Takes a special type of jerk to pour scorn on someone who is clearly suffering from a mental illness.I'm not "pouring scorn" on him, you want scorn I could have heaped plenty more scorn but what's the point. I feel sorry for Ben as I feel sorry for all people in his predicament. BUT,and unfortunately there is a but : and if that makes me a special kind of jerk well O.K. fine
Takes a special type of jerk to pour scorn on someone who is clearly suffering from a mental illness.
What came first? The mental illness or the introduction to the drug?
I believe the latter
Takes a special type of jerk to pour scorn on someone who is clearly suffering from a mental illness.What came first? The mental illness or the introduction to the drug?
Tough question to answer. Most people with mental health issues go for quite some time undiagnosed until something triggers and a psychotic episode takes place. It doesnât have to be a strong episode but enough to make the family and professionals, and even the person, realise there is an issue that needs treatment.
So in Benâs case it could be the drugs are the episode and have heightened a pre-condition to mental health issues, or he had mental health issues and the drugs made him feel better and more in control initially. Of course the drugs then become the issue and what most people focus on and these drugs take control of the persons life and they lose all control (as we now see with Ben).
Peter Green (guy who started Fleetwood Mac) is a classic example of this scenario.
What mental illness does Ben have?
What mental illness does Ben have?
Could have anything, could have been depression at the beginning and progressed from there. Just because youâre rich and appear happy doesnât mean you arenât suffering from some form of mental illness.
A lot of people will disagree, but i feel bad/sorry for anyone who is addicted to ice or any sort of drug. Almost an impossible addiction to break.I hope he gets the help he needs.
Nobody, taking a drug for the first time, has an end goal of becoming an addict.
But if you choose to go down that road, you alone are responsible for the outcome. Not your job, not your family, not your life situation, not anything else.
I feel sad for Ben, but I have zero sympathy for him. This situation is his doing.
Way off. Though Iâm happy for you that you find comfort in the idea.
The problem is that when a person does something great, we tend to celebrate the individual without recognising the greater culture and how it made that success possible; and itâs exactly the same when we denigrate someone for opposite extreme. The irony is, there is rarely any consideration of the actual and particular context of the actual individual life and its relationship to the actual culture. Thatâs where the sympathy and possible empathy goes missing. Itâs just too easy to say - if you canât do this you arenât worth it. If you arenât a rock star, you werenât blessed. If you should have been one, you must have thrown it away: do you think a guy who had the opportunities Ben Cousins had, and the success he had, and the money he had, and the family he has, would reasonably weigh it all up and decide to end up deliriously directing traffic and running away from cops? Anyway, letâs lionise dead rockstars and the hard and fast lifestyle they live - but other guys can get fuct and get over themselves.
(Iâve probably made my point badly, but there is a lot of hypocrisy involved in these situations.)
Point made pretty well actually Zim. But, if you think I take ANY comfort out of my views on drugs, then maybe I made my point badly? You think Iâm way off, thatâs ok. Call it a difference of opinion. Seems like I always see things differently to most around Blitz. Itâs why I tend to limit my posts to dad jokes, puns, and TIPPA.
FWIW, I donât think that Ben consciously chose to go and get high and hang out directing traffic. Surely I get a bit more credit than thatâŚ?
What I believe is that Ben Cousins made a choice years ago to take a drug to see what it was like, liked the feeling it gave him, continued doing it, couldnât manage his high (because itâs iceâŚ), became addicted, and is now completely fried and suffering the consequences of his actions.
My view is that the only person Ben can blame for his situation is himself. He chose to take drugs, he chose to continue taking drugs, and completely ignored the possibility that by doing so he may become an addict.
I get that others donât agree with that view, and I totally understand and respect those views also - I understand BDâs point that for some people itâs less of a choice. I understand your point Zim about the culture and hypocrisy surrounding addicts. It is worth iterating though that personal experiences do have a way of shaping oneâs views on addiction. I wonât share my personal experience - suffice to say it was very much a conscious decision from the person in question to repeatedly abuse a drug paired with a âit wonât happen to me, Iâm handling itâ attitude. The person in question ended up behind bars and now has significant health issues.
IMHO, Bens mental health issues are a by product of drug use. In his aweful documentary he talked about the party culture at WCE and them using drugs as a rewards for hard work and success. He clearly took it too far, it got him hooked and fried his brain. What we are seeing now is a guy whos brain canât cope anymore and all the mental and physical health issues that come with a lifetime of hard drug abuse.
What mental illness does Ben have?Could have anything, could have been depression at the beginning and progressed from there. Just because youâre rich and appear happy doesnât mean you arenât suffering from some form of mental illness.
Has he ever been diagnosed? Because he just comes across as an addict that has lost all control.
Which is a mental illness in and of itself.
What mental illness does Ben have?Could have anything, could have been depression at the beginning and progressed from there. Just because youâre rich and appear happy doesnât mean you arenât suffering from some form of mental illness.
Has he ever been diagnosed? Because he just comes across as an addict that has lost all control.
You do realise there are different types of mental health issues?
What mental illness does Ben have?Could have anything, could have been depression at the beginning and progressed from there. Just because youâre rich and appear happy doesnât mean you arenât suffering from some form of mental illness.
Has he ever been diagnosed? Because he just comes across as an addict that has lost all control.
You do realise there are different types of mental health issues?
My point was in relation to depression. I am aware of this, however he is at the same level as any drug addict roaming the streets, albeit being a famous footballer. There are people that have illnesses out there trying to get help, while he is a manifestation of his own ignorance and doesnât really care about it.
What mental illness does Ben have?Could have anything, could have been depression at the beginning and progressed from there. Just because youâre rich and appear happy doesnât mean you arenât suffering from some form of mental illness.
Has he ever been diagnosed? Because he just comes across as an addict that has lost all control.
You do realise there are different types of mental health issues?
My point was in relation to depression. I am aware of this, however he is at the same level as any drug addict roaming the streets, albeit being a famous footballer. There are people that have illnesses out there trying to get help, while he is a manifestation of his own ignorance and doesnât really care about it.
Or maybe he does care but like many addicts cannot stop himself?
Hard to know the full facts as we are not close to the situation.
What mental illness does Ben have?Could have anything, could have been depression at the beginning and progressed from there. Just because youâre rich and appear happy doesnât mean you arenât suffering from some form of mental illness.
Has he ever been diagnosed? Because he just comes across as an addict that has lost all control.
You do realise there are different types of mental health issues?
My point was in relation to depression. I am aware of this, however he is at the same level as any drug addict roaming the streets, albeit being a famous footballer. There are people that have illnesses out there trying to get help, while he is a manifestation of his own ignorance and doesnât really care about it.
Staggering
Iâm backing off. Iâm way out of my depth here, just donât think he deserves the spotlight. Didnât back when he came back to play for Richmond and doesnât now. He needs helps.
Seems reasonable to me.
The only apparent difference between Cousins and a washed out druggie is that he has the money to keep semi-functional.
Iâm not sure why people are saying âwe donât know all the circumstancesâ and in the next breath superimposing a mental illness on top of drug affected behaviour.
he clearly has psychosis which is a mental illness, drug induced or not.
he clearly has psychosis which is a mental illness, drug induced or not.
Clearly?
I work with people who make the distinction between (their term) mad and bad all the time.
Some people really are just arseholes.
he clearly has psychosis which is a mental illness, drug induced or not.Clearly?
I work with people who make the distinction between (their term) mad and bad all the time.
Some people really are just arseholes.
Yes we have noticed
he clearly has psychosis which is a mental illness, drug induced or not.Clearly?
I work with people who make the distinction between (their term) mad and bad all the time.
Some people really are just arseholes.Yes we have noticed
Oh, well done.
Give yourself a clap.
And by clap I mean uppercut.