At what point do you think people are going to write Charlie Sheen off as "just crazy" and stop paying him any attention?

I already have.

I think his ‘15 minutes of fame’ is almost over.

It’s starting to wane. But people love crazy, so who knows?

Who’s Charlie Sheen?

The sooner the better. I’m sick of hearing about him.

I’m tired of him already.

Yeah, I feel like the joke has gone on long enough. He made a bad choice coming out of the gate with full on crazy. Now, he’s going to have to upstage his own crazy to keep the attention going. Don’t think for one second that he won’t try, but it’s already getting to be an old joke.

They’ll stop paying attention to him the moment they stop paying attention to the other Hollywood problems, e.g. Lindsay Lohan.

It sickens me the way this story is being portrayed by the media. It’s clear that he’s suffering from a form of mental illness. Covering Sheen’s mental illness as if it were some form of curious entertainment would be like publicizing an actor with prostate cancer wetting himself, or laughing at Michael J Fox’s tremors. Disgusting. There’s no other way to describe it.

I really hope that its soon honey, as I said earlier its pretty much validating the way he’s acting (if only to himself). The sooner people stop paying him any mind , the sooner he might get help before he ends up killing himself. Also, I agree with what @gorillapaws says too, I do think there is an element of mental illness going on here too, even though he’s acting liked a very spoiled child, used to getting his own way (which he likely is in most things).
hugs xx

about a week ago… I don’t think he realizes he is losing it. I hope someone steps in before it is too late.

@gorillapaws – Well said. Unfortunately Charlie is presenting himself as being entertaining, even when he’s obviously displaying signs of mental illness. As long as he lets himself be exploited the way he is, it’ll keep happening.

He’s a fruitcake.

When he’s actually “just crazy”. Right now, he’s crazy and hilarious. Until the hilarious wears off, people will keeping paying attention.

@CaptainHarley Fruitcake like homosexual, or fruitcake like totally insane?

Batshit, off-the-wall, howling-at-the-moon loony!

BTW… never heard the word “fruitcake” used in reference to gays.

Shortly after he self-implodes.

Winner winner chicken ***<BOOM>***

@blueiiznh lulz

@CaptainHarley It’s in the area of “Nancy boy”, “fairy”, “fruit”.

The man is batshit crazy and I JUST GOT TICKETS TO SEE HIM AT RADIO CITY!!!
Oh this is gonna be good!!

Haters, you don’t got tiger blood!

@MyNewtBoobs

Thanks. Since I try very hard to never refer to people in terms which they consider derogatory, I’m not familiar with many of those.

@CaptainHarley That’s why I asked, didn’t want to assume you were calling him something you weren’t.

LOL! Thanks! : ))

@CaptainHarley So you think it’s ok to use derogatory terms for people suffering from mental illness?

I had the opportunity to visit a state mental hospital for patients who were involuntarily committed through an undergraduate course. It was one of the saddest days of my life. It was a place filled with people who are sick, just like any other hospital. Because their illness was related to their brains, and not another organ, their symptoms were bizarre behaviors, beliefs, and speech, but it’s no more amusing than laughing at someone who has lost a limb, or has to shit a colostomy bag.

I doubt they will for a long time to come. Probably not good for him or us.

IF ( big IF ) the honorable Mr Sheen is “mentally ill,” it’s fairly obvious he brought it on himself via drugs or alcohol, or perhaps both. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on that, but no one can deny that he has for quite awhile been a member of the “privileged elite,” who now is acting like an idiot. When someone proves to me that he is, indeed, mentally ill through no fault of his own, then I will cease calling him an idiot.

BTW… as a 100% disabled veteran, I am well-acquainted with disability.

@CaptainHarley Here’s an interview with Dr. Drew discussing how Mr. Sheen is exhibiting symptoms of hypomania.

Symptoms from the Wikipedia article:
– Pressured speech,
– Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
– Flight of ideas or the subjective experience that thoughts are racing
– Easy distractibility and attention-deficit
– Involvement in pleasurable activities that may have a high potential for negative psycho-social or physical consequences (e.g., the person engages in unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions, reckless driving, or foolish business investments).

@gorillapaws Cocaine makes you act manic.

@MyNewtBoobs here’s a better clip where Dr. Drew discusses how it’s quite possible that he is not currently using drugs. At the end he states “there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s not currently using [drugs] but will use again soon.

@gorillapaws Well, Dr. Drew isn’t my ultimate authority on anything. And even once drugs are out of your system, if you’ve been on them awhile, it’ll take a long time for your brain chemistry to change back.

@MyNewtBoobs did you watch the clip? I think he makes a fairly reasonable argument. I’ve seen clips in psychology classes that show manic patients which are very similar to the ways that Sheen is expressing himself.

Do you have a source from a Psychologist/Psychiatrist that suggests Sheen isn’t hypomanic? I really don’t see how name calling someone who is displaying such medical symptoms is at all justified (even if the mental illness was triggered initially from drug abuse). Would it be acceptable to point and laugh at someone whose teeth had rotted out from abusing meth?

@gorillapaws Ok, first, I didn’t name call anyone. So take a deep breath, and direct your passion elsewhere. Second, even if he is bipolar, he has control over his actions. He doesn’t have to indulge in his manic emotions – there are tons and tons of bipolar people who are not having coked up parties with strippers and porn stars, beating up women, or claiming to be an Adonis. Know what they have? Emotional regulation skills. Third, anyone who hasn’t sat down with Charlie one-on-one, while he’s sober and interested in an evaluation, really shouldn’t be out there handing out diagnoses. Fourth, bipolar has really become quite the wastebasket diagnosis.

@MyNewtBoobs I didn’t say you were name calling, but you seemed to be defending @CaptainHarley‘s position. Also Dr. Drew didn’t diagnose Sheen with bi-polar disorder. He said he’s exhibiting symptoms of hypomania. It’s a different disorder, and as a assistant professor of psychiatry, I would think an MD like Dr. Drew could probably identify psychiatric symptoms from watching video clips. A dermatologist could probably identify various rashes from looking at photos for example. Did you watch the clip?

@gorillapaws You’re an assistant professor of psychiatry who’s relying on Dr. Drew to diagnose someone?

@MyNewtBoobs Dr. Drew is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. I would think someone who has attained such a position would be able to identify psychiatric symptoms from video of a patient demonstrating unusual behavior.

@gorillapaws There’s a difference between guessing that’s what it is, and knowing that’s what it is. And if we’re going to absolve Charlie Sheen of all culpability in his actions, and say that people are making fun of someone who only has a medical problem that he has no control over and that’s really mean, then I really want to know that’s the correct diagnosis, not guess that’s the right diagnosis.

@MyNewtBoobs I don’t think it’s necessary to absolve Sheen of “all culpability in his actions” in order to not make fun of his current mental state. If you have any sources from a mental health professional that indicate his behavior is likely not symptomatic of hypomania, I would be more than happy to take a look. As it stands, your argument seems to be a vapid justification of value judgements based on an incomplete understanding of human psychology.

It seems pathological to want to poke fun at a sick person, unless it’s been demonstrated with absolute certainty that they are completely blameless for their situation.

@gorillapaws Well, either he’s hypomanic or he’s exhibiting grandiosity; the defining difference between mania and hypomania is grandiosity.

@gorillapaws If you really must have a link, because somehow saying “slow down” needs a link, try this article. “Like Charlie Sheen, your character could be getting a premature diagnosis… “Bipolar disorder” is being bandied about an awful lot by the media, and while it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Sheen is manic, there’s also a far simpler explanation: drugs. Drugs can easily induce states that resemble psychological disorders, and in the infamous ABC News interview, Sheen emphatically volunteered that he was “bangin’ 7 gram rocks [of cocaine]...because that’s how I roll.” Cocaine abuse can certainly make a person look manic. Add that to the threat to Sheen’s ego now that his show has been taken away, and his behavior looks like a frantic, stimulant-influenced attempt to shore up that ego.”

Ironic that you seem to be paying him attention simply by asking this question.

I am sick unto death of having every idiot who uses drugs or kills someone or wants to run naked through the streets, given a pass because they’re “mentally ill.” Society has rights too, such as the right to not be subjected to idiocy. This character can well-afford the best medical care on the planet, including mental health care. If he chooses not to seek it, then I choose to call him an idiot, especially if he got his “condition” by voluntarily using prohibited substances!

”...the right to not be subjected to idiocy…”
I love that part of the Constitution. Hang on while I find it…~

@CaptainHarley I’m not advocating that Sheen be “given a pass.” Merely that the media treat his condition like it was a medical condition (i.e. shouldn’t be covered, and certainly not made a spectacle of—which will only further his deluded mental state). I don’t think his behavior is at all acceptable or appropriate, but I’m of the opinion that he’s not in a rational state, and therefore his behavior is symptomatic of mental illness.

I’m personally sick and tired of hearing people attribute judgments to people’s behavior as if they’re in a rational frame-of-mind without fully understanding the nature of mental illness. Sheen’s illness will make him believe that he actually doesn’t need help, and that the problem is everyone else. It’s a breakdown of his ability to make rational thoughts.

@MyNewtBoobs thanks for the link. That was an interesting alternative perspective from a different expert. I’m still inclined to believe Dr. Drew’s assessment based on his clinical experience focused on dealing with addictions and mental health, and the emphatic assertion that he didn’t believe that Sheen was under the influence of drugs in those clips, but it’s always helpful to hear other perspectives from experts.

@gorillapaws

Ok. I can see that.

@gorillapaws For the record, my position is simply that since no one on Fluther directly benefits from a diagnosis (none of us are friends trying to figure out how to deal with him, or therapists trying to come up with a treatment plan, or insurance companies deciding whether to cover him or not), then maybe we should refrain from labeling him with a seriously stigmatizing diagnosis simply because a celebrity doctor violated ethics and said that he thinks Charlie Sheen has a certain diagnosis.