[wuck]

Windhorst posted the following note about Delonte West after tonight's game, and there were some posts on the game thread about the subject of his mental health, so I thought this would be worth addressing again, as RCF did earlier this season.

First, Windhorst:

• Delonte West was having one of his bad nights. He was sort of out of it from the start and a couple of times just didn't even cover his man in transition. Once, Mike Brown called a timeout because he was so upset when Baron Davis just waltzed in to the basket and West was on the other side of the court. Delonte did not play at all in the fourth quarter and I did not see him after the game in the locker room.

This week in a mailbag on Cavs.com, Delonte answered a fan and said that he is bipolar. At the start of the season when he went public in his battle with a mood disorder and depression many people thought that he was indeed bipolar, but as candid as he's been about his struggles this was the first time I had seen or heard Delonte actually say it. This is what he said responding to a question from a teacher who works with boys who have mood disorders:

"I don't get rattled because I practice my exercises to control my temper. I'm very familiar with what you're saying because I was the same type of student. Being bipolar and having anger issues growing up, I'm very familiar with what you're talking about.

You have to counsel your mind and basically, you have to grow up. Anger is always an easy emotion for a young man to revert back to if things aren't going their way. Anger's easy to understand. You have happiness - which you understand. And you have sadness and anger. A baby only understands how to cry when he's hurt or upset - that's the only expression he has."

So the point here is that Delonte is constantly fighting this battle and everyone on the team understands it. There are going to be good days and bad.

SOURCE

I'm not a doctor or anything, and I would be happy to be corrected on any of the following, but from what I understand about bipolar conditions (or what used to be called manic-depression):

1. There are many millions of bipolar people who function at an extremely high level in all kinds of professions. Treatments of different sorts (including therapy, medicine, etc.) can be employed successfully to achieve great results -- usually to avoid the peaks of mania and the dangerous lows of depression.

2. While there are many different incarnations, being bipolar doesn't necessarily mean swinging wildly back and forth between manic and depressed. People don't typically wake up randomly to a good day or a bad day, as BW's post might suggest, unless the symptoms are really severe. Instead, maybe a few up weeks and a down few weeks (not sure on the exact timing). I think the pendulum moves slowly and again can often be handled fine with treatment. Being manic or depressed doesn't necessarily correlate with job performance (or sports performance) unless symptoms are particularly severe. When they're really severe, they can hamper anything. If they were that severe, it's unlikely Delonte would be suiting up and torching teams like Milwaukee and Miami.

3. For a topflight professional athlete like Delonte, I don't think it makes sense to attribute good performance to a "mental health good day" and bad performance to an "mental health off day". There may be some days or weeks that are better or worse in terms of mental health, but suggesting that these map onto performance takes things too far. Any athlete, regardless of their state of mental health, can have a day that's "good" or "bad" or be in a "good mood" or "bad mood." Delonte or Gibson or Mo can go into a hot streak from the FT line or a cold streak from three, regardless of how they might be diagnosed by a psychologist. In other words, a "bad" night can be just that.

4. Delonte has played 9 games since coming back from his injury (he skipped 1). His best game was the first one back vs. Detroit (H), which often happens after an injury. Since then, he has been inconsistent, which also often happens an injury. Very good vs. Spurs (A), Milwaukee (H), and Miami (H). Not so great vs. Houston (A), Atlanta (A), Boston (A), Clippers (A). What's the common denominator? Well, it seems as if Delonte is struggling to get back to his pre-injury form and this is especially noticeable on the road, just like it is for many of his teammates.

Considering how he has contributed heavily to 4 recent wins coming off an injury, it would be just as easy to say of the Clips game: "DWest had a bad game" or "DWest had fun at the Hollywood clubs last night" or "DWest is still not all the back from the injury." From my distant vantage point, I might be a little concerned if he stopped being able to contribute for weeks at a time. But his performance within the first ten games off an injury seems par for the course.

But I'm not posting this to diagnose anything about Delonte's current health. I have no idea. My point is actually just the opposite. I don't think we can diagnose his health from his play. Only Delonte and his doctors can do the diagnosing, and it won't be from his play. If good or bad days on the court are supposed to be an indicator of mental health, that could be said about so many Cavs. Definitely would result in too much work for the team doctors in that case. And if we're gauging by game-to-game inconsistency in Feb/March, other Cavaliers take the cake (by far).

Taking care of one's mental health is something that can't be underestimated but it's also not something that can be used an explanation for everything that happens. Especially for a professional athlete who has access to great care and has the courage to talk publicly about a subject that's often swept under the rug. Cheers to Delonte for that.

[Ajak0410]

I agree that you can't attribute a good performance to a good day(mentally). However, I've known a couple bipolar people and if Delonte was having a really "bad" day it would be a success to get him out of the bathroom in his hotel room so I think a bad day can unfortunately cause poor performance on the court.

He's one of my favorite personalities on any team I've ever followed and I don't think it's fair to say he should just "suck it up" and play with his condition. (I'm not implying that that's what you're saying)

[wuck]

Originally Posted by Ajak0410

However, I've known a couple bipolar people and if Delonte was having a really "bad" day it would be a success to get him out of the bathroom in his hotel room so I think a bad day can unfortunately cause poor performance on the court.

I agree with you. I think a bipolar basketball player on a terrible day (or during a terrible week) would be more likely to get a DNP or have a terrible game (or a stretch of bad games). Depression can definitely get in the way of good performance in anything someone does. I follow how things can work in that direction.

I just don't follow how Delonte having a bad game means that Delonte is having a bad mental health day (which was part of BW's suggestion). I don't think the arrow goes in that direction as a diagnostic. He could just have had a bad game, in other words. To have a series of up and down games, with each of the bad games on the road, makes it seem like Delonte is just trying to fit in with too many of his teammates...

[King of the Cavs 23]

I honestly think that Delonte does a tremendous job just to get out and play hard for 82 games a year.

[Wine and Gold]

I didn't realize that Delonte had come out with what he had been dealing with , in public.

The team's doctors, coaches, and players are all very much in the loop and have been behind him and with him in dealing with the good and bad this season.

I won't go into detail as to what all is entailed, but, he's been amazingly open and honest about his condition. Something that shows incredible guts. given all the social stigmas that exist with psychological disorders.

The fact the team and community have been so supportive and have stood strong with him through this, is probably the reason why he feels so comfortable sharing, and being so open as well.

So many try to deny the existance, and don't comply with programs and prescribed medications properly, and that causes issues within the issues as well, but, Delonte and the team are in this together, and that is a huge positive moving forward.

But, I will say this ...I'm amazed at his openness, and honesty as he battles through his issues.

Something you rarely, if ever ..see from public figures who battle with these type issues.

[CavsRules]

Originally Posted by Wine and Gold

I didn't realize that Delonte had come out with what he had been dealing with , in public.

The team's doctors, coaches, and players are all very much in the loop and have been behind him and with him in dealing with the good and bad this season.

I won't go into detail as to what all is entailed, but, he's been amazingly open and honest about his condition. Something that shows incredible guts. given all the social stigmas that exist with psychological disorders.

The fact the team and community have been so supportive and have stood strong with him through this, is probably the reason why he feels so comfortable sharing, and being so open as well.

So many try to deny the existance, and don't comply with programs and prescribed medications properly, and that causes issues within the issues as well, but, Delonte and the team are in this together, and that is a huge positive moving forward.

But, I will say this ...I'm amazed at his openness, and honesty as he battles through his issues.

Something you rarely, if ever ..see from public figures who battle with these type issues.

That's a great sign Delonte is willing to open up to the team and coaches, knowing he trust them and he feels like they are a big family. I hope Delonte can get through some of this and focus on the season and the playoffs, etc. Its tough though.. But hes got the support of not only the team and coaching staff, but the support of millions of Cavalier fans.

[bucksprime99]

I didn't see the game, but as soon as I saw the box score this morning when I got online, I looked at Delonte's line and thought that something must have been wrong. I was hoping he wasn't injured. From all I've gathered it sounds like Delonte will constantly battle this his whole life. Sounds also like he's got a good support group around him. I love this guy, easily one of my favorite NBA players of all time.

[action]

I thought BW should have covered it better as well. It's like he's been dying to tell everyone and either thought that tonight was a bad mental day or didn't think about the timing.

From my not so vast experience, some problems that bipolar folks have that take meds is 1) The meds aren't perfect and have unpredictable side effects that can make one question why one might take them at all, 2) Your brain chemistry adapts and changes, requiring new meds, but we're not very good at detecting changes or even prescribing the right stuff. New meds take time to get used to, again with the bad side effects. 3) For those that do have manic episodes, the high you get from being manic is addictive. Imagine if I told you that for a few hours or days you would have limitless energy and could run circles around everyone you know, accomplish any tasks you tried, and generally feel awesome. The only cost is you'll have some bad days too. Athletes are used to that sort of trade off, you over exert yourself here or there knowing you'll pay for it the next day. I've had a lot of trouble keeping people I love on their meds.

Anyway, dealing with this and being so awesome doing it is a small part of why I think Delonte is a complete badass. His ability to be open about it shows that he really has gigantic balls and I'm glad the team has embraced him the way they have.

[Splitz]

Personally, I think BW should have left this alone. It's one thing to talk about having a disorder and another to have someone in the media point out times when it seems to be flaring up. Any slight change could trigger the symptoms. Girl troubles, missing shots, travel, being away from family. It's going to be a tough go for him struggling with this disorder. We should let him be and not point out each game that it seems to surface. Besides, Delonte isn't out ther jawing refs and getting technicals like Sheed. It's not like he is putting anyone in danger. He just appears to become withdrawn at times. We all have those moments but it will be more pronounced with this type of disorder. If he feels he needs time away from the locker room after a game then so be it. He has to deal with this in his own way.

[chiefwahoo]

I agree that Windy probably shouldn't have gone there, but when one of your starters is off the floor for the entire 4th quarter its basically the elephant in the room. I feel bad for Windy because he wouldn't have been able to really cover it up even if he wanted to, given Delonte's recent open admission about his mental state. Let's just hope the best for Delonte because he seems like a deeply thoughtful guy and of course is a huge piece to the Cavaliers championship puzzle.

I've mentioned this in the past on here and I guess it bears repeating... My father is bipolar so I feel that I sort of have some firsthand knowledge of this situation. I can tell you from experience that it doesn't get better over time, it gets worse. It is a problem that involves a lot of trial with medication dosage and it's basically like trying to hit a moving target. There will be times when the person is over-medicated, lethargic, and doesn't show any moods. Basically they appear tired and catatonic. There are other times when the person is undermedicated or even chooses not to take their medication at all because of how tired it makes them feel. That is when there will be the wild manic swing. Dealing with those manic states is really the hardest part. But it is a serious problem and one that has no easy solutions. It sounds like Delonte has a great support network and people constantly monitoring his situation. A lot of people with this same disorder aren't afforded that opportunity and they fall into a downward spiral that is awful to witness firsthand.

[SoundBreaker]

Get well soon Redz!

[wuck]

It's a tricky situation for BW. I'm not saying he was wrong for "going there", especially since it was part of his blog (not in the newspaper article) and because Delonte has been public about it. I just thought that BW's post might have raised more questions or offered more speculation than it might have answered. (BW could have had other unacknowledged sources, who knows?).

I think that Delonte is taking brave and healthy steps, and he's surrounded with support. The first thing he did last night when Gibson hit the 3 was put up 3 fingers. When the Cavs came off the court, he went right out to congratulate him. So, he's got good teammates and he's also being one.

We should let him be and not point out each game that it seems to surface.

Yeah, I guess that was one of my reasons for posting. If West nails the winning 3 against the Suns, my first thought won't be: "Great, his meds are working." It will be: "excellent, he rebounded from an off-game, and he just had his first great road game since Chicago."

[Splitz]

This is purely speculation but I would imagine traveling to different time zones constanly can wreak havok on a persons medication schedule. You have to get your body to adjust to the new time anyway and then to try to get that balance with your meds just makes it all the more difficult. If they are out drinking, is he drinking alcohol? Most of the drugs recommend that you don't drink. I'm just throwing this out there for anyone that is worried about the Playoffs. The way the playoffs are set allows for more structure. You know when you are going to be at home and when you are going to be on the road and for you play at least 2 times in a row at each. A guy like Delonte is going to feel better when there is consistency in his environment. I would imagine the random trip to Cali is a more anxiety inducing experience for him.

[The Common Man]

as a journalist, it's Windhorst's job to report information. i know many people here were wondering why Boobie was out there instead of Delonte. Obviously in a normal situation you don't bench one of your starters/key contributors.

i just hope some jackass visiting fans get a hold of it and give him a hard time like fans did in college with him about other stuff.

[Jigo_oi]

Has anyone considered that maybe Delonte has been getting too much or even not enough booty? That can wreak havoc on a true playa.