AFL and mental illness

[rb4x]

I saw a report that players who are pinged for recreational drug taking have a loophole whereby they can escape sanction if they can get a doctor to certify a mental illness. Leads me to wonder if some of these short holidays for mental health issues are not sometimes a cover for a drug strike.

[Melbourne_Blood]

I understand what MB is saying above. Equally and possibly relevant to the Lake story, there is a lot of evidence that a large number of high profile sports people who do not have strong post-playing career plans in place, suffer depression, and sometimes turn to undesirable lifestyles, after retirement.

Thanks Meg , I Completely understand that as well , which is why it is tricky thing to comment on. I don’t want to believe people would stoop so low to exploit something that effects so many lives and , frankly , ends many lives. I have no evidence to suggest anyone has done so , I just fear it is something that could be happening in some cases. For example the Garry Lyon situation . To be involved in something pretty poor morally and to then in that controversy reveal a mental health struggle , as some sort of justification for said behaviour ?? Really ? If he is battling mental demons , why choose that moment to reveal it , as if it justifies that behaviour ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[stevoswan]

It gets worse for Brian Lake.....

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/hawthorn-premiership-winner-brian-lake-arrested-held-in-custody-20190404-p51ayo.html

[stevoswan]

Great to see Majak Daw returning to footy via the VFL this week.....congratulations and continued good health to him.

On the other hand, not good to see Dayne Beams struggling at the moment.....indeed, all the best to him, I hope he gets to a far better place in life (and secondly, back to footy).

UPDATE: Injured Magpie 'a broken man', takes mental health break - AFL.com.au

[stevoswan]

Nice piece on former Swan and Magpie Sam Murray on his attempts to return to AFL and his own battle with mental health.

Ex-Pie opens up on drug ban, family tragedy and mental health battle - AFL.com.au

I hope he gets picked up but if he doesn't, it sounds like he'll be ok.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Other metal illnesses

There's a tendency to equate mental illness with depressive conditions. So that depression sucks up the majority of media attention, support services and funding.

Even with that concentration of effort, it seems to be insufficient too deal with that aspect of mental illness.

Other conditions get even less attention. And some of them are far more debilitating and pose a greater threat to society as a whole.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder, for example.

While the actions of Anders Breivik eventually caught up with him, and perhaps so too will Donald Trump's. Such examples are just the tip of an iceberg. Most of us have probably run across bosses/co-workers/partners that exhibit the classic symptoms, indeed a single narcissist can have an extremely divisive effect in a football team - or even a tiny community like RWO.

[Bloods05]

There's a tendency to equate mental illness with depressive conditions. So that depression sucks up the majority of media attention, support services and funding.

Even with that concentration of effort, it seems to be insufficient too deal with that aspect of mental illness.

Other conditions get even less attention. And some of them are far more debilitating and pose a greater threat to society as a whole.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder, for example.

While the actions of Anders Breivik eventually caught up with him, and perhaps so too will Donald Trump's. Such examples are just the tip of an iceberg. Most of us have probably run across bosses/co-workers/partners that exhibit the classic symptoms, indeed a single narcissist can have an extremely divisive effect in a football team - or even a tiny community like RWO.

We've had a few on RWO over the years, but fortunately we've weeded out nearly all of them.