President Donald Trump looks on during an announcement of a $6.25 billion donation from Michael Dell in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC on December 2, 2025. AFP via Getty Images

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

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