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1-2007 Even Fighters Get the Blues Randy Borum University of South Florida, [email protected]

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Scholar Commons Citation Borum, Randy, "Even Fighters Get the Blues" (2007). Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications. 556. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/mhlp_facpub/556

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Mental Health Law & Policy at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EVEN FIGHTERS GET THE BLUES

Fighters are known for their toughness. Either they have it or they develop it. They have to be tough to succeed in a sport that’s all about giving and receiving pain and dominating an opponent. ut fighters are also human, He was even abused by a foster parent speaks openly about his struggle and and fighting is an emotional who told him, “nobody cared for me or is approached often by others who say sport. Fighters are at least as loved me, and if I said anything, nobody they have endured similar challenges. vulnerable as everyone else to would care anyway.” All this before his One in four people in Britain who see a experiencing depression and seventh birthday. During his adolescence, General Practitioner suffer from clinical other psychological problems. he had “three ambulance rides and two depression. In the US, at least one in five B helicopter rides” as a result of his multiple people each year will have an episode of At 6’2” and 270 lbs you can tell right suicide attempts. depressive illness. In some cases, the away that Vincent Lucero – a professional problems are obvious, but at other times mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter – is not a Even in his adulthood “the depression people may be able to hide or cover their ‘weak’ dude. But when he is depressed, never left,” he says. When his first pain for years. that is how he says he feels – “weak daughter was about two years old, Vince and pathetic”. Vince’s struggle with remembers calling on the phone to talk Dr. Margaret Goodman chairs the Medical depression began when he was a child. to her, “crying with a gun, thinking I’ll say Advisory Board of the Nevada State At six years old, he can vividly remember bye and I’m done. But I would hear her, Athletic Commission. She believes that wanting to die. and she would say ‘I love you DaDa’, and I “Mental health disorders are just as always put the gun down.” important as any other health issue facing His childhood was rough. After our boxers, but are frequently overlooked. authorities took young Vince away from Vince is a tough guy, with a tough Why? There is still a stigma attached to his abusive parents, he bounced between disease that affects tens of millions of insinuating a weakness. This could not foster homes and psychiatric hospitals. people every year – depression. He be further from the truth. Excuses come

FIGHTERS ONLY 61 EVEN FIGHTERS GET THE BLUES

to mind like, ‘Oh, what do you expect. Of to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret negative mood states, but when course he’s depressed, he just lost.’” Legacy of Male Depression says that men depression goes untreated, it can often harbour a hidden depression. “One also interfere significantly with athletic Depressive illness (or clinical depression) of the ironies about men’s depression,” performance. Depression can disrupt is different than a normal period of feeling Real says, “is that the very forces that concentration and focus. It can deplete down after being disappointed or after help create it prevent us from seeing it. energy levels and motivation. When something bad happens. The symptoms Men are not supposed to be vulnerable. people are depressed, they often are are worse, they last longer and there are Pain is something we are to rise above.” plagued by negative thoughts that can more of them. It is not caused by a weak Some see depression itself as ‘unmanly’ seriously undermine their confidence. will or personality. It is a serious health or associate it with feminine emotionality. Sleeping and eating patterns get condition that can ruin relationships, As a result, friends and family may not see disrupted. Motor skills and reaction times careers, and lives. sadness and tears, “What you see are the can slow down. It is a bad deal if you are footprints of depression or the defences competing or preparing for a fight. Few Mike Tyson has publicly reported a man is using to run from it.” According who saw it will ever forget watching numerous bouts with depression, a to Real, those footprints usually involve former WBC heavyweight champion Oliver condition he says he has battled all his self-medication with booze or drugs, McCall as he refused to fight and began life. Boxing great George Foreman risk taking (like gambling, driving fast, or weeping during his bout with Lennox is reported to have become severely womanising), radical isolation and lashing Lewis. depressed following his loss to out at others. Muhammad Ali. UFC fighter Frank Despite the risks, researchers say that Trigg, after losing his UFC 47 match Eventually, depression tends to break most people with depression never get against Matt Hughes, said he went into through these fragile defences. When the help they need. Some cases go “a deep, deep downward spiral” that it does, it can be overwhelming and unrecognised, but other times people led to a “very severe… eight-month shocking to nearly everyone. It may look feel too ashamed to reach out for help. depression.” Even Fighters Only’s own like it came out of nowhere or be thought Without treatment, those who have one heavyweight star Ian ‘The Machine’ of as just a phase. Dr. William Pollack of depressive episode, are much more likely Freeman has revealed that he is, in fact the Harvard Medical School says “Boys to have another. The disease may get human, and had struggled with dark are trained in ways that make it likely they worse. Depression may take its final toll periods in his earlier years. get depression later. If it doesn’t destroy – collapsing the fighter’s spirit and casting their relationships sooner, it shows up by upon the mind a seemingly boundless It may be harder sometimes to spot midlife. Midlife crisis is a euphemism for shadow of hopelessness. In the US, depression in men than in women. male-based depression.” someone commits suicide every 16.2 Studies usually show that women are minutes. Eight of every ten of them are more likely than men to be diagnosed Though studies show that about twenty men. A half million people in America and with depression, but many professionals percent of people will have at least one over 140,000 in England and Wales alone and researchers believe that men get serious episode of depressive illness in attempt suicide each year. it just as often. They suspect that men their lifetime, some people are at greater may experience and show depression risk than others. Many fighters seem to The stakes are high, but there is differently than women do. Depressed have backgrounds that are loaded with good reason to be hopeful. Whether women’s moods are often sad and they those risk factors –having been abused as or not there is a ‘cure’, depression is may be prone to frequent bouts of crying. a child, bad childhood relationships with very treatable. Success rates exceed The mood problems of depressed men, their parents, childhood loss of a parent, eighty percent. Therapy helps many though, often appear in the form of marital / relationship problems, and low people. A new generation of medications irritability and anger. social support. are very effective and have far fewer side effects than the early antidepressants. Depressed men also may be more prone Do fighters have higher rates of They are non-addictive and typically do to have physical symptoms – unexplained depression than non-fighters? No one has not cause people to feel out of it, just fatigue, headaches, stomachaches, studied the issue, so we do not know for ‘normal’. general soreness, pain and physical sure. Some pro fighters have said that discomfort. Instead of appearing clingy boxing, wrestling or martial arts somehow If you think someone you coach or train or needy, depressed men tend to isolate provided an outlet for them when other with may be struggling with depression, themselves socially and try to keep their parts of their lives were in chaos. No experts encourage you to reach out. If you negative feelings inside. Some experts doubt, the strength and resilience that got are worried they may be thinking about call it covert depression. One author calls them through adversity growing up also hurting themselves, they say it is OK to it ‘Irritable Male Syndrome’. gets them through some tough times in ask. You won’t ‘put the idea in their head’. training and competition. Former five-time The key, professionals say, is to listen, Guys may also be more prone to cover world boxing champion Johnny Tapia, who express your concern, and encourage or escape from their depression by self- recalls trying to end his own life at least them to seek treatment. Ignoring the hurt medicating with drugs or alcohol or even six times, says he turned to boxing as or dismissing it – for example, by saying ‘It exercise. Physical exercise may help an outlet for the frustration and anger he can’t be that bad’ – or talking about your as a short-term strategy, but for some felt from a traumatic childhood. Former own problems just adds to the feelings of it becomes a compulsion. They cannot middleweight boxing champion Bernard isolation. By being supportive and willing seem to work out hard enough or long Hopkins says it bluntly: “Boxing saved to listen, you may be the key to helping a enough, even when they are injured or my life.” friend or training partner win the toughest their bodies are telling them to slow down. fight of his life. Training and fighting may help some Terrance Real, author of I Don’t Want combat sport athletes cope with their

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