Quite Simply, Tyson Needs Help
The Washington Post
February 3, 2002
Letter to the Sports Editor
Quite Simply, Tyson Needs Help
By Alen J. Salerian, MD
In his Jan 26. Column Michael Wilbon called Mike Tyson a freak show, pathetic and ghoulish – a cartoonist combination of Dennis Rodman and Hannibal Lecter. But what Wilbon barely addressed is Tyson’s urgent need for psychiatric attention.
Tyson needs mandatory psychiatric care. As a psychiatrist who has worked for 25 years with very troubled people, I have patiently waited for some sporting or legal authority to force Tyson to get this help. But instead, the media and legal profession have done what they always do: make Tyson out to be a freak, an unruly subhuman from the slums.
Could Tyson’s race and educational background have influence on why he hasn’t been given the help he needs? It is not just coincidence that the same people who vilify Tyson can’t find enough praise for the courage and spirit of Professor John Nash for his triumph over his psychological demons, as described in the book and movie “A Beautiful Mind”. But Nash was not violent and dangerous like Tyson, and only got better after treatment was forced on him.
It doesn’t matter to me whether or not Tyson ever fights in the ring again. But it does matter that he receive the same help as Nash received – even if we have to force it upon him. For our society’s welfare, we must open our eyes to the perils of untreated mental disorders.