Can Bipolar Disorder or a Brain Injury Explain Antisemitism? A Therapist’s Perspective on Kanye West’s Wall Street Journal Ad
Potomac Behavioral Health | Chevy Chase, Maryland & DMV Area
When Kanye West recently placed an apology ad in The Wall Street Journal, many people were left asking complicated questions: Does bipolar disorder explain antisemitism? Could a traumatic brain injury (TBI) be responsible? Is this real accountability or just a PR move?
As a trauma‑informed therapist in the DMV (Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia), I hear versions of these questions often. Especially when public figures cause harm and then attempt repair. This post looks at the situation through a clinical lens, while centering the people who were harmed.
Can Bipolar Disorder or TBI Explain Antisemitism?
Bipolar disorder and traumatic brain injury can affect impulse control, judgment, and emotional regulation. They do not create antisemitic beliefs. Mental illness may influence how someone expresses thoughts, not why those beliefs exist. Accountability and repair are still required, regardless of diagnosis.
Bipolar disorder can affect mood, energy, impulse control, and judgment, especially during manic or hypomanic episodes. A traumatic brain injury can also impact emotional regulation, inhibition, and decision‑making. Both conditions can lower filters and increase impulsivity.
But neither bipolar disorder nor TBI creates antisemitic beliefs.
Prejudice, racism, and antisemitism are learned belief systems. Mental health conditions may influence how someone expresses thoughts, but they do not explain why those beliefs exist in the first place.
Attributing antisemitism to mental illness is not only inaccurate, it’s also harmful. It stigmatizes people living with bipolar disorder and TBI while minimizing accountability for harmful ideology.
For individuals and families navigating serious mental health conditions, this distinction matters. You can struggle with mood instability, impulsivity, or emotional regulation without holding hateful beliefs.
Could This Apology Be “Opposite Action”?
In Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), opposite action is a skill used to regulate intense emotions by choosing behaviors that move against an emotional urge.
For example:
- Shame often urges people to hide, withdraw, or become defensive.
- Opposite action to shame can look like taking responsibility, making a public repair attempt, or naming harm.
It’s possible that this apology ad represents a form of opposite action potentially discussed in a therapy setting as a way to cope with overwhelming shame or distress.
That does not automatically make the apology insincere. It also does not automatically make it sufficient. Both can be true at the same time.
Personal Healing vs. Healing for the People Harmed
This is one of the most important distinctions in trauma‑informed work:
Your healing is not the same as repairing harm to others.
Someone can be doing real work in therapy by processing shame, working on emotional regulation, or confronting destructive patterns while the people they harmed are still carrying real pain, fear, and mistrust.
For Jewish individuals and communities, antisemitic rhetoric is not abstract. It connects to intergenerational trauma, real‑world violence, and ongoing threats to safety.
An apology may be meaningful for the person offering it. That does not mean it automatically meets the emotional, psychological, or relational needs of those who were harmed. Both realities deserve space.
PR Stunt or Genuine Accountability?
Many people believe the ad is a PR strategy an attempt to manage reputation rather than take true responsibility. Others believe it could reflect real remorse.
The truth is: we often cannot know someone’s internal motivation.
Human behavior is rarely one‑dimensional. It is entirely possible that:
- There is a strategic PR element.
- There is also real shame, regret, or internal conflict.
From a therapeutic lens, we make room for complexity without excusing harm.
What matters more than intent is pattern and follow‑through:
- Does behavior change over time?
- Is there sustained accountability?
- Are harmed communities centered, not just the individual’s image?
These are the questions that signal whether repair is real or performative.
Why This Matters for Trauma, Accountability, and Healing
For many of my clients in Chevy Chase and across the DMV, this situation mirrors deeply personal experiences:
- A family member who hurt them and later apologized
- A partner who expressed remorse but didn’t change behavior
- A public figure whose words reopened old wounds
Therapy helps people hold two truths:
- Someone can be struggling emotionally.
- Their struggle does not erase the harm they caused.
True healing whether in families, relationships, or communities requires both accountability and compassion, without confusing the two.
A Final Word
Mental health diagnoses do not explain antisemitism.
Apologies can be part of emotional regulation and personal healing.
And the healing of the person who caused harm is not the same as the healing of those who were harmed.
If this situation has stirred up fear, anger, grief, or exhaustion for you, you are not overreacting. These reactions make sense in the context of both personal and collective trauma.
If you’re in Maryland or Virginia and looking for trauma‑informed support, our team at Potomac Behavioral Health provides evidence‑based therapy, including EMDR and somatic approaches, for individuals navigating stress, trauma, and complex emotional reactions.
Your reactions are valid. Your nervous system matters. And you deserve support that takes both science and lived experience seriously.