The Sheen of mental illness

Today we're talking mental illness and we'll start off with perhaps the most amusing Charlie Sheen quote of the day:

"I am on a drug. It's called Charlie Sheen. It's not available, because if you try it once, you will die and your children will weep over your exploded body. Too much?"

That was fun but all kidding aside, 26.2 percent (That's more than 1-in-4 in case you're a bit slow) of all Americans suffer from a diagnosable mental illness each year.

Mental illnesses are rarely understood by the public at large and one of the biggest hurdles (Ahem, see Charlie Sheen) in getting a victim of mental illness help is their acknowledgment of the issue. When a person thinks they are sane, but they are not, they're more likely to believe the whole world has gone nuts then get the help they need.

Here are a few signs of mental illness in adults and to keep things fun, we'll relate each one to Charlie Sheen and determine whether or not he meets the criteria.

-Withdrawal from social activities
Not met: Sheen's got his show effectively canceled but the hooker parties are still on.

-Confused thinking and negative reasoning
Not met: Sheen can properly explain to his sons not to run into thing. “They run around and they’re as fun as you can imagine. They say ‘Dada’ and run into walls. And Dada is cool, but when they run into walls I say, ‘Don’t do that, that’s retarded.’”

-Continuous irritability and long-lasting sadness
Undecided: Sheen is clearly irritated, but hardly sad. It's hard to be sad with millions of dollars and at least two hot girls on your arm. We'll check back when the money runs out.

-Excessive mood fluctuations (high and low)
Met: In one breath he whimsically calls himself a warlock, in another, he threatens untold violence.

-A significant change in eating manner and sleeping habits
Met: When Charlie Sheen recently evolved into a demigod, he lost the need for sleep or food. He now is fueled only by cocaine, attention and sex.

-Hallucinations or delusions
Met: "I'm tired of pretending like I'm not special. I'm tired of pretending like I'm not a total bitchin' rock star from Mars."

-Lousiness and failures to face daily responsibilities and challenges
Met: He was asked by CBS president to chill out...then went on radio and bashed the network.

-Continuous thoughts of suicide and death
Irrelevant: Charlie Sheen is either an immortal or slated for death by spring.

-Continuous drug abuse and alcohol usage
MET: MET MET MET MET MET MET Hell he IS a drug.

-Fear and anxiety
Not Met: Fearless

Also Sheen claims Mel Gibson called him to offer support.....that's just..I mean... c'mon!

I stole this off a website:
Confronted with footage of an appearance by the two (father Martin and brother Emillio) on Sky News in the U.K., during which they expressed their concern, Sheen said: "They tried. But I said, you know, I'm not ready, I'm not interested in your rhetoric right now. I appreciate your love, your compassion, if that's what you wanna call it. But I'm 45 years old, and I'm not interested in people treating me like a 12-year-old."

If Sheen is really ok and has just decided to be a character, that's one thing. But I doubt it hopefully he steps up, realized the world hasn't changed but that he has and gets help.

For multi-millionaires though you're not crazy, you're eccentric. For most people though, getting help is a better option than granting interviews.