WikiAnswers - Did Michael Jackson have a mental illness
Shared via AddThis
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
About Me
- Tom Davis
- Tom Davis is an award-winning journalist who received a Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship in 2004.
Read about bulimia in "Nothing," a stunningly perceptive novel on male eating disorders by Robin Friedman. Now available at Amazon and all major book sellers. Click here to find out more.
Links
- American Psychiatric Association
- Carter Center Mental Health Program
- Fathers and Families
- Healthy and Simple
- Mental Disability Rights International
- Mental Health America
- Mind Freedom International
- NAMI New Jersey
- National Alliance on Mental Illness
- New Jersey Association of Mental Health Agencies
- Postpartum Progress
- Postpartum Support International
- Tom Davis on The Huffington Post
- Tom Davis website
- Tom Davis Wikipedia entry
- Well Within
Labels
- Bill Clinton (2)
- Bill Hicks (1)
- COPING with 9/11 (4)
- COPING with anxiety (1)
- COPING with bipolar disorder (9)
- COPING with cancer (3)
- COPING with Delaware (The Chicken Zoo) (6)
- COPING with depression (12)
- COPING with dual diagnosis (18)
- COPING with eating disorders (16)
- COPING with general mental health issues (76)
- COPING with general mental health issues (Britney Spears file) (8)
- COPING with general mental health issues (Michael Jackson file) (12)
- COPING with general mental health issues (Tiger Woods file) (3)
- COPING with health care costs (12)
- COPING with life (Andy Behrman) (1)
- COPING with life (Darcie Borden) (11)
- COPING with life (Huffington Post) (1)
- COPING with life (Lauren Hale) (2)
- COPING with life (Steve Berlin) (3)
- COPING with life (Susan Dowd Stone) (7)
- COPING with loss (2)
- COPING with medication (12)
- COPING with multiple personality disorder (2)
- COPING with obsessive compulsive disorder (10)
- COPING with parenthood (6)
- COPING with post-traumatic stress disorder (14)
- COPING with postpartum depression (20)
- COPING with prison life (1)
- COPING with schizophrenia (3)
- COPING with seasonal affective disorder (1)
- COPING with sex abuse (1)
- COPING with stereotypes (5)
- COPING with stereotypes (The O'Reilly File) (7)
- COPING with suicide (4)
- COPING with violence (1)
- Green Family Foundation (2)
- Haiti (2)
- Nikon (1)
- Tiger Woods (3)
What do you think should be done to improve the treatment of mental illness?
Featured bloggers
DARCIE BORDENDarcie is a seasoned journalist who has balanced the challenges of motherhood with a burgeoning career in public relations. The mother of two has written for various news publications in New Jersey.
SUSAN DOWD STONESusan is the current president of Postpartum Support International. She is a certified perinatal mood disorders instructor and an adjunct lecturer at the Silver School of Social Work, New York University, where she discusses cognitive behavior therapy.
ANDY BEHRMANAndy is a mental health writer whose autobiographical book, "Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania," has been translated into six foreign languages. His articles have been featured in The New York Times Magazine, and he was recently featured on CNN's "360" with Anderson Cooper. He currently lives mania-free in Los Angeles with his wife and daughters.
STEVE BERLINSteve Berlin has experience as a writer for national publications. He has had lengthy experience in the fire service, and served briefly as a high school teacher. A resident of Arlington, Va., Steve is pursuing a masters degree in public policy.
LAUREN HALEA mother of three and survivor of Postpartum OCD, Lauren Hale now supports women and families who struggle with perinatal mood disorders. She serves as Georgia's postpartum international support coordinator, moderates message boards at iVillage for new mothers and blogs at Unexpected Blessing. Lauren is also one of the founders of The Postpartum Dads Project.
Support Coping with Life!
Sponsors
Video Bar
12 comments:
Michael Jackson obviously suffered from a severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (respectively Complex PTSD). And it may have been the root cause behind his excentric personality, and in a broad sense, the main reason for his early death. In other words: I consider the matter to be a major factor concerning Michael Jackson's personality, his work, his death and his legacy. (sorry for my bad english) Marcus
I'd say he had Borderline Personality Disorder with strong narcissistic traits and also probably also Body Dysmorphic Disorder.
Well... agreed about the PTSD, narcissistic traits and Body Dysmorphic Disorder, But I would definately add to that he may have suffered from some variation of the bipolar mood disorder spectrum. He was a severe insomniac to the point of desperation, eccentric, creative, energetic, and without a doubt had depressive episodes throughout his life. Antidepressants and sleeping pills alone were probably the insuffient and could have been making things worse at times. Opiate use/abuse complicating things further. Mood stablizer a better bet as a foundation. No doubt a very talented star who will be missed by many. I wonder if anyone offered this treatment.
MICHAEL JACKSON BECAME A DRUG ADDICT BECAUSE OF HIS MENTAL ILLNESS
Michael Jackson became a drug addict because he suffered from one of the worst forms of mental illness, referred to in psychiatry as alienation of the existential self. The root cause of this mental illness, which affects a large number of blacks, making them succumb to addiction and self destruction, is centuries of conditioning as a result of the slave trade and oppression. These facts are well explained by Oscar Bamwebaze Bamuhigire in The Healing Power Of Self Love (504 pp., $30.95, available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk ISBN-10: 144010137X
ISBN-13: 978-1440101373). He argues that:
Due to the effects of alienation of the existential self, some blacks have even gone as far as changing their skin color from black to white, in an attempt to deny their “Africanness”. Many African women today apply skinlightening creams, and wear wigs of white women’s hair, in an attempt to deny their “Africanness”. It is considered fashionable by many African women to wear a wig of a white woman’s hair. Many Africans break their backs trying to imitate the accents of Europeans or Americans. These are symptoms of the psychiatric illness which Frantz Fanon aptly labeled ‘Alienation of the existential self ’. It is a severe form of self hatred which often leads to self destruction, physical and mental illness. Emmanuel Hansen, in his analysis
of the works of Frantz Fanon, explained:
Fanon uses the word Alienation to indicate a variety of phenomena. He
uses it to identify a ‘psycho existential complex’ – a series of inferiority
complexes that manifest themselves in the existential condition of the
individual. He also uses the word to indicate a condition of separation or
attempted separation of the individual from himself. ‘A Senegalese learns
Creole in order to pass as an Artilles Native: I call this alienation.’ Here it is
a separation or an attempted separation of the individual from his existential
self or an aspect of his existential self. The fact of being ‘Senegalese’ is part
of the existential self of a native of Senegal, and to run away from this is to
manifest alienation. In the same way, a black man who tries to run away
from the existential condition of blackness manifests alienation…
According to Hansen, Fanon added another dimension to the notion of separation. This was the notion of alienation of the existential self. To run away from the self, he said, is merely to avoid the self, but Fanon was talking about suppressing the self and killing it. In both cases, alienation is manifested. In many cases, the victims of alienation suppress and kill the self through alcoholism/ drug addiction. Hansen explains how colonialism/ slave trade forced its victims to turn against themselves in self destruction: “In this way violence is introduced into the relations of the colonizer and the colonized, but due to the fear of severe sanctions or a feeling of inferiority, the violence of the native is repressed…” he said. “Fanon argues that the native attempts to relieve this repressed violence by visiting it upon himself, or on other natives… sometimes the alienation of the native seeks an outlet in nihilistic acts of self destruction…” (P.301)
Do our white counterparts suffer from alienation of the existential self, since they feel the need to tan and make their skin darker to look more like a black person; white women go as far as getting lip and butt implants to look more like the black woman?
We will probably never know the extent of apparent "abuse" that Michael Jackson suffered as a child and teenage star on the road with four older brothers and a rough father. There is some speculation that Michael Jackson may have suffered from psoriasis (not as exotic/sexy a chronic condition as vitiligo) and the cover-ups, glove, et cetera, became part of the persona/image. His long disintegration, though, is the one thing that is without question and it is painfully sad.
There's no such diagnosis as alienation of the existential self. It is not in the DSM. My diagnostic impression is Bipolar Disorder and PTSD. He needed to be treated by a psychiatrist for appropriate medications and seen by a therapist to address coping skills. It is so sad that he had enough money to pay a bunch of greedy flunkies.
what's the trauma that caused the PTSD? his childhood?
and what explains the multiple surgeries? do you think it's turned into OCD? or was it part of the depressive times of his bipolar?
thanks, interesting discussion.
i miss michael, rip.
oh and by the way- black people try to whiten themselves, but white people use creams to make their skin look browner...
it changes with location.
You guys are missing an important point. He had Vitiligo. That's an actual disease. You can't just make yourself darker, you can only make yourself lighter, which he did. He wore a crapload of make-up and it was becoming obvious how light he was becoming in the 80s, I mean during the Victory Tour.
I know it doesn't help that he was making his nose smaller, but he had always expressed distaste for himself, even at a young age. If anything, I think that he was somewhere on the autism spectrum as well as having BDD. He had a hard time dealing with people, in which he had expressed since like forever. He identified more w/animals and children. If that isn't a warning sign to something being wrong, then I don't what is.
Then again, most people who are classified as geniuses aren't usually known to conform to society's standards anyways.
No patient - no diagnosis. it is really that simple.
Michael was what he was.
If Michael ever suffered from any mental illness, it's created by the western media. They distorted his image, spread the rumors and speculation with disrespect to one's private life. No one can endure such long term stress. Michael just wanted his own private life and he has an artist's way of thinking. Of course he is(was)special. I come from the east and don't read tabloids and found out the effects of these tabloids reports lately. My tremendous respect to Michal for his great personality, gentle, caring, loving and a real real gentleman. I understand him by listening to his songs, lyrics, speeches, interviews. He is (was) normal. Only the media like you, do the trauma to him. I dug into the legal findings and medical conditions and what a bias it was for those allegations. They reflect the human nature, discrimination, bias, jealousy and prejudice. If he is a white man, nothing will happen. Unfortunately he is black man. There are means to destroy him. He broke the racial barrier, he changed the way of singing and dancing. He is so creative in every aspect. He is globally welcome. You've crucified him to death and he is dead. Leave this poor man alone. RIP, michael, you have our support from elsewhere except the minor white media people. God bless you, from the east.
Post a Comment