, has been shown to play a key role… and can lead to violent tendencies in adulthood… anti-social personality disorder, psychopathy, and sadistic traits, can significantly impact a person's likelihood of engaging in serial killing behaviour… a fascination with violence, death, and death is thought to be a factor in driving individuals to commit serial murders.”

Another expert in the matter, Louis Schlesinger explains in Understanding the Mind of a Serial Killer, that such individuals are very, very different in terms of how they behave, their psychodynamics, what motivates them, and so on. For example, there are  contract killers that would kill people for money – it is a world of difference for someone who kills a series of people for money versus someone killing for sexual gratification. 

There are the healthcare serial killers – people that go into a hospital for example, and kill a number of people. Some are nurses, some are physicians that do that. (There were reported cases in Uruguay and Argentina previously).

Schlesinger argues that the best understanding we have at this point is that of a biopsychosocial phenomenon with a heavy emphasis on neurobiology. Poor parenting, traumatic events, none of those things are helpful, that’s for sure. 

But the number of people who’ve had horrible childhoods, who’ve had terrible parenting, who’ve been abused, they all don’t go out become serial sexual murderers. It’s a very, very small amount of the population. He believes many things have to go wrong. Is it neurobiological? is it hormonal? Is it chemical? Is it electrical? Is it a combination of those factors plus a head injury, plus trauma and poor parenting? Schlesinger thinks the answer is yes.

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD)

As the Mayo Clinic succinctly and precisely explains, frontotemporal dementia or FTD “is an umbrella term for a group of brain diseases that mainly affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. These areas of the brain are directly associated with personality, behaviour and language.”

The most common symptoms of frontotemporal dementia involve extreme changes in behaviour and personality. Having hesitant speech that may sound telegraphic by using simple, two-word sentences and making mistakes in sentence building.

It is remarkable the loss of empathy and other interpersonal skills and not being sensitive to another person's feelings. A gradual change is generally observed with increasingly inappropriate social behaviour with lack of judgment and loss of inhibition.

Let's ask our readers in which world leaders can you observe an exhibition of these behaviours (hubris, serial killers, and FTD)? Wouldn't it be appropriate to require a deep psychometric test for anyone running for elected office and/or elected to a position of greater responsibility in governments as ministers or judges?

For many years, these tests have been mandatory to obtain a job in any company. So why aren't they required to hold any public office? 

I believe these exams must be absolutely mandatory to practice any activity in the health sector, especially after the murders of babies in Córdoba or the proclamation by an Argentine resident physician of the need to cut the jugular veins of Jewish babies. Don't you agree?

Unfortunately, there are no medical pills that may help to cure them.