Young football star kills himself.... suffered from depression because his family was homeless

[groundloop]

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/deerfield-beach/fl-ne-bryce-gowdy-mental-health-20200101-ryf43wlw25e6too3bdce6lt35i-story.html?fbclid=IwAR2i6rm9kRbRGcBBgOcXsfgLC9eAqkjBVGDpzU4y5sOYcDZdbXIu1amtcU4



A highly recruited high school football star, Bryce Gowdy, committed suicide just a week before he was set to start college. He obviously did well in school, as evidenced by the fact that he was accepted at Georgia Tech and that he had graduated high school early so that he could get a jump on college.

His mother and a brother both worked, but at jobs that paid so little they couldn't afford housing. They often lived out of a car, or sometimes got a cheap pay by the week motel room. Bryce was suffering from depression, anxiety, and a feeling of guilt that he'd be away at college while his family was struggling to get by.

There are many more details in the article, I defy anyone to read the entire story and not to both cry as well as become totally outraged that our "great" country can let things like this happen. In one news story a few days ago I discovered that the CEO of Boeing is being fired because of his incompetence that led to the production of shoddy planes that crashed twice in a short time span, and he managed to walk away with somewhere around $50 MILLION. A few short days later I find out about a promising young student athlete who suffers from depression because his working mother can't afford to keep a roof over their heads and winds up killing himself. What a wonderful country we have.

Tax the rich, feed the poor
'Til there are no rich no more
I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you

[ck4829]

1. This should not be happening

[Poiuyt]

2. His depression could also have been due to CTE

[Ilsa]

36. What is cte?

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy? Just guessing.

[Poiuyt]

37. Yes, chronic traumatic encephalopathy

CTE is a degenerative brain disease occurring as the result of repeated head trauma. Most of the attention goes to former NFL players who have had their bell rung many times throughout their careers, recent research shows that it's the repeated subconcussive blows that can cause damage. In other words, you don't have to lose consciousness for the damage to be done.

I would not let a son of mine play organized football.

[Hortensis]

3. So tragic. Teen depression and suicide are endemic.

We haven't evolved physically or mentally for the lives we lead these days. Teens no longer work alongside their families to subsist and live in smallish, interrelated communities. All the bad and good things they once heard about were almost entirely from within their own worlds so had context and were reality based, not the relentless, dysfunctional barrage of negativism of today.

Even though this boy wasn't isolated, was active in sports, it seems likely that if they'd had means or just information his family could have gotten him help. Did they recognize he had a serious problem? Many suffering from depression use physical activities to battle and hide it; Teddy Roosevelt was one. Whatever. Schools and hospitals routinely watch for signs of suicidal ideation and finding it almost always triggers assistance.

Someone in my family hid advancing clinical depression through a very busy and successful social life. Teens are weird and changeable anyway, she was bouncy and surrounded by friends, did okay in school. Her parents had no experience in raising adolescents to draw on, and a serious problem was only realized way along when she withdrew from most of her friends and began cutting and burning to override her increasing mental pain. And then they learned she had been considering suicide for a long time.

Poor, poor boy and family who've now lost him.

[AwakeAtLast]

30. Add in the trauma of growing up in extreme poverty

Perfect storm.

[Hortensis]

33. Poverty can't help, but I did and poverty itself doesn't

cause suicide. Homeless rational people who sleep in boxes under overpasses are living their lives; they may often be uncomfortable, always insecure, and frequently insulted and even abused, but not necessarily unhappy.

Depression's very different from being unhappy about things it's reasonable to be unhappy about. This story's a variation of the prom queen who has everything shocking all who know her by killing herself. In this kid's case, he had real reasons to feel very good about himself and genuine reason to believe a good life was not all that far ahead that would leave poverty behind. And he had family and wasn't alone. But he couldn't be happy because he suffered from one of the serious depressive disorders. We know it was serious because it killed him.

A huge part of this tragedy is that professional help was so close. Suicidal ideation is taken very seriously, especially when it's advanced to the point of planning how. And this boy's death is why. If he'd only told someone at school, he would have been taken to an ER, examined by a mental health professional, and right now almost certainly be in inpatient psychiatric care. And a social worker would be assigned to help improve his home situation before he was released.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

4. So tragic.

[LisaL]

5. It sounds like he had more mental health issues than depression.

Per the article, in the last three days he became paranoid and was describing things that didn't make sense.

[Pacifist Patriot]

6. I think the poster above may be on to something.

Obviously we can't diagnose based on a news article, but I wouldn't at all be surprised to learn CTE was part of the equation if that were to come out later.

[LisaL]

15. Who knows. It could have been not related to CTE.

But clearly he needed mental health help for those issues and it doesn't sound like he got it.

[Pacifist Patriot]

31. I agree, we will probably never know.

I'm just saying my jaw wouldn't drop if they did determine it to be a contributing factor. But it could as likely be any number of things. Sad story whatever the primary and proximate causes.

[crazytown]

18. Deressive psychosis

What Is Depressive Psychosis?

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), an estimated 20 percent of people who have major depression also have psychotic symptoms. This combination is known as depressive psychosis. Some other names for the condition are:

delusional depression
psychotic depression

Examples of psychotic symptoms include:

delusions
hallucinations
paranoia

This condition causes you to experience psychotic symptoms plus the sadness and hopelessness associated with depression. This means seeing, hearing, smelling, or believing things that aren’t real. Depressive psychosis is especially dangerous because the delusions can cause people to become suicidal.

https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/major-depression-with-psychotic-features#symptoms

[Skittles]

34. agreed

[dalton99a]

7. Kick

[Perseus]

8. This is hard, I wish he had seen the light at the end of the tunnel because he could have

changed his family's fortunes by completing college, and maybe even getting a contract in the NFL...What a shame, very sad.

That is why we need to choose a candidate who is going to try to level the playing field, who will tax appropriately and stop the avarice that is so prevalent in our society, healthcare and education MUST be free for all citizens, when that happens a tragedy like this one may not happen. You can never stop those who have tendencies of suicide, even when they don't have economic issues they still will fall under, but hopefully cases like this will not occur because it will be easier to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We need a progressive candidate, a progressive president, change can come fast, we have seen how the crooks of this administration have changed things fast for the worst, we need a candidate who will reverse the damage of this administration and make radical changes to level the playing field, enough with greed.

[LisaL]

29. What he did obviously wasn't rational.

He got a full scholarship to go to college. Still he was reportedly concerned about going to college and leaving his family behind.
But yet if he killed himself, weren't they going to be left behind anyway?
Just sounds like he had a major psychiatric issues going on, and got no help for it.

[Kaleva]

9. Depression afflicts people from all walks of life

The guy would very likely have committed suicide even if his family wasn't homeless.

[LisaL]

16. It sounds like he had more than just depression, per what his mother describes his final days.

He was apparently paranoid and making statements that didn't make any sense.

[Kaleva]

26. Mother also had her own mental health issues.

she would tell her son to fight his own demons because she was struggling with her own.

[spooky3]

10. Heartbreaking. Nt

[democrank]

11. So, so sad.

Rest in peace, Bryce Gowdy~

[lark]

12. What song are those words from?

I remember the tune, the melody, but not the group that sang it or the name of the tune. Pisses me off, I used to have such an excellent memory, but it's no longer reliable. For some reason I'm thinking of 10 Years After, but could be way off base?

[mr_lebowski]

19. Correct ... the middle line is the song title :) nt

[smirkymonkey]

24. Yes, it was 10 Years After.

So incredibly sad. This song also breaks my heart.

[lpbk2713]

13. Are we great again yet?

Fuck Trump and his $3 Million golfing weekends. Good people are dying.

[KPN]

14. So sad. So infuriating. I'm sick to hell of all

the DUers here who promote the notion we are a center-left nation when the reality is we are pretty much a fascist nation controlled by oligarchs who control too many of our elected officials, our radio airwaves, most of the newspapers and many of the tv broadcast news stations.

Corporatism needs to go as the foundation of capitalism. our system of governance, and dominating influence in our two party system. We are not center-left by a long stretch. If we were center left — or right for that matter — there would be a reasonable balance between the wealthy and the not wealthy. Homelessness would not be the astronomical and still growing problem it is today. Hundreds of millions would not be stressed out daily by such routine occurrences as:
their vehicle needing new tires or a new battery,
the monthly question they face about what am I going to forego in order to make this month’s rent, and
their fears about what if I or my kids get sick? What if I lose my job?

If that’s what and where we are, center—left isn’t good. It shouldn’t be promoted here. It isn’t reality, it’s oppression. We should have no tolerance for oppression.

That’s my take on being a Democrat. No tolerance of oppression. Political reality be damned. Center-left be damned. We are no where near center (left or right!) when it comes to the economy. We are right ... and very far right. So screw off with the center-left apologies and excuses.

[defacto7]

27. Thank you. I agree.

[ecstatic]

17. Heartbreaking 💔 nt

[llashram]

20. this is heartbreaking

yet ask the Walton's if they feel any pity for him or for those working for slave wages in their stores having to apply for food stamps to get by in many cases.

[Farmer-Rick]

22. If there weren't homeless hungry people in America,

There would be No Filthy Rich Americans either.

Great wealth causes great poverty

[cwydro]

23. Guess his parents should have "learned to code."

This is beyond tragic.

[Kaleva]

25. Title of OP doesn't match the contents of the article

Compare this from the article:

"There’s never a single crisis or factor that leads to suicide, experts say. "

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/deerfield-beach/fl-ne-bryce-gowdy-mental-health-20200101-ryf43wlw25e6too3bdce6lt35i-story.html

Here is the title of the OP where it is claimed a single factor lead to the boys suicide:

"Young football star kills himself.... suffered from depression because his family was homeless"

[tulipsandroses]

28. Heartbreaking

Its a tragedy that this family was enduring so much suffering.

Its a story I see all too often. I work in community mental health so I see families teetering on the edge all the damn time. Its frustrating. Homeless families. Families about to be homeless. Families living in shelters, motels, living in cars, at times in the park until they find a shelter.
I won't even go on a rant about the shortage of providers we have to care for the people that do seek help.
I am disgusted with our broken mental health/social services system.

[RussBLib]

32. when Trump touts "his" great economy

someone should remind him that suicide rates for those under 30 are at all-time highs. Just extraordinary.

A young friend of mine committed suicide just two days ago. He was 34, engaged....

[CaptYossarian]

35. We should also examine why law enforcement is committing suicide at record rates too.

This year, it's a 2 -1 ratio for suicides vs. cops dying in the line of duty. I understand Iraqi and Afghan veterans killing themselves at 22/day. Are they both due to PTSD? Is there an overlap of police officers that were war veterans?