Amulte Posted March 14, 2005 Found another celebrity with all his money having a cry. Sad but true, lots of people suffer from bipolar disorder. inculding myself much to my disgust! then there i hear about this bloody sportsperson with all his cash having a winge about suffering from bipolar. Some may say i want the attention, maybe ive just got the shits today or jealous or in one of my "moods" but everytime i hear of a celebrity!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: sorry but i do not believe a society that puts such a high stature on sportspeople and THEIR afflictions cannot ever change itself for the better. these few sporting "elite" are not the whole people of this or any country! their views and opinions should be treated no different from ours! :mad: :mad: Article Courtesy of Ninemsn.com.au Michael Slater has bipolar disorder 13:56 AEDT Mon Mar 14 2005 Former Test cricketer Michael Slater has revealed he is suffering from bipolar disorder. Slater, the mercurial opening batsman famed for kissing the coat of arms on his helmet whenever he reached a century, said he had suffered from panic attacks and feelings of impending doom. "I felt that every day I was going to die. Every day was my last day. That's how drastically it affected me," Slater told Andrew Denton in Enough Rope, which will screen on ABC television on Monday night. The first panic attack was triggered by Slater's first day as a television cricket commentator in England in 2000. "I just was so nervous, so uptight about it, and after the first day's commentating, I thought I'd done an absolute crap job," he said. "So I came back to my hotel and I didn't feel great, and then bang, that night I had my first ever full-blown panic attack, was rushed to hospital, thought I was having a heart attack." A second panic attack a month later was more intense. "For the next two weeks, I was sort of house-bound in a darkened room having several panic attacks a day, and it ... was this fear of having another panic attack, this feeling of impending doom and that I was actually going to die." Slater, 35, said he had never spoken publicly about his illness before, but hoped it would help people understand why his behaviour had appeared erratic at times. He believes his bipolar disorder may also be linked to a spinal disease, ankylosing spondylitis, diagnosed in his late teens and which later developed into reactive arthritis. He said he did not sleep well because of pain in his back, and there were times when he could barely move in the morning. "It was like I was an old man trying to get going and it would take me to midday before I'd sort of loosened up and be able to walk fairly freely," he said. "I just knew that I didn't have the energy to try and get on top of it again, so retirement was the only (option)." Slater played 74 Tests for Australia between 1993 and 2001, hitting 14 centuries and averaging almost 43. He also spoke of the pain of his marriage breakup, and the anguish caused by rumours that he was a cocaine addict and was the father of team-mate Adam Gilchrist's child. Neither was true, he said. Slater said former Cricket Australia chief executive Malcolm Speed approached him on the eve of the team's departure for India in 2001 to ask him about drug use. Slater told Speed: "You go back to your so-called reliable source and tell him he's not so reliable, because drugs have never been a part of my life, will never be a part of my life. It's just something I've will never stand for." Speed told Slater he believed him and wished him well for the tour. "I look back through it all I think well, shit how'd you get through that? "It was pretty tough. You know I'm proud of myself ... I'm strong, and I'm loving the commentary world, and hopefully there's a long career doing that, being involved with the game and just enjoying life." Im so sorry about all that eh, just had to vent it. :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted March 15, 2005 Celebrities publicising stigmatised conditions has helped to normalise public opinion of many of these. eg, talk about depression in the 80's made you look like a weak person, unemployable and quite possibly nuts. Famous people whining about their own depression suddenly made it OK to talk about it. So what you might ask? well, I think that being open about a condition makes it so much easier to live with it and cope with it. So while I care very little about the celebrity's sympathy trip, I do see the good their openess does for others. Similar processes helped many minorities and sufferers of conditions become more confident, eg being gay, dyslexic, HIV positive, bipolar, depressed, paranoid, etc Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
khanes Posted March 15, 2005 I agree, particularly given the high degree of respect of sports people in this country. Whether it be aboriginal or gay rights, depression, bipolar disorder or other issues, sports people seem to be very influential in raising issues of importance to Australians. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amulte Posted March 15, 2005 Yeah, you are right. good ol insomnia. some research suggest (according to Dr G Vickery)it is a sign of a high IQ. did one about 8 years ago and got 140. someone said thats the mark to get into mensa but i dont really pride that. But ill stop the winge Sorry again, thank's Torsten :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rkundalini Posted March 15, 2005 Yeah, I think it was interesting to hear his experiences. It's not often you hear a man speaking so frankly. Don't really care if he is a celebrity, if that's what is necessary to sell the TV show, so be it, to me it was just interesting to get a window into someone else like that. & FWIW I think labelling traits such as "bipolar" as "disorders" or "conditions" vastly undervalues them, as others have also alluded to. A huge proportion of artistically or intellectually creative people suffer from such "disorders". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted March 15, 2005 Originally posted by khanes: I agree, particularly given the high degree of respect of sports people in this country....sports people seem to be very influential in raising issues of importance to Australians. So true.... and so sad! What does that say about australians when those with the least intellectual ability and often with the lowest moral code are the peers of our children and ourselves. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amulte Posted March 16, 2005 well ive had sleep now and that was just a hissy fit. i am so sorry to everyones time who was wasted by reading this. Origonaly posted by rkundalini : I think labelling traits such as "bipolar" as "disorders" or "conditions" vastly undervalues them, as others have also alluded to. A huge proportion of artistically or intellectually creative people suffer from such "disorders". I cannot agree more. The label that your ARE rather than you SUFFER from. i met a hooker in a bar, when i was a roadie(i wouldn't dare touch one in my life), and she pointed that out to me and it changed everything! Life is only 1 10th reality, the rest is perception. Words to live by> :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted March 16, 2005 Amulte - I think this brought up some important points and the time was certainly not wasted. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
