Charlie Sheen's Media Tour

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 10:57:08 PM EST
Tags: Charlie Sheen (all tags)

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Until tonight, I managed to avoid the Charlie Sheen Unmagical Mystery Tour, where every network is giving him prominent air time. I caught about 15 minutes of 20/20, just enough to wonder what world he's living in. He's straight now he says, and there's no drugs in the house he's living in with his "two goddesses", a p*rn star and model.

He pooh-poohed all the negative reports on his behavior, and blamed his New York hotel brouhaha on, of all things, Ambien, which he called "the devil's aspirin." He's not into pills he said, and Ambien wasn't part of his "normal blend." He chain-smoked through the interview.

As to the speculation he's bi-polar: "And then what? What's the cure? Medicine? Make me like them? Not gonna happen."

He's obviously intelligent. And oddly entertaining to watch -- in very small doses. But despite what he believes, he's really not that interesting. Or sexy. Or charismatic. As this writer says, "Finally: Charlie Sheen is bats--t crazy. And Charlie Sheen is perfectly sane." [More...]

And oddly enough, he may be winning the media battle. Meanwhile, his wife Brooke Mueller got a restraining order against him today, and a judge refused to cut off his custody. The kids have been staying with him lately. He pays $110,000 a month in child support. (Update 3/2: The police came to Sheen's house Tuesday night and removed his sons based on the restraining order which alleged he threatened Mueller. Charlie was on the Today show to talk about it.)

And now, you can follow him on Twitter. Apparently, a lot of people are choosing to do that.

He did turn down one show: Nancy Grace. So he hasn't lost all his marbles.

I wish Charlie Sheen good luck. I think he has a long road ahead of him and he's going to have a lot of fences to mend before he gets to the end. His judgment doesn't seem to be the best.

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Charlie Sheen's Media Tour | 73 comments (73 topical)

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Bi-polar (5.00 / 2) (#2)
by Tony on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:14:10 AM EST

He sounds and acts like every bi-polar person I've ever met who's in their manic phase.

It's hard not to watch. I'm following him on twitter and it's easy to be entertained, until you realize there's a real person in there somewhere. Nonetheless, I am, like the rest of the country, captivated. Not particularly proud of it, but it's true.

I really liked this article by NPR blogger Linda Holmes.

: That was my reaction -- called a friend and said (none / 0) (#42)
by jawbone on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 08:31:42 PM EST

our bi-polar friend was on TV.... She gets more of his calls (midnight, 3AM, 6AM, etc.) than I do and couldn't take watching Sheen.
Mostly I was very upset that our MCM (Mainstream Corporate Media) is using an obviously sick person for their own benefit.
The terrible thing is that there is nothing we can do for our friend, except wait out the manic phases and then try to get his friends (remaining friends; bi-polar episodes are deadly on friendships) where he lives now to get him to a doc. Does not always work.
Then we try to help him get back some of the money he spent manicly.
Charlie Sheen has lots more money to spend, lots more power, so how he gets help I don't know.

: Psychological diagnoses are crap (none / 0) (#72)
by NealB on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 06:17:47 PM EST

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the APA is worse than the Judeo-Christian bible. Well, not worse so much as the same myth-based idiocy. Its sole purpose is to legitimize condemnation (and forced restraint) of others the thing(s) feared in ourselves.

He does have some great lines (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by jbindc on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 12:48:18 PM EST

"I'm not bi-polar, I'm bi-winning. I win here and I win there.

and

"I'm an F-18, bro, and I will destroy you in the air and deploy my ordnance to the ground."

"Stay away from the crack, which I think is pretty good advice, unless you can manage it socially."

"You're dealing with a vatican assassin. Sorry. I'm a high priest vatican assassin warlock."

"You borrow my brain for five seconds and just be like dude, can't handle it, unplug this bastard. It fires in a way that is, I don't know, maybe not from this terrestrial realm. When you've got tiger blood and Adonis DNA, it's like, get with the program dude."

and, my pesonal favorite and what I will think will be my new tag line:

"I'm tired of pretending I'm not a total bitchin' rock star from Mars."

I don't want to laugh at what looks like (5.00 / 2) (#17)
by vml68 on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:09:40 PM EST

definite signs of mental illness but the "tiger blood" and "Adonis DNA" just crack me up. I cannot imagine being able to keep a straight face if any guy were to say that to me.


I know, and I agree (none / 0) (#19)
by jbindc on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:18:45 PM EST

they played many of these (and others) on a local radio show this morning, and they were even talking about how bad is everyone in the media going to feel if this guy crashes and ends up hurt or dead, but you can't help but laugh at some of these.

Between Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan, we have two very good examples of what happens to your brain on drugs.


I don't think (5.00 / 1) (#33)
by Jeralyn on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 03:20:14 PM EST

you can say either is permanently damaged by drug use. Lindsay was totally together in her Kimmel appearance after the Oscars. And Charlie may not be the way he is because of drug use, it could just be the way he's wired.

Not all recreational drug users fall to pieces or suffer serious mental impairment. You sound like an advertisement for the National Drug Control Policy office.


Right (none / 0) (#35)
by jbindc on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 03:25:33 PM EST

Because drugs don't do damage to the brain.

And Charlie and Lindsay are not "recreational" users.

Sounds like a NORML position.


: NORML (none / 0) (#37)
by Jeralyn on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 03:59:24 PM EST

addresses only marijuana reform. I don't know if either Sheen or Lindsay smoke pot. They have used other drugs and alcohol.
According to this 2010 UN report, 6 million people in North America used cocaine in 2008. (Table 22) Do you think they all have brain damage?
I'm not advocating drug use. I'm objecting to your opinion, stated as fact, that it causes long-term brain damage.

I don't think anyone who uses drugs (none / 0) (#36)
by Anne on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 03:56:28 PM EST

or drinks alcohol does so with the intent to damage their minds or bodies, but some discover that it feels like it fixes something that's broken in them - and these are often the people who get into trouble; they're self-medicating instead of addressing the reasons why they don't feel normal or why they hurt so bad.

And that's not the drugs' fault; anyone who's ever walked into their house at the end of a sceamingly stressful day and headed right for the liquor cabinet or the wine rack was also self-medicating - and it's only when happy hour arrives at breakfast time instead of dinner time that anyone ever thinks there's a problem.

I don't profess to know what sent Lohan and Sheen down the paths they've been traveling, but in a society awash in alcohol and whose airwaves send out the message that drugs - the legal kind - are the answer to everything that's wrong with us, it's not hard to understand how they ended up where they are.


: Oh, my friend self-medicated for years and was (none / 0) (#43)
by jawbone on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 08:34:09 PM EST

also misdiagnosed. He also has to have his medicine mix frequently tweaked and remixed.
It's a hell of a disease.
Sheen does wicked good word play.

I have not watched him (none / 0) (#18)
by Militarytracy on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:13:56 PM EST

I refuse. But really, he said to stay away from crack unless you can manage it socially? I've seen some things. But I've never seen a cocktail party where in some backroom a small group gathered to smoke a little crack :) Perhaps I've been sheltered.


Eugene Fodor just died: age 60. (none / 0) (#31)
by oculus on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 03:12:49 PM EST

Very sad. Would he have survived if drugs were non-criminal/legal? Washington Post obit


since he died of liver disease (none / 0) (#34)
by Jeralyn on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 03:20:55 PM EST

I suspect it was the alcohol, not the drugs, that caused his death.


: Based on a civil case I defended, (none / 0) (#38)
by oculus on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 04:02:10 PM EST

my impression is drugs and/or alcohol can wipe out the liver.

I certainly am not so bold... (none / 0) (#61)
by kdog on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 11:54:11 AM EST

to say that recreational cocaine smoking can't be managed...it's certainly possible. Certainly more difficult than managing less powerful drugs, but possible.

And if you can pull it off, more power to you.

Remember, the people who say it can't be done are the same a-holes who way my managed use of an illegal drug can't be done, and it's only a matter of time till I'm unemployed and moving back in with moms. And that I must be stopped to protect me from myself....like I said, major league a-holes:)


You'll probably be ok if you refrain (none / 0) (#63)
by oculus on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 12:26:14 PM EST

from tagging convents: Theodora Richards


Saw that... (none / 0) (#67)
by kdog on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 12:57:44 PM EST

gotta be considered a rite of passage in the Richards clan, no?


The linked article amused me with (none / 0) (#69)
by oculus on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 01:25:26 PM EST

the intensive analysis of the meaning and song origins of her tag.


: please stay on topic (none / 0) (#73)
by Jeralyn on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 07:33:21 PM EST

it's Charlie Sheen

Train Wrecks (none / 0) (#1)
by txpolitico67 on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:11:39 AM EST

are so hard to turn away from. And I have shamelessly jumped into the fray. I started following him on twitter. They guy amassed 556K+ followers in under 24 hours! I wonder if ALL this is some GIANT publicity stunt. But then his rants are so 'out there'...too risky.

: I was trying to think... (none / 0) (#3)
by Tony on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:17:15 AM EST

Is there anyone on earth who could get as many twitter followers in 12 hours as Charlie Sheen did today? Oprah? Osama Bin Laden? It's almost unbelievable how transfixed we are by him at hte moment.

What?! (none / 0) (#4)
by Kimberley on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 03:14:02 AM EST

He pays $110,000 a month in child support.

A month? That's insane.

It isn't cheap having children with goddesses (none / 0) (#20)
by Militarytracy on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:40:38 PM EST

No, no! (none / 0) (#21)
by jbindc on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:43:08 PM EST

The goddesses are his girlfriends. To the mother of his twins he (allegedly) said:

"I will cut your head off, put it in a box and send it to your mom."

Yes, this man is definitely (none / 0) (#22)
by oculus on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:44:25 PM EST

worth close attention by all.


His first wife though (none / 0) (#24)
by Militarytracy on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:46:09 PM EST

She's the mother of the children getting the current child support isn't she? She never says anything about Charlie that is unflattering.


Oy, I went to wiki (none / 0) (#25)
by Militarytracy on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:50:02 PM EST

He's on his third marriage. He has five children total right now.


Yeah (none / 0) (#27)
by jbindc on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 02:17:27 PM EST

His oldest child is 25.


: Are the current Goddess duo (none / 0) (#28)
by Militarytracy on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 02:55:21 PM EST

even 25?

The goddessess (none / 0) (#30)
by lilburro on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 03:12:46 PM EST

are the only part of this that I find really interesting. I'm a huge fan of Big Love in which the family spends all their time running around in circles trying to keep their polygamist family together and justify their belief in polygamy. Here you have Charlie Sheen, holed up with his blonde "goddesses," running a household in a somewhat similar manner, apparently. Taking care of the children (until today, I guess). What would Bill Henrickson say?! I just think it's funny.


He was getting paid (none / 0) (#68)
by BackFromOhio on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 01:17:29 PM EST

$2 million per episode of two and a half men


Charlie is (none / 0) (#5)
by ytterby on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 07:31:02 AM EST

looking at bats**t crazy in the rear-view mirror.

Love this. Good one J (none / 0) (#6)
by ruffian on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 08:20:43 AM EST

I am in the 'He is bats**t' camp from the little I have seen. I feel bad for his family.

Interesting article in Denver Post.... (none / 0) (#7)
by magster on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 08:46:02 AM EST

.... about how mental health treatment providers and addiction specialists are not entertained by Sheen, he just makes them sad as a classic case of addiction and bipolar disorder that they see every day.

: Yup ... (none / 0) (#14)
by Robot Porter on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 12:31:32 PM EST

and without all the money and fame, he'd just be another one those poor souls that most people cross the street to avoid.

He needs to work to "prove" that (none / 0) (#8)
by Anne on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 08:51:04 AM EST

he's functional, hence the PR campaign to get his job back; without work, he has to face the truth about himself, which he is apparently not ready to do.

I've avoided watching - have really only seen promos while watching other shows; I still have no idea why the media think people care about this, but maybe it isn't so much that people really care about the disaster that is Charlie Sheen, but that it's serving a government worried about the growing protest movement here at home.

I'm sorry to be so cynical about this, but come on - Charlie Sheen?

: I used to blame my friend for not working harder (none / 0) (#44)
by jawbone on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 08:46:46 PM EST

or being more pro-active with his docs to get better treatment.
It was only when I experienced how hormones can affect one's whole mental/thinking outlook that I realized that's his entire life. Hormones or brain chemicals control his life. When the mind is working near normal, he's near normal. When something goes out of wack one way, he's depressed; another way, he's manic. And whichever state he's in, it's how he "is," how he sees the world. The previous ways don't really affect the stage he's at in terms of his being able to see how different he was earlier. He may miss the incredible excitement of a manic phase, but that soon fades. And when he's depressed, there's no way he can feel his normal or manic way.
It's not easy to explain. I just know that, from experiencing such a change, brief as it was, from having both natural thryroid hormones and the boost from the synthetic thyroid hormones, I realized utterly how much our bodies, our hormones, the endocrine system affects WHO we are.
My friend got a tough hand from the genetic dealer....

: His PR campaign (none / 0) (#47)
by BackFromOhio on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 09:09:14 PM EST

is only portraying his meltdown for all to see. I've been reading online what psychologists and psychiatrists say about bi-polar disorder and/or cocaine addiction, and apparently, with the overlap of symptoms, without professional observations, it is impossible to tell whether he's suffering from one or the other or both.
I just hope he gets help before his erratic behavior ends in irretrievable tragedy. So sad to watch.

Hey, he once was (none / 0) (#9)
by brodie on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 09:28:29 AM EST

a fine actor who appeared in big roles a couple of the great movies of the past 30 yrs -- Ollie Stone's Platoon and Wall Street -- and had his apparently wildly popular teevee show, and I like his father as an actor and humanitarian, etc., so the sorry case of CS is one instance of celeb meltdown where I actually am familiar with the celeb (and was w/n a few feet of him once in a neighborhood bookstore but I wasn't familiar with the book he was looking for so said nothing), and so I've tuned in for a while -- Lawr O'D, Piers Morgan for a few minutes -- to see what was causing all the media attention.

My takeaway as a non-druggie and non-expert is that he sounds so hyped up and talks in such defensive and self-aggrandizing terms, and looks thinned out in an unhealthy, emaciated way as if dieting by amphetamines, and in fact looks 20 years older than some of the clips of his 2.5 Men TV Show, that I suspect major drug use even if somehow, improbably, he isn't currently using. But it doesn't seem he's ready to really get help at the moment, and so another meltdown story or two is probably in the offing one suspects.

Agree though -- way too much MSM attention to this matter, as CS himself has overdosed both on the interviews and previously with the drugs. Still, it's a media story that makes a little more sense with Charlie Sheen than, say, hours and hours of coverage of an Anna Nicole Smith, though places like CNN are allegedly supposed to be about real news as opposed to being the Celebrity News Network.

Anna Nicole versus Charlie (5.00 / 1) (#11)
by gyrfalcon on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 12:23:47 PM EST

Beg to differ. The Anna Nicole Smith situation was loaded with unexpected twists and turns, a very odd collection of hangers-on and other characters, and some awfully interesting legal issues. It was far more about all those people and how they were or weren't exploiting her and her celebrity than it was about her.

Charlie Sheen is about not much more than watching a guy running up a fairly spectacular manic high. The illness is so vividly apparent, I find it really painful to listen to.


Have not seen any comments from you (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by vml68 on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:06:47 PM EST

in a while. Hope everything is OK.


Perhaps so in the case (none / 0) (#23)
by brodie on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:45:53 PM EST

of ANS, but my point was more about the degree of celebrity and whether Smith -- a rather secondary non-superstar type of B- or C-list celeb in my (barely informed) opinion -- had the kind of major name status that justified endless hours and months of MSM coverage as compared with Charlie Sheen who did in fact have major movies and one huge current tv hit show on his resume.

That and being from a major American acting family, as with the Douglasses, the Bridges, the Barrymores, the Baldwins, etc, tends to at least offer a rational basis for at least some -- I say some -- media coverage of his current meltdown condition.


: Time will tell. "Charlie Sheen: (none / 0) (#29)
by oculus on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 03:08:50 PM EST

The Opera"?

In the pictures and clips I have seen (5.00 / 1) (#32)
by Anne on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 03:17:03 PM EST

in the last couple days, Sheen looks really, really bad - he's the oldest-looking 45 I've seen in a long time.

The sad thing is, I'm sure he thinks he's really got it together, and can't understand why people are saying the things they are about him.


I wonder if he's sleeping (none / 0) (#41)
by nycstray on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 07:23:35 PM EST

my niece could survive on very little sleep when she was manic.


I notice (none / 0) (#55)
by sj on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 09:56:29 AM EST

that you speak in past tense. That makes me feel rather sad.


If memory serves, nycstray's niece (none / 0) (#56)
by Anne on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 10:17:56 AM EST

has come through the other side of this, and is doing well.


: Ah! (none / 0) (#60)
by sj on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 11:49:33 AM EST

Thank you for this!

He's just lost custody of his children (none / 0) (#10)
by Harry Saxon on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 09:47:29 AM EST

and a judge has granted a TRO against him at the request of his soon-to-be-ex-wife, so things aren't looking good for him.

My sympathy is with his kids. I hope they won't suffer in the future from his antics or have to move with their mother to Lhasa or Tierra del Fuego to escape the media storm Charles seems to enjoy brewing again and again.


Mom (none / 0) (#12)
by gyrfalcon on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 12:25:09 PM EST

has her own pretty bad history of drug issues, including crack cocaine, apparently.


To clarify: (none / 0) (#13)
by Harry Saxon on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 12:31:13 PM EST

I only feel sorry for the children.


Well, echoing Lawr O'D (none / 0) (#26)
by brodie on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 01:58:16 PM EST

last night, there's also probably a place for feeling sympathy for the drug addict like CS and perhaps the wife or ex. Not excusing the violence, but serious addictions to certain drugs can be tough to shake or even recognize fully enough to know one needs help.


He's got enough money (none / 0) (#40)
by Harry Saxon on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 05:46:26 PM EST

to have Dr. Drew Pinsky treat him 24-7 for months for whatever psychological/drug problem he has, so excuse me if I don't have my hanky out for him .


The problem is the person who's bi-polar CANNOT (5.00 / 2) (#45)
by jawbone on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 08:51:17 PM EST

think rationally. It's the brain-body connection that's causing the strange behavior.

This is not something he can control -- his body is letting him down big time. He cannot think as you or I do about this. His brain won't function that way.

Until medicated. And then when those particular drugs don't do as well, he'll need new meds or mixes of meds.

That's what mental illness is about. Our body/brain balances.


And, again, for many people with bi-polar, self- (5.00 / 1) (#46)
by jawbone on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 08:52:36 PM EST

medication is usually alcohal or drugs. Initially, usually illegal drugs, since it's easier to get those for many than to get the right drugs and the right doctor.


He could think rationally enough (none / 0) (#48)
by Harry Saxon on Wed Mar 02, 2011 at 11:25:22 PM EST

to remember his lines when he's working as an actor.


are you assuming he was in a (none / 0) (#49)
by nycstray on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 12:19:28 AM EST

constant state of manic all these years? My niece could hold down jobs etc during her more tame periods, but that didn't change the fact she had an addiction problem and was bi-polar


Uh, if he is bipolar (none / 0) (#50)
by Harry Saxon on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 06:54:58 AM EST

then there would've inevitably times when we would've been in a manic phase when he was working, and unlike your niece, we're talking about one job over several years that has demands I doubt your nieces' jobs had on her.

Carlos Estevez, a.k.a. Charlie Sheen, isn't your niece.


: Re: He for we. (none / 0) (#51)
by Harry Saxon on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 06:55:53 AM EST

All you see is the finished product, (none / 0) (#52)
by Anne on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 07:18:33 AM EST

not the process of getting there.

And, unless you've seen the scripts, you have no idea how much of what Sheen was delivering was scripted or ad-libbed.

Clearly, something is going on; you can't look at the man and not know that something is wrong - he's verging on gaunt, and not in a healthy way, he's agitated and appears to be struggling to slow down and speak coherently.

None of us is privy to anything more than what the media is showing us, but there is value in the personal experiences of those here who have been exposed to friends or family with bi-polar disorder and/or addiction issues - even if that experience sheds no light on what's wrong with Sheen, the more understanding people have about mental illness and addiction, the better.

Finally, I have to say that I find it somewhat offensive when people extrapolate from watching a TV show the proof that a person who may be suffering from a serious problem couldn't be that bad if he could remember his lines. What's ironic is that this is Sheen's rationale for why he doesn't have a problem - that he's functional; the difference is that what you'r doing is trivializing the situation - he's just apparently in denial.


Anne (none / 0) (#53)
by Harry Saxon on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 08:41:46 AM EST

I'm sympathetic to people without the resources to have their bipolar problems treated, Charles is clearly not someone you can say that about.

I'm sympathetic to the people who aren't working because of Charles' antics, I'm not toward their bosses who let this sort of cr*p on his part go on too long.

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?"

Jeremiah 13:23


I don't see it as either/or (5.00 / 1) (#54)
by sj on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 09:54:41 AM EST

I, too, am sympathetic to the people who aren't working. That is a byproduct of an illness.

Frankly, I'm a little disappointed because it appears that you are falling into a mindset that money can solve personal problems and illnesses.

You are not hearing what people are trying to explain. And I think you should be counting your lucky stars that you haven't had first-hand experience dealing with someone suffering (and "suffering" is exactly the right word) from this sort of mental illness.

I would bookmark this thread were I you, When/if you should encounter such a person, you will need this information.


Re: Disappointment (none / 0) (#57)
by Harry Saxon on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 10:27:17 AM EST

One lesson over the years I've learned is that you can't want to help someone more than they want to help themselves.

If you, Anne, and some others here want to stage an intervention for Charles, be my guest, but he's an overpaid mediocre actor who plays a version of himself in a mindless sitcom, not some "beautiful mind", but a modern-day fool, minus the motley and jingle cap.

"Good luck, Jim."


: Harry, I don't know how to help you understand (5.00 / 2) (#59)
by jawbone on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 10:55:05 AM EST

what may be going on with Charlie Sheen. And I can only note that he shows outward signs (symptoms) of being bi-polar. When I first met my friend who is bi-polar, I had no idea what was wrong with him when he...changed at times. And while his wife (now ex-wife; living with bi-polars is very difficult) experienced his worst depressions and acting-out manic phases, I did not.
I tried to say above that until I too experienced clearly a mind/body interaction (mine being thyroid hormones) that showed how what I thought that "I" was like was not always the same, due completely to a change in thyroid hormone levels, I did not understand, really, what mental illness is like..
I used to get really angry at my friend's lack of "responsibility," lack of "control," lack of concern for others, etc. Why couldn't he just see what he needed to do? I now feel guilty about how I sometimes treated him, how I reacted, things I thought about him.
But few people get to actually realize how the state of their bodies affects the state of their "being," of thinking. Their "I"-ness. We tend to feel we are what we are due to things controlled by our "self," our brain, our rational thinking. But that is not the entire reality: If our bodies are doing strange things with our endocrine system, that affects our "self," our thinking, rational or irrational. The brain is part of the body, is what I'm saying. Get the balancing system, the endocrine system, out of whack, and the brain is affected also. That goes double for the brain chemical system.
I know it's hard to grasp. It's even hard to internalize because it goes against everything we've been taught about free will and having choices.
My experience was an epiphany. I thought I understood the effect of mental illness; I thought my intellectual understanding was pretty complete. I felt I was enlightened about mental illness. I was not. It was not.
But I don't see how I can help you any further to understand what I gained through actual experience. My writing ability just isn't good enough, nor am I trained in psychology/psychiatry/neurophysiology/endocrinology.

First of all, Harry, you don't know what (5.00 / 2) (#58)
by Anne on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 10:35:15 AM EST

Charlie Sheen's problem is - all you know is what you see and hear of him and about him in the media, and I would venture to guess that what we see and hear doesn't come close to plumbing those depths.

Second, it isn't just about having the money and the resources to treat whatever's wrong - why don't you know this? I mean, as much information as is out there, and as many times as we have heard about people who spend boatloads of money on rehab and therapy and medication and STILL cannot seem to get a grip on their demons, it ought to be clear that money - all by itself - is not the answer.

A great deal depends on what the problem really is - and even once that gets sorted out, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Addiction, in and of itself pretty much has to be accompanied by a strong desire to kick it, and if that's not present, all the money in the world will be for naught.

If it's a mental illness issue - do you have any idea how many kinds of medication people sometimes have to try, and how often those need to be adjusted before the right combination starts to positively affect brain chemistry?

And, even with the wonders of pharmacology, many people - especially those who are very creative - find that the drugs kill their spark; they feel dead inside, which is why they go off their meds.

As you can see from the comments, many people have multi-layer problems - they develop addictions as a result of self-medicating for their mental issues - so not only is it necessary to identify and treat the mental illness, but also to treat the addictions.

So, Charlie Sheen has money, and you've decided that the only people who "deserve" your sympathy are those around him because he hasn't - from what you've seen and heard - used his vast resources to fix himself.

I don't know that anyone - least of all Sheen - has asked for your pity or your judgment, but what you have offered says a lot more about you than it does about anyone else.


Re:Anne (none / 0) (#62)
by Harry Saxon on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 12:17:50 PM EST

Did you folks realize that psychiatrists and psychologists are forbidden by professional ethics from diagnosing someone they haven't met?

Many of you have decided that despite not 'plumbing those depths', you all KNOW that he's bi-polar.

Thanks for the feedback, as always.

Aren't there "experts" on TV who (none / 0) (#64)
by oculus on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 12:27:17 PM EST

opine about people they've never met?


: Yes, and descending to their level (none / 0) (#65)
by Harry Saxon on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 12:36:54 PM EST

via the Internet is a worthwhile pastime as well.

Sheesh - there's a huge difference between (none / 0) (#66)
by Anne on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 12:54:37 PM EST

someone opining that from what they've seen and heard from Sheen, it appears he could be bi-polar, or have a drug problem, and categorically diagnosing him or making judgments about his actions or behaviors.

Opinions have been offered about Sheen, based on what commenters have seen and experienced, but those opinions seem to have been offered with plenty of disclaimers.

I was suggesting to you, Harry, that you cannot make some of the statements you've made without knowing a whole lot more about Sheen than you do - or ever will; kind of funny that you're turning it around on others.

Guess admitting that your comment, to the effect that "well, he was rational when he was learning lines in his job as an actor," was a "diagnosis" you had no basis for making, would be out of the question.


Yes, (none / 0) (#70)
by Harry Saxon on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 03:47:06 PM EST

Opinions have been offered about Sheen, based on what commenters have seen and experienced, but those opinions seem to have been offered with plenty of disclaimers

You know, if someone decides to put on an act by losing a few pounds, acting a bit hyper(according to Oswald Patton, Charles is having someone ghost-write his Tweets, make of that what you will), it's amazing how many people can be taken in by such flummery.


So now it's all a PR stunt? (none / 0) (#71)
by Anne on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 05:49:40 PM EST

Is CBS in on it, too?

And now Oswald Patton is the authority on Charlie's Twitter account?

Just a suggestion, but..you might want to think about that whole "flummery" thing...


: Re: PR (none / 0) (#74)
by Harry Saxon on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 08:33:38 PM EST

And now Oswald Patton is the authority on Charlie's Twitter account?
What part of "make of it what you will" do you not understand?
Besides, he's shopping a 'tell-all' book, if the media reports are correct, and perhaps he thinks his behavior will get him a better offer than if he kept his mouth shut.