The Gosselins

[Truth Seeker]

Hi Dr Bradley,
I saw you on GMA this morning talking about the Gosselins?
I am an insider into what is really going on in their lives, and I am curious why you as a Dr couldn't have picked up on Kate's Narcissism?
The entire reason Kate's marriage and household is falling apart is due to the fact that Kate is suffering from a serious and obvious case of NPD.
This is why she refuses to stop the show, and go to therapy or marriage counseling.
Simply put, Kate Gosselin believes she has done no wrong and it is everyone elses fault.

Care to comment?
Or will you delete this message and turn the other cheek?

It would be great if you could acknowledge her NPD as the cause of her problems.

Please watch the show and do some research into the family and you will see the elephant in the room that is Kate's NPD.

Thanks.

[Dan]

I don't believe Dr. Bradley was brought onto GMA to be a personal psychologist for the family. He was simply commenting on the situation generally. In order to make such a diagnosis you would need to spend a lot of time talking to the individual. It was not his intention to make a diagnosis on this family nor was it his duty. Not even the best psychologist could make such an accusation by simply watching sporradic (and probably extremely edited) video clips of someone's life.

It is no one's business to make such a claim unless they are a doctor who has spent a lot of time with the patient. Though your opinion is interested, you have to realize that the intention of a 30 second commentary on a news show is not to make a serious diagnosis, it is simply to provide insight into the Gosselin's GENERAL situation as well as the general situation of other large families.

I don't mean to sound condescending, but I am somewhat baffled about...well...your whole comment.

[Truth Seeker]

I don't believe Dr. Bradley was brought onto GMA to be a personal psychologist for the family. He was simply commenting on the situation generally. In order to make such a diagnosis you would need to spend a lot of time talking to the individual. It was not his intention to make a diagnosis on this family nor was it his duty. Not even the best psychologist could make such an accusation by simply watching sporradic (and probably extremely edited) video clips of someone's life.

It is no one's business to make such a claim unless they are a doctor who has spent a lot of time with the patient. Though your opinion is interested, you have to realize that the intention of a 30 second commentary on a news show is not to make a serious diagnosis, it is simply to provide insight into the Gosselin's GENERAL situation as well as the general situation of other large families.

I don't mean to sound condescending, but I am somewhat baffled about...well...your whole comment.


Look, if you are asked to come on a nationsl tv show and comment about what the kids are going thru, it is your DUTY and OBLIGATION to at least rent the DVDs and read all the Gosselin blogs so you wont look like an uninformed ****.

As it is, anyone who watches the show, reads the Gosselin blogs and reads their interviews and who has knowledge of NPD, can clearly see that Kate Gosselin is a strong sufferer of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and the ENTIRE controversy surrounding the show is caused by Kates NPD.

It would be great if some talking head psychologist, hired to make a quick soundbite would have the balls to do research first and ADMIT on TV that Kate is the problem!

Maybe then the kids would have a chance.

Kates narcissism is the real problem. Its the reason for the failing of the marriage and why the kids are being exploited.

[Jesse]

Look, if you are asked to come on a nationsl tv show and comment about what the kids are going thru, it is your DUTY and OBLIGATION to at least rent the DVDs and read all the Gosselin blogs so you wont look like an uninformed ****.

As it is, anyone who watches the show, reads the Gosselin blogs and reads their interviews and who has knowledge of NPD, can clearly see that Kate Gosselin is a strong sufferer of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and the ENTIRE controversy surrounding the show is caused by Kates NPD.

It would be great if some talking head psychologist, hired to make a quick soundbite would have the balls to do research first and ADMIT on TV that Kate is the problem!

Maybe then the kids would have a chance.

Kates narcissism is the real problem. Its the reason for the failing of the marriage and why the kids are being exploited.

I completely second what Dan said for several reasons:

1. Everything on TV and blogs or DVDs is completely edited. It's impossible to get an accurate representation of what life is like for those people or even their real personalities by watching a TV show about them. I'm sure the blogs arn't even written by the Gosselins, but rather by a writer. Any research done on the Gosselins would undoubtedly have resulted in no viable evidence to make any sort of diagnosis.

2. Essentially you are saying that one must be an expert on a subject (In this case Jon and Kate plus 8) to make any kind of judgement about it. But citing my first reason i second Dan, you i'm sure know little to nothing about the real family unless you know them personally. No matter how many DVDs you watch or blogs you read you can never know what people on TV are really like.

3. It would have been irresponsible on so many levels to diagnose Kate on national TV. For one thing he'd need to meet her in person and go through many sessions of therapy to diagnose her. Another thing is doctor patient confidentiality. Even if she went through many sessions of therapy and was diagnosed he still wouldn't be able to announce her diagnosis on national TV.

[Esprit]

"As it is, ANYONE who watches the show, reads the Gosselin blogs and reads their interviews and who has knowledge of NPD, can clearly see that Kate Gosselin is a strong sufferer of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and the ENTIRE controversy surrounding the show is caused by Kates NPD"

Now I've never seen this show, but I can tell you that Dr. Bradley isn't "anybody"...he's a trained psychologist who very fortunately knows better than to diagnose someone who he has never met. AND even if Kate was his client and he saw her weekly for 10 years he would never be free to state to anyone, even her husband, unless he has explicit consent from her that she has NPD. Ethical, real, psychologists have rules that guide their practice. So while Dr. Bradley can discuss as the expert he is, research on the effects of multiple children on the family and can touch on some of the recent research on the psychological impact of reality TV, he could never give a diagnosis because he is not a lay person, he IS a psychologist. He could spend the next year watching the show daily (sorry Dr. B...I'd hate for you to have to do that!) as well as meeting with Kate daily and would still NOT BE ABLE TO DO WHAT YOU ARE ASKING!
So I would suggest reading up on client confidentiality and psychological practice. Or, I wonder if you are what my kids call a "troll"....someone who posts to just get a rise out of serious forum members?
But to give you the benefit of a doubt, IF you are truly an "insider" AND if you really care about this situation, then I'd suggest you do what you can personally to see if Kate can get into treatment. Unfortunately you are looking in the wrong direction with your posts. Thankfully, Dr. Bradley is no Dr. Phil!!!!

[Dan]

So as an "insider", you meant that you watched the show and read the tabloids? Like I said, it would take an omniscient psychologist to be able to make a diagnosis based on that small amount of information. If you think what you see on a TV entertainment show is so true that you can use it as a totally objective case study, then you need to re-examine reality television as well as your own ability to seperate entertainment from truth.

Like I said, Dr. Bradley was not brought into that show to make a diagnosis or even to address the specific situation of John and Kate directly. He simply made a GENERAL statement about the difficulties of raising large families. That was his purpose on Good Morning America, not to make sensational accusations (whether true or not).

I have watched the show regularly and I can see why you would find that diagnosis in what is presented in the show. As a psychologist, however, it would take a lot more personal contact with someone to come to that conclusion and to announce it on a talk show would be an ethical breach for a psychologist.

Recap, because you obviously didn't take in a word of my previous post:

1. You cant make a serious diagnosis from only tabloids and reality TV
2. He was not brought on the show to make a diagnosis like that
3. He spoke GENERALLY about the difficulties faced by large families
4. It would be totally unethical for a psychologist to make such claims and announce them on national TV.
5. This is not the national enquierer's message board. You might get more of a rise out of people there.

[jeanneo10]

Wow. Are you a therapist? How are you so certain that Kate's narcissm (as you have diagnosed) is the problem? I too am curious and baffled by your rather hostile challenging of Dr. Bradley. You seem to have the answers, so why not leave it at that?

[LuckyStarz]

What did everyone think about the season premiere? I haven't watched it yet but I am curious to know your thoughts...

[Truth Seeker]

Interesting that on Nancy Grace many many esteemed psychologists make diagnoses on air of Casey Anthony and Britney Spears when they supposedly havent spoken to them either. So why cant Dr Bradley?

I am an INSIDER, meaning I know many people close to Jon and Kate. Thus, knowing all I know, and reading all the blogs that are trying to get the truth out there, and the interviews with Kate etc it is blatantly obvious that she is a very sick woman with NPD.

I will provide some examples of clearly narcissistic behavior

1) Kate has never sent a single thank you note or gift to anyone nor has she ever sent a single thank you note or gift to anyone who has ever volunteered or helped her after the twins and tups were born. Instead, Kate says that these peoples "gift" is being in her presence and being able to help her.

2) The reason why none of her family is involved, is because after the tups were born Kate's father (a Pastor at a church) got many donations together from his parishoners and Kate rejected all of it. She demanded BRAND NEW matching cribs, highchairs and clothes! When they refused, she then demanded cash cards. When he refused to do that, she disowned him, then told her 3 sisters that it was HIM or HER, They chose their dad.

3) it is clear to most people that Kate has already set up the standard pecking order in the house that most, if not all narcissistic parents have.
It is very clear that she has her one Goldenchild and a scapegoat. Hannah is her favorite and the Goldenchild and Mady is the scapegoat.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.