Russia's Borderline Personality

Abstract

Any outsider who comes in contact with Russia soon realizes that it behaves in a fundamentally different way. Sometimes Russia reminds us of people we know, leading us to speculate that it must somehow have a collective personality, which makes it all the more challenging and alluring. We speak of Russia's mysterious "deep soul" (even "slave soul") gleamed by reading Fyodor Dostoevsky or listening to Aleksandr Skryabin. Fyodor Tyutchev famously remarked that Russia cannot be understood with the mind, only emotionally. Winston Churchill even more famously regretted that Russia "is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." A Gorbachev supporter once praised the former Soviet leader as a master psychoanalyst who knew how to change Russia whereas others would have failed.1 A leading Western Sovietologist, Fiona Hill, once mentioned that Russia "resembles a paranoid individual."2 Another one, Peter Rutland, warned that any attempt to dissect Russia's enigmatic personality is bound to raise more questions than answers. "Expect the unexpected," he advised.3The observation that nations behave as individuals is anecdotal yet widespread, not really grounded academically, though both the realist and liberalist schools of international relations to some extent assume it. Development economists and even political scientists speak of whether a country has "matured." Using Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theories, Arthur Koestler spoke of the "political neuroses" of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom before, during, and after World War II.4 Russian analysts routinely use these tools to describe Russia, as have some Western specialists.5 Ambassador George F. Kennan in his 1946 "Long Telegram" and 1947 "X" article-probably the most influential early Cold War documents-spoke about "psychological analysis" in his attempt at dissecting the complex interactions of elites, history, and peoples that produced the Kremlin's "neurotic" views and actions.6In this spirit, we propose that Russia's behavior has a striking resemblance to what is known as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), which is one of the ten personality disorders recognized by the psychological and psychiatric academy. Whether this resemblance is purely coincidental or the result of some dynamic we dare not speculate about remains beyond any discipline or theories of which we are aware. But the parallel is so obvious that it would not be surprising if by stating it we accidentally plagiarized someone else. According to the the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV), a person can be diagnosed with BPD if they suffer from five of the following nine symptoms:1. Frantic effort to avoid real or imagined abandonment;2. A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation;3. Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self;4. Impulsivity in areas that are potentially self-damaging;5. Recurring suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior;6. Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood, such as episodic dysphoria (mixture of depression, rage, and despair), irritability or anxiety;7. Chronic feelings of emptiness;8. Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty in controlling anger (including engaging in violence); and9. Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms.7As is apparent even to casual observers, Russia suffers from at least the five needed for diagnosis.The Borderline WorldStop Walking on Eggshells, a groundbreaking book on BPD (written for those who have to live with a borderline patient) by Paul T. Mason and Randi Kreger, can double as a diagnostic manual of Russia's behavior-toward itself and others.8 It would be useful not only to U.S. and EU diplomats, but also to Russian leaders who, as Gorbachev, are forced to double as therapists. …