What the Hell is "Normal"? And Does It Preclude "Greatness"?

If you read John McManamy's blog, you're aware of Nassir Ghaemi's recent book  A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness.  You'll also be aware that McManamy thinks it's great, and raises a lot of important issues.  If you read this blog, you'll know that I think the book is highly problematic and not worth my time.

McManamy's belief is that this book starts an important conversation about the "gifts" conferred by mental illness -- gifts that "normal" people don't have.  But what exactly is "normal"?

McManamy makes a passing reference to Nazi Germany, and asks whether "normal" was part of their problem.  As it happens, I've studied this issue in some detail.  Normal ain't got nothing to do with it.  Trauma?  Now, trauma's got everything to do with it.  Is trauma "normal"?  I'd like to think not.  On the other hand, I know plenty of traumatized people, including myself, so maybe it's more "normal" than society would like to think.

But it's important to note here that "normal" may or may not mean "healthy".  When referring to a "normal" organism, the word means that the organism in question is healthy and without pathology.  This is the way the word is used in a discussion about "normal" versus "mentally ill".

Why I Probably Won't Read Dr. Nassir Ghaemi's New Book, "A First Rate Madness"

A couple of my blog feeds popped up today with reviews of Dr. Nassir Ghaemi's book A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness.  His thesis is that many great leaders of the world have suffered from mood disorders, ranging from major depression to bipolar disorder.  John McManamy posits that President Obama may be "too normal" to be an effective president for these trying times.  Tom Wooten, author of The Bipolar Advantage, wrote a review of the book entitled at PsychCentral entitled "We Need A Bipolar President".


According to Dr Ghaemi, many "great figures in history" have had mood disorders.  Ghandi, Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., General Sherman are but some of the examples.  Neville Chamberlain and General McClellan were excellent peacetime leaders, but were basically too normal to meet the challenges of a crisis.  Mood disorders, you see, give a person experience with crisis situations and how to handle them.


I have not read Dr. Ghaemi's book.  I probably won't bother, because I consider its methodology to be critically flawed in numerous ways.