Arab Leaders: Are They Mentally Ill?

By Haifa Zangana, New Age Islam Translated from Arabic by Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi, New Age Islam Politicians and Rulers Experience Mental and Psychological Changes after Assuming Power, Which Can Be Seen In Sudan Main Points · The two leaders of Sudan ignored calls to end the conflict and preserve civilian lives, suggesting they would not give up their addiction to power. · Rulers in countries with absolute power often treat the public with cruelty and disrespect. · David Owen's book On Illness and in Power examines how illness and treatment affect decision-making among leaders, leading to foolishness, stupidity, or haste. · Kaperogi's research suggests that those in power have neurological characteristics similar to those who have experienced brain trauma or injuries. · Patients with TBIs are more impulsive, risk-aware, and unable to empathize. …--- Does the current bloody fighting in Sudan help us comprehend the mental and psychological changes that politicians and rulers go through after assuming power and their willingness to sacrifice the lives of people in order to maintain their position of power? Why do most of our leaders, including those who were elected, suddenly transform from advocates of change and reform to the exact opposite as soon as they are in power, making it impossible to recognise who they were before? They seem to inhabit a different world, far from reality and the people they are supposed to represent. Is it accurate to say that a myriad of hostile pressures both at home and abroad are to blame for the change in the nature of the ruler? Numerous scientific researches, particularly those conducted in the last two decades, suggest that there is a crucial factor for change that we frequently overlook when conducting political analysis. This factor is the actual mental change that occurs during the exercise of power, which can distort thinking and result in personal changes in leaders that affect decision-making. Is using power as addicting as using drugs? Does the fact that the two leaders of Sudan ignored calls to put an end to the conflict and preserve civilian lives mean they wouldn't give up their addiction to power? The situation is not exclusive to Sudan. There are numerous instances of leaders who exhibit symptoms of perplexing behavioural degradation as soon as they assume power in both our Arab countries and a handful of Western nations. Any speaker who is concerned about the welfare of his people and calls for the enforcement of laws, as well as the purging of the nation of those who oppress the people and steal their wealth soon, develops into a mini-dictator who only listens to himself and his submissive lieutenants who tell them only what they want to hear. Without consideration of scientific study, change is frequently perceived through the lenses of social research, political competition, and the defence of national and religious identity. What can we infer from scientific research regarding the causes of the difference between the time before and after taking office? There are two explanations, according to a survey of scientific studies in the areas of the nerve and psychiatric systems. Professor of neuroscience at Oxford University Nayef Al-Roudhan believes that the neurochemical shift brought on by increased dopamine secretion in the brain, which affects specific regions of the brain and regulates feelings of pleasure, motivation, and reward, is what causes changes in the nervous system. High levels of dopamine are linked to feelings of autonomy, taking risks, being preoccupied with the cosmos or religion, an emotional detachment that might result in callousness, and being fixated on accomplishing objectives and conquests. The neuronal reward circuits in the brain are then activated by power, leading to addiction. Unrestricted authority holders are probably incapable of acting responsibly or seeking consensus-based decision-making because they lack self-awareness. Therefore, the dictator is more likely to seize power in circumstances where checks and balances are absent. Treating the public with cruelty and disrespect becomes the norm in countries where rulers hold absolute power. People who are influenced by power are neurologically similar to those who have experienced trauma or brain injuries. Al-Roudhan continues by presenting two Western models; however, they also apply to our leaders and politicians in the Arab nations. They may also come to feel that spiritual force controls them even in well-established democracies due to absolute authority. Former US President George W. Bush and his collaborator in the Iraq War, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, both used the same rhetoric when they talked to the public, claiming that God Almighty had commanded them to attack Iraq in order to battle evil. Al-Roudhan concludes that the conviction displayed by these leaders is a symptom of paranoid dopamine levels and the result of self-deception in the face of conflicting advice from close friends. The second explanation was addressed by Farooq Kaperogi, the Nigerian-American professor, in his research entitled “Why Political Power Destroys the Brain”. In this research, he focuses, for example, on the transformation of Nigerian President Buhari from a person speaking on behalf of the poor and marginalised calling for the eradication of corruption to a dictator who actually engages in what he was encouraging the people to revolt against. By way of comparison, he also discusses how the behaviour of haughty officials changes once they are ousted from positions of authority for some reason. They abruptly change back to how they were before. They are sympathetic to the people and condemn the abuse of power. This is what we observe with startling clarity among the politicians of the rival political parties and government officials in modern-day Iraq, who, as soon as they are removed from office, morph into moral individuals who denounce corruption and teach piety. Kaperogi adopts the research done on the brains of people in power by Dutcher Keltner, a psychology professor at the University of California, who found that those who are influenced by power have neurological characteristics in common with those who have experienced brain trauma or injuries. Patients who have suffered from TBIs tend to be "more impulsive, less risk-aware, and most importantly, less adept at seeing things from other people's point of view, that is, power causes a loss of the ability to empathize with others." In his book On Illness and in Power, veteran British politician and neurologist Lord David Owen focuses on the illnesses of corporate, military, and political leaders from 1901 to 2007. He thinks about how illness and treatment, both physical and mental, affected decision-making among the leaders of states, resulting in foolishness, stupidity or haste. Owen took particular interest in leaders who had developed a "hubristic syndrome" that significantly influenced their performance and conduct but who were otherwise healthy cognitively and in the traditional sense. They lose their capacity for empathy, develop excessive self-confidence, reject any advice that doesn't match their worldview, and occasionally reject any counsel. Al-Roudhan introduces us to a pathological pattern that the majority of Arab rulers suffer from. The ongoing violence in Sudan, where civilians are suffering the most, serves as a confirmation of this. As with the abrupt withdrawal of drugs, he claims that sudden loss of power can result in uncontrollable cravings. Powerful people, especially those who hold absolute power, are not likely to relinquish it voluntarily, smoothly, or without severe material and human losses. ------ Haifa Zangana is an Iraqi writer, painter and political activist. She is well known for her novel Women on a Journey: Between Baghdad and London, which is about political oppression, violence, and exile. She has written both fiction and nonfiction, primarily about recent political events in Iraq, Palestine, and Tunisia. She has also published both novels and short stories. 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