Paul Gascoigne Arrested

I watched him play for all his career, and he's up there with the best players i have ever seen live.

I have no gripe at all with him playing for sevco, but there does come a time when sympathy runs out for someone who has had as much help as he has, but does not help himself.

I have sympathy for those who care for him as they are having to watch him self destruct. But despite that fact that he clearly suffers from an addiction, I no longer have any sympathy left for him because he has had far more support than most people with his addiction could dream of, yet is unable or unwilling to use that support to help himself.

Being a wife-beater makes him a reprehensible failure of a person, but neither that nor the fact that he is an ex-Hun(RIP) influence how I view his health issues.

I think his alcoholism possibly stems from or at least exacerbates underlying mental health issues that have affected him most of his life. I do have some sympathy for him but like others I can't see him ever sorting himself out now unfortunately.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk...spital-2039576 I said earlier in the thread that I would give him a year to live. Try a couple of months. He looks terrible!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Filled Rolls

I've read quite a lot about illness as well. It's fair to say that there is mixed opinion. It's a matter of doing the scientific thing, and looking at the evidence.

There is no evidence that it is a disease, other than the subjective opinions of some doctors. A profession that has failed woefully to make any headway in treating the pseudo illness they invented.

The evidence is absolutely abundant in the scientific literature - hundreds, if not thousands of papers which address the medical arguments for considering alcoholism as a disease - here are some examples:

Hill S., (1985), The disease concept of alcoholism: A review, Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Vol 16, Issue 3, 193-214

Miller L., (1990), Neuropsychodynamics of alcoholism and addiction: Personality, psychopathology and cognitive style, Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, Vol 7, Issue 1, 31-49

Larsen E.W., (1991), Alcoholism: The disease and the diagnosis, The American Journal of Medicine, Vol 91, Issue 2, 107-109

Kasperowicz-Dabrowiecka A. and Rybakowski J.K., (2001), Beyond the Winokur concept of depression spectrum disease: which types of alcoholism are related to primary affective illness, Journal of Affective Disorders, Vol 63, Issues 1-3, 133-138

Lesch O.M., Dietzel M., Musalek M., Walter H. and Zeiler K., (1988), The course of alcoholism: Long-term prognosis in different types, Forensic Science International, Vol 36, Issues 1-2, 121-138

Eichner E.R., (1973), The hematological disorders of alcoholism, The American Journal of Medicine, Vol 54, Issue 5, 621-630

Glatt M.M., (1988), Alcoholism is a disease and a Challenge, The Lancet, Vol 272, Issue 7054, 1014-1025

And what's more, doctors don't have "subjective" opinions - they have professionally derived opinions which are based on 7+ years of practice, education, research and hard work which makes their opinion on what is and is not a disease exorbitantly higher than anyone else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Filled Rolls

Doctors would like to call it a disease, so that they can then treat it. The fact is it meets none of the criteria whereby you can call something a disease. Probably the reason there is no medical intervention that has worked.

There is no drug that can cure it, no surgery that can cure it, there is no bacillus or virus or physiological malfunction that can be shown to cause it. Yet doctors still say its a disease.

Tells you a lot about doctors.

All it tells you about doctors is that they have limitations to their knowledge and abilities! They're not God (though some do suffer from the Complex). Many people have your same attitude about a lot of diseases which are primarily based in neuropsychology and have unclear origins, manifestations and ability to be cured or treated - some other classic examples are depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, dysautonomias, fibromyalgia, electromagnetic hypersensitivity and Kawasaki syndrome.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Filled Rolls

At the end of the day it's about responsibility and choice. If someone rapes a six year old when they are drunk, do they have an excuse. If someone crashes their car during an epileptic fit, do they have an excuse.

People need to get away from using medicine a reason for their badness or stupidity. Saying Gascoigne, or any other drunk, has an excuse, is like saying they are possessed by the devil.

Society has more to worry about than cleaning up the wreckage of those that will not take responsibility for their actions.

I would agree in this sense that alcoholism is used as an excuse for diminished responsibility but when you consider the abundance of literary references which outline the impacts of alcoholism on behavioural function, it's hard to say comprehensively that there is not a degree of blame which can be placed at the door of alcohol. Having said that, a rational and normally well behaved human being would not suddenly rape a child, commit horrible acts of murderous violence simply because they were drunk. There has to be some trait to a person's character which would predispose them to such actions in the first place.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Filled Rolls

The medical profession is creating more illnesses every year, using science as a justification, yet failing to provide any scientific evidence.

As technology advances, understanding improves, communication between scientific research and practitioners enhances and more localised diseases become global with reduced travel times it's absolute ignorance to suggest that the medical profession "creates" illnesses.

Just watched the BBC3 programme Football's Suicide Secret which was shown last night.

Clarke Carlisle presents, he's a very intelligent footballer, who suffered from depression, attempted suicide and is now the current chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association.

Was a great insight into how the highs & lows in the game can effect some players, very emotional and certainly worth a watch on iPlayer if you missed it.

Makes you think that what Gascoigne is suffering from is certainly a mental illness.

charged now

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-23397027

Mr Gascoigne, of Gateshead, was also charged with two counts of common assault by British Transport Police.