Friday, April 15, 2016

Is This Just a Coincidence? Things Need To Change

So I am very interested in seeing if there are athletes and other well known people that have mental illnesses and now that I know there are which ones. But there are very few people ever labeled as having BPD or a personality disorder in general. Well today I was searching and I found a list
Famous People with Borderline Personality Disorder
But when I saw the list I did not get the feeling of oh others have the same issues or there are others. No what I saw was that if you skipped the first name there are a total of 0 males.
It really annoys me that males don't seek treatment as much as women. We are supposedly a society that is more accepting. I guess that is true if you are comparing it to when people were basically in cages if they were mentally ill, and by the way this is not just for BPD this is for mental illness in general.
Very few males get treatment and even fewer seek it. The reason: Well there is not one answer but there is one BIG factor. Males are "supposed" to be macho males and tough and get through anything.
First of all is anyone has seen Ronda Rousey she is female and I am pretty sure she is tougher psychically than most males. Yet she said that she had some mental issues. From what I have seen also if it is not in the hospital the amount of females compared to males well there is no comparison.
But the person can't be the only one blamed. After all they might not get treatment but they are still in pain. I also blame coaches and parents (especially fathers) who make it or imply that someone is not tough or a man or need to grow a pair if they want treatment.
I am some ways while a male am very lucky. I can't imagine what it is like to be the 6 foot 5 inch linebacker who is supposed to be able to conquer anything. Or the 7 foot basketball player that can take anything except what is inside his head. Or a rugby player that can slam other people but can't slam his own problems.
There needs to be change. Whether it is all male treatment centers or at least at the beginning so that they can get better in their way. Or maybe we need to change the name of treatment. I don't care if we call it flube buke I just want these people to get help.
While I think I will be writing another article I also want to explain how grateful I am to athletes like Brandon Marshall, Arian Foster and Shane Victorino who have come out with mental illness.
I know there are others too. Both athletes and males in general. I have not asked if I can use their name but one athlete who many people have seen on TV before said to me about therapy/counseling after I had said I never thought he would be the type of person that went to counseling he said
Why? The moment you realize that talking to someone can help is the first step in fixing your issues.

Hopefully more people can think that way.

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