Ebook: State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind (Revised)

"This is one of those few books that is a virtual Rosetta stone to understanding how so many Americans are living in an alternative reality." —BuzzFlash

Finally, the answer to the many questions that have been preying on the minds of millions of Americans has arrived. Why are Americans so vulnerable to divisive political tactics? Why did Americans get dragged into such an unwise war in Iraq? Why do fundamentalist religious groups, Fox News, and right-wing radio still play such influential roles in America’s political landscape? And why are long-accepted rational scientific ideas like evolution under siege? These questions hold America’s future in the balance. Ultimately, they are questions about the American mind. Psychologist-attorney Dr. Bryant Welch has the answers.

If America is going to change the mind-set that led us to war in Iraq and left us unable to confront our serious national problems, this book is vitally important. Drawing on his unique experience both as a clinical psychologist and a Washington, D.C., political figure with the American Psychological Association, Dr. Welch shows how the long-term effects of sophisticated new forms of political manipulation have not only led to our debacle in Iraq but are also currently undercutting America’s ability to address its very serious problems. In the 1944 movie Gaslight, a husband drives his wife to the brink of insanity by playing games with her sense of reality. Just as in the movie, America’s most recent political “gaslighters,” such as George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and many religious leaders, have generated and exploited confusion in the minds of countless Americans.

Gaslighters prey on their victim’s vulnerability to paranoia, sexual perplexity, and envy to undermine the mind’s ability to function rationally. Welch examines why millions of Americans, in response to such assaults, subconsciously and dangerously create their own simplistic reality, even if it is completely different from the more complex reality of the world.

Most important, State of Confusion explains how and why Americans must act now to fight back against this harmful manipulation before it’s too late. Dr. Welch’s exploration of the American mind is both fascinating and frightening, and State of Confusion is a must-read for everyone who cares about the future of this great country.



"A vitally important and highly readable investigation...by this insightful psychologist and political activist." --Lawrence Tribe

"A fascinating and compelling case that right-wing politics has subverted our democracy...This book unmasks the politics of fear--the deeper chords touched by campaigns that appeal to the dark side." --Robert Shrum, author, "Concessions of a Serial Campaigner"

"Bryant Welch sees through the smoke and mirrors and offers the only remedy that will place democracy firmly in the grip of the people from whom it is being stolen." --Harold I. Eist, former President, American Psychiatric Asociation

"This beautifully written, urgently relevant work should be on the bookshelf of everyone who cares about the survival of American democracy." --Nancy McWilliams, former President, Division of Psychoanalysis, American Psychological Association

From the Author:

"I published the first edition of 'State of Confusion' in 2008. I am a clinical psychologist and attorney, and the previous two decades had given me an unusual perch from which to observe the American mind as it played out in the political arena. I became increasingly concerned with the growing instability of the American mind itself as it struggled under trauma and political manipulation to bear the psychological burdens needed to maintain a democracy. As frightening as our neglect of the deterioration of the environment was, the deterioration of our minds was even more worrisome and even more neglected.

What was shocking in 2008, now just a decade later, seems almost quaint and illustrates the rapid deterioration of our mental state -- an increasingly dysfunctional state of confusion.

Fortunately, as rapidly as the mind has deteriorated, so has our understanding of the mind increased. The most important and hopeful antidote to our current predicament is psychological awareness, awareness of the nature of the mind itself and an awareness of the forces that have so distorted our American character and mental stability. When we understand the nature of our mind we see that awareness itself can be profoundly healing and can illuminate the constructive things we can do to restore the American mind to rationality, tranquility, and vibrancy.

Despite our current dire situation America’s promise is still vast. The hour is getting late, however. Awareness, deeper psychological awareness itself, must become America’s new Manhattan Project. This book is dedicated to that effort."

Bryant Welch is a nationally renowned clinical psychologist and attorney. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina and later was a Research Associate Graduate of the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. He lived in Washington, DC for seventeen years where he served as the first Executive Director for Professional Practice of the American Psychological Association. He oversaw organized psychology’s most impactful advocacy era, leading successful efforts to expand access to psychological care and using psychological understanding to combat human rights abuses in many settings. For these efforts, he received numerous awards including an APA Presidential Citation for Seminal Contributions to the Field of Psychology. He was an outspoken opponent of the APA’s involvement in human torture under the Bush administration. Bryant currently lives with his wife, Leni Miller, and practices clinical psychology in Sausalito, CA.