Is Ben Carson Lying About Reading Psychology Today as a Teen?

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In his 1996 memoir Gifted Hands and elsewhere, Carson uses the stabbing story as part of a larger redemption tale; as a young man, he was plagued with a violent temper, and only his faith in God could save him. The Gifted Hands version goes like this: After an adolescent Carson and his friend Bob get into an argument about which radio station to listen to, Carson pulls a camping knife from his pocket and thrusts it “with all the power of my young muscles” toward Bob’s belly. Blessedly for both men, Bob is wearing a large belt buckle, which snaps the blade and renders Carson harmless. Young Ben realizes with a shock that he just attempted to murder his buddy, then runs away and shuts himself in a bathroom with a Bible to pray the anger away. It works miraculously: Ever since that fateful day, he’s never had an issue with his temper.

But before reaching for the Bible, the already medicine-inclined teen consults another, equally vaunted, publication. That’s right: I’m talking about Psychology Today. Carson is sitting on the tub, contemplating his misdeed, when he considers the magazine:

“Lord,” I whispered, “You have to take this temper from me. If You don’t, I’ll never be free from it. I’ll end up doing a lot worse than trying to stab one of my best friends.”

Already heavy into psychology (I had been reading Psychology Today for a year), I knew that temper was a personality trait. Standard thinking in the field pointed out the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of modifying personality traits. Even today some experts believe that the best we can do is accept our limitations and adjust to them.

Tears streamed between my fingers. “Lord, despite what all the experts tell me, You can change me. You can free me forever from this destructive personality trait.”

You can see why Carson has trotted out the story so many times since then. It’s dramatic, uplifting, and shows a respect for medicine coupled with knowledge that even its most closely held principles are no match for the awesome power of God. A perfect origin story for the neurosurgeon-turned-evangelical-candidate.

But did Ben Carson really consult Psychology Today before arriving at his revelation? In Gifted Hands, Carson writes that he was in ninth grade at the time of the attempted stabbing, and he’s subsequently pinpointed his age at 14 years old. Given Carson’s birth year of 1951, that would put the knifing in either 1965 or 1966. Psychology Today published its very first issue in May 1967.

Gifted Hands claims that Carson runs to the bathroom immediately after trying to kill Bob, and indicates that his thoughts of the magazine came during this restroom reverie, not after. (One paragraph later, he’s wiping his nose with toilet paper, then standing up and sitting back down on the john.) Carson writes that he’d been reading Psychology Today for a year at that point—but the magazine wasn’t first published until at least five months later.

More: http://gawker.com/is-ben-carson-lying-about-reading-psychology-today-as-a-1741482781

I was reading somewhere an observation that perhaps he's creating all these elaborate stories about how bad he used to be to underscore his transformation by finding Jesus. Certainly a legend in his own mind. And those pictures of his home? Goodness.

[merrily]

1. The Kennedy Foundation did not fund Obama Sr.'s education in the US and Obama Sr and

the President's mom did not meet in Selma. I did not let discrepancies in a ghostwritten bio stop me from voting for Obama.

On the other hand, when confronted, Obama did not go batshit. I consder not going batshit when someone catches you "misspeaking" a huge plus.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. "Dreams from my Father" was ghostwritten?

Is that your claim?

[merrily]

10. I thought that was true? Is it better if he made the "misstatements" himself?

I don't really care one way or the other. That's not central to my point about going batshit v. not going batshit.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. It's a lie usually only spouted by delusional racists and inveterate Obama haters

But you go ahead now.

[merrily]

12. Go ahead and what? I said I could care less and it was irrelevant to my point.

Sorry, you don't get to pick a fight with me. Better luck next time.

[alcibiades_mystery]

13. Your sly nonsense got called out

That's good enough for me.

[merrily]

14. That was not the intent of my post, but whatever. Your perennially combative nonsense got called

out.

Buh bye.

[COLGATE4]

2. He's a psychopath. A serial liar who creates his own "reality"

to fit whatever circumstances he thinks need massaging. This is just one piece of the "sinner saved" persona that he's been pumping for years now.

[Solly Mack]

3. He got copies from the future when an angel turned the toilet into a time machine.

[Agnosticsherbet]

4. It appears that Carson made up most of his young life.

And that his book is mostly fiction.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. If I were ever to become famous and decide to write my autobiography

(don't worry, it won't happen), I would sure as hell fact-check the things I thought I remembered from many years ago. Memories are very fallible; people often "remember" things that never happened, or happened in a different way. You might think you were present at or involved in an event when in fact it's something you were only told about. This is a pretty common phenomenon, especially regarding events that happened during childhood. So if I "remembered," for example, having met someone famous when I was a kid and that person offered me a scholarship, I'd want to find out from other sources whether that actually happened, or even could have happened, before I wrote about it in my autobiography.

To wit: Carson says Gen. Westmoreland offered him a full scholarship to West Point; now it turns out there's no evidence this happened, or even that it could have happened (West Point doesn't offer scholarships as such, and Westmoreland wasn't in Detroit on the day in question). Assuming Mental Ben isn't flat-out lying intentionally, what could have happened is: Carson meets Westmoreland at some event and is introduced as an up-and-coming member of ROTC. Westmoreland encourages him to apply to West Point and tells him what the process is. Or maybe it was some other general. Anyhow, Carson decides not to got to West Point for whatever reason. Years later, after he's become a successful surgeon and his ego has swelled to the size of the Hindenburg, he decides to write his autobiography. He then dredges various events from his memory and exaggerates, twists or conflates them, intentionally or otherwise, to place himself in the best possible light and describes the alleged West Point conversation as an actual offer for a scholarship.

And maybe the acts of violence he claims he committed as a teenager (before he found Jesus in the bathroom while reading an issue of Psychology Today that hadn't been published yet) were only ever just the fantasies of a skinny, nerdy kid who probably got picked on a lot. A lot of teenagers, especially the quiet, nerdy ones, probably fantasize about lashing out physically at other kids. Carson may have "remembered" his revenge fantasies as real events. If these things had really happened someone else surely would have remembered, but using these imagined or fabricated incidents as evidence of God's influence makes for a better story. Maybe he didn't want any fact-checking; it sounds better if he was a violent gangsta until Jesus fixed him all up.

But anyhow, whatever is going on in Carson's head - whether he "remembered" things that didn't happen and never had any fact-checking done, or whether he just made shit up deliberately - it ought to keep him far, far away from the White House.

[Act_of_Reparation]

6. The whole story is likely fabricrated.

I don't think it matters what we was or was not reading at the time.

[Vinca]

7. Wow - you'd think a neurosurgeon would pay more attention to detail.

If he had been reading it for a year at the time of the incident, it must have been 2 years before the first issue was published. Oops.

[SwankyXomb]

8. If a teenage boy

is going to find religion in a bathroom with a magazine, it's more likely to be a Playboy.

[rufus dog]

15. At this point I would request proof that he was a teenager

Logic and all past experiences lead me to believe he was a teenager, but based upon his idiotic statements he causes me to question everything he says.