Despite UFC Success, Sean Strickland Reveals He’s Still 'Mentally Unwell'

[Mike]

Fair enough, but to me Sean screams brain trauma. Not just emotional trauma.

He is a disciple of the Just Bleed God after all.

There's a bit of a chicken and the egg thing here but Sean's demeanor is pretty consistent with abuse victims. And so many fighters have talked about how fighting and specifically training is an outlet they use to help with mental health.

Lately we've also seen more fighters admitting to mental health struggles like Volk and Poirer.

 

[shunyata]

There's a bit of a chicken and the egg thing here but Sean's demeanor is pretty consistent with abuse victims. And so many fighters have talked about how fighting and specifically training is an outlet they use to help with mental health.

Lately we've also seen more fighters admitting to mental health struggles like Volk and Poirer.

I hear you, and that's what I was alluding to earlier. There's a non zero amount of brain trauma involved in abuse, motorcycle accidents, and constant hard sparring. Even without blows to the head, the trauma of abuse has been shown to have negative effects on the brain. And that shit adds up.

Certainly mental health is something we all need to take more seriously, but we also need to realize in the context of this sport that the health of the brain itself is massively important to mental health and CTE often manifests with problems with impulse control, depression, and more.