Carton Is A Buckeye
- Thread starter tksirius
- Start date
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
Mental Health is a real thing. I hope he gets the help he needs and I am sure he has the support and love of his team....but damn, in the midst of a season? I realize that you can't control when this happens, but it happens now? I don't think that would play well in Iowa City. That's not me being insensitive - cause IMO, I would and do totally support DJ's decision to do what is best for him, I just don't think that most fans would "understand".
SpiderRico
Well-Known Member
I don't think that's true at all. This isn't 20 years ago where, especially if you are a man, you would be laughed at and ridiculed for taking time off from anything for "mental health issues". I think there's enough sensitivity these days to the topic of mental health that the majority of Hawkeye Nation would support him in his recovery. Would you have a select few that would deride him for "deserting his team in the middle of the season"? Sure. But that vocal, contrarian minority is there no matter the topic.
Well maybe we lucked out not getting him after all... Hard telling what this is all about and to what extent it'll affect him. If he just sits out a few games his freshman yr and goes on to play 3 more for them then it was nothing. If he ends up missing many games or coming and going from the lineup for however long of duration he's there it could turn into a distraction for them. There's a ton of unknown to this sort of thing. Sure the personal side of it is all sensitive and hope he gets better yadda yadda. As far as teams go they only have so many spots. Having a kid be a question mark non stop due to this sort of thing would be frustrating.
hawkeyebob62
Well-Known Member
Fans who have faced the pressures of academics, social pressures, and being away from home at age 18/19 would understand. Add the pressure of an intercollegiate sport, from which there is really no longer any off-season, and it's easy to understand and be sympathetic, or at least empathetic.
The question becomes, will everyone leave him alone to deal with it, or will (too) many folks speculate on a problem with the team, coach, etc., and even hint at a transfer?
Here's hoping he can get some traction addressing whatever issues he faces.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
You are right - I just think about how we talk about our teams needing to be mentally tough all the time, if we had one of our players leave the team in the middle of a season where you're fighting for your NCAA lives for "mental health" - you'd have that loud section of people who are desensitized to that sort of thing and would consider it quitting on the team. I know too damn much about mental health and have had it effect too many people around me to feel that way, but I just feel like some people that like to throw around buzz word like "Snowflake" and the likes would take issue with it. I hope he's better soon and back with the team as soon as possible.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
I really respect him for being transparent about his situation and what he has been battling. He didn't have to. That is a very unselfish thing to do, and he obviously did it to prevent a cloud hovering over his team and teammates. Quite mature. I hope he does well going forward.
hawkdrummer1
Well-Known Member
Being able to recognize it and step back and say "Hey, I need to take care of myself here and get some help" is big. Good for DJ...shows a lot of maturity.
Ok stupid troll. It is ignorance on your part. This young man could be suffering from some pretty dark depression right now and it may have been lingering there but not as bad but now it might be bad. I am not saying he has had some bad thoughts but what if he has. It sounds like he needs to take care of this.
I have seen people I knew growing up get paranoid schizophrenia and totally change and one ended up killing himself, people you know start to manifest depression, manic behavior, bipolar disorders, etc. Most of this is caused by changing brain chemistry. We are learning so much about genetic causes now that we have mapped the human genome and can find minor DNA changes that are linked to illnesses.
Hey I get that people are like that. All I said was it's crazy to me. I couldn't imagine having such depression that I couldn't push through for 6 more weeks. I feel bad for him. I really do. But there is nothing wrong with me saying it's crazy to me that people can't push through.
hawkdrummer1
Well-Known Member
Chances are he has been fighting for some time...and is at the point of exhaustion or where he realizes it's not something he can just "fight through". Something with a biochemical component takes more than just effort to work through.
RobHowe
Administrator
If you haven't experienced mental health issues, it can be crazy trying to figure out how someone can't fight through them. That's the rub. You won't be able to understand what it's like to feel it.
Be happy that you don't have mental health issues. You're fortunate.
Depending how this plays out yeah. It'd be a fair take. One that I have. Of course it's a wait and see thing but if he's out a boat load of games or in and out of the lineup a lot it'd become a distraction and something the coaches and teammates would have to work through too. They only have so many spots on the roster and they put a lot of hope in that he'd be a stud for them.
As it sits now having JT and Uliss coming in next yr is a tandem I'd rather have then the unknown of whatever this will play out to be for Carton. We may have dodged a bullet. Or maybe he'll be back in a week and this won't ever have him miss another game. Who knows. Time will tell.
And that's all I was saying. I even acknowledged it was probably ignorance. It's not like I was being intolerant towards Carton or others with that problem. I've even had a good friend kill themself. I'm not blind to the fact that people can get in a really bad place. I just cant comprehend how people can't pull themselves out of it because I am fortunate enough to be able to. I think the "stupid troll" comment was unwarranted.
kicker22
Well-Known Member
Great post Rob. It's believed that 1 in 4 American's suffer from a diagnosable mental illness to some extent or another during the course of their lifetimes. IMO we need more athletes coming forward like DJ to help change the stigma. While some of us may be fortunate enough to never experience this first hand, it's definitely real and most likely affecting a friend or family member. Society has a way of praising players that are "mentally tough" and can play through a physical injury, yet in most instances a player is labeled "soft" or criticized when they're suffering mentally.
Sorry I work in the mental health field and see how this affects people every day. We need more heroes brave enough to share their struggles publicly like DJ did to help curve this trend. It's a shame when that people with mental illnesses aren't looked at in the same light as say someone with cancer or a heart condition.
Rant over.
He even said it's been going on for years.
It also helps that one of our own (Sean Welsh) has already gone through it and been very open about it.
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kicker22
Well-Known Member
Just to be clear PCHawk my comment was in no way directed toward you.
