Jenner posted:

I was talking to a family member who is also a psychiatrist a few days ago. They are center-Liberal and probably biased but he was saying Psychologists should do a study on extreme right wing individuals because, in his experience, they all seem incredibly unhinged, detached from facts and reality, and unstable.

He works in a mental hospital and he says almost all of his clients hold extreme right beliefs. He honestly believes conservatism is a mental illness.

I think that is going a little far, I do not think conservative beliefs in of themselves are signifiers of mental illness but I cannot deny that Freeps and their ilk seem utterly insane. Nor can I refuse to acknowledge that when a right leaning individual shoots up a school, business, or planned parenthood the media often talks about his (so far it has only been men, it seems) history of mental illness and domestic abuse.

Coincidentally it wouldn't be fair to exclude extreme leftists from consideration either. (Disclaimer: I am a very far left, perhaps even radical, liberal. Going so far as to register as a socialist in my voter registration.)

From my observation, extreme leftists seem much less likely to go on shooting sprees but they have their own insane beliefs and conspiracy theories.

Is there a relationship between extremism and mental illness? Not just a correlation, but an actual cause-and-effect relationship?