Johnny Manziel Reveals He Has Bipolar Disorder And Self Medicated His Depression With Alcohol
First of all, preaching to the choir here, but if you haven’t listened to Pardon My Take’s interview with Johnny Manziel, click on one of those links above and do it now. My guess is that is about 7 of you. They’ve been promoting the shit out of it on Twitter but since everyone is out of pocket today on a field trip and it’s my job to get all the major stuff up in blog form, gonna repost it here during prime time to make sure nobody misses out.
Johnny also made the rounds over to Good Morning America this morning and opened up further about his personal struggles, including a Bipolar diagnosis and his use of alcohol as self medication.
“At the end of the day I can’t help that my wires are a little bit differently crossed than yours, I can’t help my mental makeup of the way that I was created,” he said. “But I know if I stay on these meds and I continue to do what I am doing right now … I think my dad, my mom, I think Bree [Tiese], would all agree that they see, a drastic change.”
“You are left staring at the ceiling by yourself and in that depression and back in that dark hole of sitting in a room by yourself, super depressed, thinking about all the mistakes you made in your life,” he said. “What did that get me? Where did that get me except out of the NFL? Where did that get me? Disgraced.”
Cynical people have contended this could all just be a media blitz for Johnny’s heavily promoted “ComebackSzn,” the tried and true PR technique of laying yourself bare to try and get a second chance. Personally I always, always give the benefit of doubt to someone who comes out with their personal struggles with depression or mental illness. Always. I would rather end up being wrong about it 100 times out of 100 than to discount someone’s feelings just because I’m jaded and scared of looking stupid for believing someone disingenuous. Bipolar disorder is no joke. Depression is no joke. Whether or not you are clinically diagnosed with something or just feeling sad and anxious, self-medicating with alcohol is something I think anyone reading this can relate to – and if you are diagnosed, and mixing alcohol with medication, it’s disastrous for you mentally. And certainly not breaking any new ground here, but it’s a pretty widely accepted theory that social media and all of today’s tech makes it a billion times worse. So to put yourself in the shoes of the most hyped college athlete maybe ever, a genuine campus rockstar and hard partier, trying to transition into the ultra competitive and professional world of the NFL – it’s something you can at least understand if you’re willing to try.
One thing that it’s not, is an excuse for awful behavior. Johnny’s off the field and legal issues can’t be explained away by depression. His play on the field and self sabotaging of his career can’t be completely excused by it – something I don’t think he is doing, by the way. What he does seem to be doing is talking about issues that have plagued him openly and honestly to give us a view of who he was as a person at the time of his career turmoil, and saying he’s ready to dedicate himself to being better and taking care of himself. Whether or not an NFL team or the general public is willing to believe that, I guess we will see. There’s a deep anger from people who see someone with all the talent in the world, a strong (and wealthy) family, and seemingly the whole world at his disposal throwing an opportunity away while making the news and TMZ every day for all the wrong reasons. “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent” [Bronx Tale] and it’s also the most outrage-inducing, especially with sports fans who wish they had been given the same opportunities. I’m not the most compassionate person in the world but I do believe in second chances and that people can change with maturity and perspective, so while I don’t begrudge anyone who is set in their opinions, personally I’m rooting for Johnny.
[Pardon My Take, GMA transcript via The Big Lead]