Glenn Beck says he’s “out of his mind crazy,” and Beliefnet.com’s Rod Dreher has called him a “crazy, vicious creep” who “really is a dangerous lunatic.” (Eek. I thought things were peaceful over at Beliefnet!)

The Washington Post‘s Celebritology blogger Jen Chaney quipped that he’s had so many tapes surface lately he might be on the brink of his own franchise: “The Passion of the Crazy.”

In short, emotions (shock, outrage, and anger being the most dominant) are unsurprisingly high right now regarding Mel Gibson’s most recent scandal.

Spurting stigmatizing insults isn’t exactly the way to go about it, but it’s clear Gibson needs help. Not only is the kind of domestic abuse we’re talking about here serious and scary, but if you’ve listened to the last two tapes that’ve surfaced (one and two), I think you’ll agree it sounds like there’s a lot more going on than just anger and violence issues.

The man doesn’t sound healthy.

About.com’s Guide to Bipolar Disorder, Marcia Purse, thinks that although Gibson once stated a couple of years ago, “I recently found out I’m manic depressive,” one statement doesn’t make it so:

From what I can discover, Gibson is now being placed on lists of people with bipolar disorder because of that single comment. I don’t think there’s enough evidence to do that. There’s no public record of him discussing the subject before or since he made that statement. Certainly after the 2006 video became public he could have taken the opportunity to talk about a diagnosis of bipolar, and he didn’t.

However, I don’t think there needs to be more than one public record of him discussing it to make it believable. In my opinion, if he really did find out he was manic depressive (as in, a doctor told him), why should we – the public – need more than one comment about it to validate it? It’s not like he said, “You know, I recently realized I have some serious highs and lows going on,” and the public just ran with bipolar disorder. He said, “I recently found out I’m manic depressive.”

Of course, I’m not saying I think the man does or doesn’t have bipolar disorder. I’m not a doctor and I definitely haven’t spent any time around him. For all we know, he doesn’t. I am saying, though, that I do think there’s something serious behind his recent behavior and it’d be absurd to ignore his own comment about manic depression – even if it simply means being re-evaluated.

Now, if you’d like to read up on what a professional has to say about Gibson’s tapes, check out Dr. John Grohol’s Mel Gibson, Bipolar Disorder and Alcohol.

Comments

This post currently has 13 comments/trackbacks.
You can read the comments or leave your own thoughts.

Trackbacks

Dr Antoine Spiteri (July 17, 2010)

From Psych Central's website:
PsychCentral (July 16, 2010)

Diane Skoczinski (July 17, 2010)

From Psych Central's Alicia Sparks:
When We'd Show Mel Gibson Compassion, Not Contempt | Celebrity Psychings (July 19, 2010)

Amy Wilson (July 25, 2010)

    Last reviewed: 16 Jul 2010