Is a disaese where one feels anxious often and needs medication to control it……It is triggerred in many different situations and being a MLB player could trigger it.

GET OFF MY LAWN!

I realize this is a touchy subject, but it can be argued without name-calling.

NIH definiton of anxiety disorder.

And seriously? Not everyone with what is medically classified as anxiety is a wuss. What about soldiers with PTSD? Are they wusses? Was Zach Greinkie a wuss a few years ago? Some of these disorders are incredibly complex and very difficult to treat. To say the problem is with Dontrelle relaxing could be entirely wrong. It could be a legitimate psychological condition- we don’t know. That’s the problem- we don’t have enough information. So don’t make judgments on something you know nothing about.

The first person to own up to crappy play for the tigers over the past 2 years has been Willis. Hell, he’s manning up more than most baseball players ever would by being brutally honest about his inability to perform, and last time I checked, instead of bitching and moaning about being sent down to the minors he buckled down and tried to figure something out. Unfortunately, it seems that there is some inexplainable problem that doesn’t seem to be going away.

“He needs to either suck it up or move on to something more his speed.”
What does that mean? That he isn’t handling the situation like a professional? That he’s pouting on the mound? That he’s being a cancer in the clubhouse? To borrow a British word: Bollocks. It’s one thing to be critical of the man’s play, it’s another thing to personally demean him for something he seems to have no control over. Instead of gutlessly hiding behind a computer and insulting him, try remembering that Dontrelle is every bit as human as you. Treating professional athletes as humans with flaws is tough when we’re used to imagining them as abstract machines, but give empathy a shot. Just a thought.

“I can almost guarantee my job is ionfinitely more stressful than most people’s.”
Good for you. A completely irrelevant and extraneous tidbit of information in regards to baseball and/or psychological ailments, but good for you nonetheless.

I am going to share something with you. First of all, anxiety comes in many forms. Post traumatic Stress Disorder, Social Phobias, Panic Attacks (like I live with), and Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (like Monk on TV) and then there are generalized anxiety disorders as well. Some of you might say WTF. No one had these things 30 years ago and I would tell you, yes they did. Only now we know much more about the mind and how it works than we did even 30 years ago. These things seem so prominent now, only because we know much more about what makes people tick now.

I had my first panic attack in September of 2006 after my infant daughter died. I actually thought I was having a heart attack. It was the scariest thing that ever happened to me. I have always been a people person enjoying concerts and parties, just were ever you would find a crowd I would be in it. However, after such a traumatic experience, it’s kind of natural to withdraw, somewhat. But this was something I had never even dreamed would happen. I was in the Kroger, and all of a sudden I couldn’t breathe and I started to shake. My heart started to palpitate and all of a sudden my legs came from underneath me. And you can imagine where I ended up from there…the local emergency room. After an EKG and some blood work, it was determined that I had a panic attack. It was recommended that I make an appointment at the local mental health clinic, so I did. In months to follow this happened several times. I hated it; couldn’t stop it; didn’t know how to stop it and I could feel them coming on and I would be like "oh shit, here I go again." There were several occasions where I left my cart in the grocery store (full of food) and get in my car and drive home, lock the doors and go to bed because I didn’t know how to cope. I educated myself and began to read on these particular mental illnesses ( and yes, it is a mental illness)

I have been in therapy for going on three years now and I am happy to say I have learned to live with it. I take anti-depressants (everyday) and anti-anxiety medication (tranquilizers when need). I still don’t go to parties as much as I used to, but I feel good, I am happy with my life and my greatest love has become baseball and Comerica. I’ve been to 7 games (and counting) so far this year. I love the crowd and the best thing for me is knowing there’s no chaos and I have "my own seat".

  I told you all of that to say this… I can relate to Dontrelle. Imagine being a young man, so successful in your career, at such a young age, them all of a sudden you get an injury. This would disrupt your whole lifestyle. It would throw a monkey wrench into all the plans you have and worry would set in. Then the pressure you would feel with everyone watching and waiting for you to succeed or (fail).

Some are born with coping skills, some people need to be educated and taught how to use coping skills. Every one deals with stress in different ways; some people blow their tops and get pissed off and then it’s done. Some people cry and withdraw, some people have panic attacks etc. Stress manifests in many different ways. To condemn someone for something you do not understand is just plain ignorant. Education is the key to understanding. As for myself, I have learned different breathing techniques and other ways to cope with stress. Dontrelle needs a good therapist and support from his family, friends, teammates and fans. It took a lot of courage to admit the things he did the other day. Does this make him suck any less out there on the mound, hell no. Do I want to see him back anytime soon, of course I do, but not until he’s ready. He needs to take his time and do what’s best for him, not us, not Jim Leyland, not Dave Dombrowski, or anyone else. He needs to put himself first or he’ll never feel any better. Am I happy we spent all of these millions on this kid? Again, hell no. But I would have never spent that in the first place, before all of these problems began to plague him.

So until you are aware of a person’s situation, don’t condemn them. Educate yourself and get some understanding. Oh yeah, a little empathy wouldn’t hurt either.