John Kerry’s nightmares, his medical records, and the therapy taboo
One of the saddest features about our current political discourse is that there is still a taboo when it comes to issues of psychology and therapy, including psychoanalysis. John Kerry’s Vietnam trauma indirectly raises the issue, but never puts it to bed. This seems to me as obvious as it is undiscussed.
Yet it is now being discussed, although rather obliquely, as an exploration of George Butler’s telling of Kerry’s smashing lamps, and thrashing around in the night after returning from Vietnam (sources: American Thinker, New Yorker).
Tom McGuire in his excellent post points to this Washington Post article from two years ago, in which the reporter, Mark Leibovich, interviewed Herry and his wife, called Heinz in the article.
Excerpt of the Washington Post’s 2002 interview of Kerry and Heinz
When Kerry is asked about the nightmares that haunted his sleep for years after he returned from Vietnam, he shrugs. “I don’t think I’ve had a nightmare in a long time,” he says. But then Heinz begins to mimic Kerry having a Vietnam nightmare.
“Down! Down, down!” she yells, patting her hands down on her auburn hair.
“I haven’t gotten slapped yet,” she says. “But there were times when I thought I might get throttled.”
Kerry quivers his right foot and steers the discussion to the counseling programs he has supported for Vietnam veterans. Asked if he has been in therapy himself, he non-answers. “It doesn’t bother me anymore, I just go back to sleep.”
Heinz presses him. “Not therapy for the dreams, therapy for the angst,” she says, and looks quizzically at him, awaiting an answer. Kerry shakes his head “No.”
Analysis of the interview suggests Kerry’s nightmares and therapy continue, possibly up to today
Let’s take a look at the numerous problems and issues this brief exchange raises:
1) Knowing whether you have nightmares or not. This should not be a difficult question to answer. Kerry’s response that “I don’t think I’ve had a nightmare in a long time,” is squirrelly at best, dishonest at worst.
2) And it appears to be dishonest, given what Heinz does next: Heinz begins to mimic Kerry having a Vietnam nightmare. Heinz married Kerry in 1995, and lived with him a few months before that. So it is apparent that Kerry has continued to have his Vietnam nightmares well into the 90′s, and who knows how recently.
3) Moreover, the nightmares that Kerry has are violent. “Down! Down, down!” she yells, in the next sentence in the interview, acting out what she must say to Kerry when he starts his thrashing around in the night.
4) Heinz also feared that she could be hurt by Kerry: “I haven’t gotten slapped yet,” she says. “But there were times when I thought I might get throttled.”
5) Kerry then inartfully dodges the question of whether he has sought therapy for his nightmare problem: Asked if he has been in therapy himself, he non-answers. “It doesn’t bother me anymore, I just go back to sleep.”
6) Inadvertantly, however, Kerry is admitting that the nightmares are continuing into the present: “It doesn’t bother me anymore, I just go back to sleep.” All present tense: it doesn’t bother him anymore, getting these violent nightmares, implying that it used to; but now he has found a solution, just going back to sleep.
7) Heinz supplies the answer that surpises no one, namely that Kerry has sought therapy: “Not therapy for the dreams, therapy for the angst,” she says. This is extremely interesting, since she is saying that Kerry’s therapy concerns the angst of Vietnam 35 years in the past, suggesting that some rather deep-seated issues are in play.
9) Apparently and appallingly, psychotherapy is still off-limits to men in power who would need it most, since Kerry cuts Heinz off at the knees: “Not therapy for the dreams, therapy for the angst,” she says, and looks quizzically at him, awaiting an answer. Kerry shakes his head “No.”
Summary of Conclusions
Kerry has violent nightmares, causing his wife to fear she might be throttled. Apparently the nightmares continue to this day, though Kerry appears to answer both yes and no to this (#6, #1). Kerry is in therapy, or at least was in the 1990′s to deal with angst from 1968-69, though again his wife and he answer yes and no to this question (#7, #8). So it is possible at least, based on these answers, to conclude that John Kerry has a continuing problem with violent nightmares, and is in or has recently been in therapy to deal with events that happened 35 years ago. John Kerry needs to release his medical records.