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Earlier this week, I watched a video of the “entertainment experts” over at NewsOK.com discussing Joaquin Phoenix’s current shenanigans and whether or not his behavior is for show or indicative of substance abuse or a mental health problem.

Overall, it was probably the most grounded discussion about Phoenix I’ve encountered. Entertainment Editor Gene Triplett, Assistant Entertainment Editor George Lang, Features Writer Heather Warlick, and Assistant Features Editor Matthew Price mostly just tossed around some thoughts about Phoenix’s new look and behavior, and while there were a few cracks at his mental state, nothing was too degrading.

However, when I scrolled down the page and read the “transcript” of the video (and I use quotations because it’s not a word-for-word transcript), I saw that the transcript quoted Assistant Entertainment Editor George Lang as saying:

But there’s a serious side of the Joaquin issue. Remember, this is a guy who was raised in the notorious cult the Children of God, and he watched his brother River die in front of the Viper Room in Los Angeles, so the guy doesn’t have baggage – he has a warehouse full of Samsonite. If he’s having problems, we should be averting our eyes, not chuckling at his meltdown.

If Phoenix is having legit problems (and not just wrapped up in some awkward Andy Kaufman-eqsue hoax), of course we shouldn’t be chuckling. But averting our eyes? We shouldn’t be doing that, either.

Well, maybe we should, to a point, but Phoenix’s loved ones and friends shouldn’t. At all.

I’ve already expressed my opinion about Dr. Dobransky’s tacky (and possibly self-serving) schizophrenia diagnosis, so naturally I’m not suggesting we all stare at Phoenix and share thoughts on which mental illness – if any – he has. What I’m suggesting is that Phoenix’s loved ones and friends pay attention to his change in appearance and behavior, and be at the ready should those changes indeed be indicative of a bigger problem.

Just like the rest of us should do the same for our own family members, friends, and loved ones.

But how do we do that? How do we “be at the ready” in case something truly is wrong? Most of us aren’t mental health professionals, after all.

Fortunately, we don’t have to be.

On Monday, I’m going to launch a week-long series here at Celebrity Psychings that will deal with how you can be prepared to handle a situation in which you think someone close to you might be struggling with a mental illness.

In the meantime, if you have any specific issues, topics, or questions you’d like to see addressed or answered during the series, feel free to leave them in the comments or shoot me an email.

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PMolinero (March 21, 2009)

myln (March 21, 2009)

From Psych Central's website:
PsychCentral (March 21, 2009)

Jason (March 21, 2009)

Jason (March 21, 2009)

Charles Budd (March 23, 2009)

From Psych Central's Alicia Sparks:
» Don’t Avert Your Eyes: Know The Symptoms Of Mental Illness - Celebrity Psychings (March 23, 2009)

Benny Greenberg (March 23, 2009)

From Psych Central's Alicia Sparks:
» Don’t Avert Your Eyes: Know How To Talk About Mental Illness - Celebrity Psychings (March 24, 2009)

Jason Keath (March 25, 2009)

From Psych Central's Alicia Sparks:
» Don’t Avert Your Eyes: Know What To Expect - Celebrity Psychings (March 25, 2009)

From Psych Central's Alicia Sparks:
» Don’t Avert Your Eyes: Know How To React - Celebrity Psychings (March 26, 2009)

From Psych Central's Alicia Sparks:
» Don’t Avert Your Eyes: Know When And How To Contact Help - Celebrity Psychings (March 27, 2009)

    Last reviewed: 21 Mar 2009