It appears according to a study by Christopher Lohse, a social work master’s student at Southern Connecticut University, that there is a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush. Lohse’s study is based on a survey of 69 psychiatric outpatients in three Connecticut locations during the 2004 election.

Lohse’s research is supported by SCSU professor Jaak Rakfeldt and statistician Misty Ginacola. There seems to be a strong correlation between psychotic persons and their presidential support for Bush. “Our study shows that psychotic patients prefer an authoritative leader,” says Lohse. “If your world is very mixed up, there’s something comforting about someone telling you, ‘This is how is going to be.’”

Originally this study was supposed to be an advocacy project designed to encourage mentally ill patients to vote. It was after the completion of the project that the Bush trend was noticed by Lohse. “Bush supporters had significantly less knowledge about current issues, government and politics than those who supported Kerry,” the study says.

The study used two scales. The first was the Modified General Assessment Functioning (MGAF) scale. The instrument measures the functioning of disabled patients on a 100-point scale. The second scale developed by Rakfeldt assessed knowledge about current issues, politics and government.

According to Lohse, “this trend isn’t unique to Bush: A 1977 study by Frumkin & Ibrahim found that psychiatric patients preferred Nixon over McGovern in the 1972 election.”

Rakfeldt vouches for the legitimacy of the study although it’s original intent was not to demonstrate those results. He claims that these results weren’t part of the original project.

Lohse describes himself as a “Reagan revolution fanatic.” However Bush, he says, “is just beyond the pale.”

From: The Hartford Advocate, December 7, 2006