His wife was diagnosed with a terminal disease and was given a short time. He had known her since they were kids. He took benzodiazepines to cope and it became hard to come off on his own. It’s also dangerous because you can die from benzo withdrawals. It wasn’t like he was pill popping for fun.
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Am I a bad guy here? The guy looked fucked up. That’s how he looked and sounded.
I believe that video was from a few years ago and not recent. He has not taught as a professor for a while.
I don’t see any issues with someone doing it right and handling withdrawal in a control setting in a rehab. It’s dangerous to do it on your own for benzos. And it’s totally reasonable to seek medical help for dealing with a dying spouse.
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I have no idea about withdrawal from benzos. I agree it’s reasonable to seek medical health for dealing with a dying spouse.
Listening to the advice from someone who is on benzos (I assume that was what he was on - I’m no expert) seems a bit odd to me.
Why? I take them for various reasons from insomnia from traveling to dealing with a death of a close friend. He wasn’t taking them for years on his own, just after his wife was diagnosed with a terminal disease.
I believe he takes SSRIs and has a long family history of depression and has been diagnosed with clinical depression in his youth. He’s been pretty open about his own struggles and gives advice on how others should also seek help.
I don’t see how that’s relevant to him being able to give advice. He deals with life just like anyone else.
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Of course it’s relevant. What are you on about? It’s irrelevant to me how a taxi driver deals with life, but I’d prefer him not to be impaired while driving.
Is this the Nietzsche/Freud way of navigating life? The more fucked up the better?
This man is giving life advice to often vulnerable people.
It seems like his wife’s illness really hit him hard.
Is this addressed in the video? I’m 5 minutes in and have to run out. I see him saying that kids, especially boys, who do not get to play rough tend to develop ADHD. I just did three years in elementary school and yep, every robust act of play is shut down. Now, I’m in the high school. Jesus.
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Small correction, his flavor is Wellbutrin which is a norepinephrine/dopamine-reuptake inhibitor ( NDRI). More bang for your buck, better orgasms, a better high
I don’t think he was taking the drugs at that time.
And part of that advice is to seek help and do something. Something he is following. One of his rules is Treat yourself like you would someone you are responsible for helping.
You’re talking like he was going around drunk and popping pills the whole time talking shit. The man recently found out his wife who he knew from childhood was dying, sought professional help to deal with it and was given some medicine to cope. It can be difficult coming off them and actually deadly. So he sought to do it in a controlled environment.
It sounds like you’re ignorant of how these medications work. Impaired is not that word I would use for someone taking the normal dose of the drug.
You pointed out that the video I posted was from a few years ago. In that case seeking help and doing something shouldn’t have been necessary at that point.
I understand the emotional element about what happened to his wife more recently.
As to whether I am ignorant of how these medications work - yes, I am. I also know when a guy is off his head and I can see it in the video I’ve posted which is apparently before he started taking the drug even in normal doses.
I don’t know. I would suspect he had a breakdown. It’s not really surprising. You could see he was under tremendous stress in a lot of his interviews recently, he was doing them at a ridiculous pace. Then he gets hit with this awful news. My guess is the medication actually had little to do with it. It may be hard to come off benzos but I doubt it would be that traumatic.
I don’t see anything that indicates he was on anything from that video. That’s your own opinion.
People lose loved ones every day. You could not go to work drunk every day for example. Companies give you a week or two for bereavement then that it’s you sink or swim.
He is rich and famous so he has the luxury to do whatever he wants.
But his whole claim to fame and message was “pull yourself up my the straps, stiff upper lip, walk tall and strong, etc”
Just sort of ironic that he fell apart
But OK he wife his soulmate … understandable
My initial guess was that he was on something. Now you have cleared up that he probably wasn’t on anything suggests to me that he was manic.
Unless you consider that behaviour normal?
He was on Wellbutrin. A potent chemical concoction that messes you up
Not at the time of the video, though, right?
It’s probably two fold. I’ve seen a lot of people come off benzos and go through withdrawals, it’s up there with heroin and alcohol if not worse. Your body aches and your mentally just messed up and extremely depressed. It can be an incredible stressor and although the main symptom are done from 7-10 days. You feel lasting symptoms for months. Most of the patient I worked with take months to feel normal. And it’s important to understand withdrawal symptoms don’t subside in a linear way. It goes up and down for a few months. You have days you feel you’re done and he next day you’re on the floor crying and shivering while sweating.
I only got half way through, but I didn’t see any abnormal behavior. Can you point me to a time in the video?
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