Big title, simple meaning. ‘Psycho’ means pertaining to the mind, ‘pathology’ means relating to the abnormal. By psychopathology of politics, we mean the abnormal mindset which influences political behaviour and decisions, a mindset bordering on mental ill-health.
Simply put, we mean the madness in African politics which could account for Africa’s leadership crisis being the basis for Mo Ibrahim’s lamentation.
History shows that some decisions of political leaders which plunged the world into war were actually caused by mental ill-health. Less serious mental conditions have caused the sufferers to take terrible decisions that led to hardships of their people. Power corrupts and I add, power maddens. What else is happening in Burkina Faso?
Human behaviour is influenced by both biology in the brain and genetics, and socio-cultural contributions of past experiences. Some people have, therefore, argued that man has no free will. Though that overstretches the argument, some of our behaviours, especially political behaviour, are outside our control.
Human beings are reasoning animals but we avoid reasoning when convenient. It takes higher cortical functions to reason but the default habit is to fall on primitive instincts devoid of reasoning. Particularly in matters of love, religion and politics, we tend to express our under-developed mentality where passion swallows reasoning. There we are driven by the same natural instincts governing the behaviour of lower animals. I call these three areas the ‘Triad of Insanity,’ but more of that later. If you have ever been shocked at some political decisions, you now know why.
Stereotyped thinking political
Politicians tend to think in a stereotyped fashion, hence members of a party always agree or disagree in toto on issues, thereby swallowing their individual thinking. If you differ, you are a political heretic subject to the wrath of your colleagues. Mass or group thinking is like the behaviour of animals in herds – they have one mind dictated by the thinking of the strongest in the group. In political behaviour, this is caucusing in cliques, which takes over individual reasoning. Humans are born intelligent but not born wise; we acquire wisdom through learning and mastery. We learn to speak before we learn to think and in daily life, many people act before they think unless they are forced to think.
For their own convenience, politicians will deliberately think with logical fallacies that only confuse and hide the truth. In ‘Tu quoque’ the politician says, ‘You too are guilty so leave me alone’. Politicians act through defence mechanisms, which are a means by which they subconsciously evade reality to maintain their sanity. For example, they project their evil motives unto others and say that is how their opponent is thinking. They rationalise [their acts] just to justify their obvious faux pas. They break the law that prohibits rent advance of more than six months and collect rent advance of GH¢50,000 and rationalise it. They scrap workers’ end-of-service benefit and keep theirs, build Sakumono MPs’ flats and sell to themselves and rent hotel accommodation for incoming ones, and they will rationalise it all. Four legs good, two legs bad. George Orwell, where are you?
Studies
Studies suggest a correlation between political views and brain structures. Brain scans show significant differences in the brain of political conservatives compared with liberals in US, the conservatives having bigger amygdalae, a memory-processing structure in the brain, while the liberals have a larger volume of grey matter in the anterior cingulate cortex in the brain involved with monitoring uncertainty and handling conflicting information. Conservatives may, thus, have a long institutional memory making them unfazed at new developments so they remain conservative. The Ghanaian electorate, I suspect, has a small amygdala for short memory (the President said so).
Another study indicates that there are several genes involved in political behaviour. Studies of skin conductance response and startle reflex show differences in physiological behaviour linked to political ideology. The politicians who want to hear what they are told tend to have aggressive and dogmatic personality traits, and some analysts believe that this was the situation for Margaret Thatcher.
Frank mental illness has sometimes been at the bottom of political flaws. Gustavus IV of Sweden was believed to have had disturbances of the mind. Psychotic illnesses have underscored the reign of monarchs such as George III and the biblical Nebuchadnezzar. Stalin was believed to have been paranoid. Some of our own politicians are paranoid. They verbally attack and counter-attack as defence mechanism, hence the political insults. Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Muamar Gadhafi, Idi Amin and one of our past leaders, were thought to have had mood swings of bipolar type. Lyndon Johnson was said to have had narcissistic personality trait.
Disorders affecting politicians
Grandiosity may motivate political ambition. In 2008, some 30 candidates aspired to the presidency when it was clear that not more than five of them had any chance of winning. In 2012, some of the contestants only provided comic relief. This is a case of grandiosity blurring one’s reasoning and making one feel bigger than real. Chronic subclinical expansive mood not severe enough to require treatment may be enough to influence political behaviours and decisions. This is cyclothymia.
There is a psychological disorder called ‘hoarding disorder’ by which one keeps things even if he does not need them. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and personality disorder could underlie this hoarding. In OCD, there is the compulsive urge to act, and in this case, to hoard. In personality disorder, one behaves without remorse and can simply covet for oneself what belongs to all. President Rawlings once said, “When the dog eats to satiation, it leaves the rest while human beings pocket the rest”. Many African politicians suffer from ‘hoarding disorder’ for which they require treatment. They amass wealth to the point of worshipping wealth. Abacha, Mobutu and Bokassa were richer than their own countries. Some call it ‘money disorder’.
Kleptocracy is when stealing becomes the motivation for going into politics, which seems to be our lot in Africa. African politicians only plan for a four-year cycle rather than long-term into the future. To date, we do not have a plan for the next 50 years. I once asked: ‘Will Ghana survive the next 200 years?’, and there was no answer.
Divide and rule is another of our stock-in-trade. African politicians will create cracks in groups to break ethnic cohesion and breed tribalism. They keep their followers suppressed so that the people will forever need them. Politicians will hide information from people and keep them ignorant. The typical politician would rather rule over ignorant people who cannot challenge them than rule over informed people. Could that be why the Right to Information Bill is not being passed?
By propaganda, African politicians repeat and glamorise lies to make them seem true. Many politicians are habitual and pathological liars and they are themselves surprised that the citizenry trust them when they speak. Broken promises are sometimes evidence of pathological lies.
If we require a medical report for a job, we should demand same, including strict mental health screening for the presidency and ministerial appointments, with annual check-up, and then perhaps, we shall improve the quality of our leadership. I invite a think tank to take it up.
The writer is the Chief Psychiatrist, Ghana Health Service.
