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Who was the player in the 80's with Social Anxiety Disorder?

vtmet Jan 08 2006 11:55 PM

That may not be what they called it at the time...but I remember a player, I believe that he was an OFer for the Phillies...who had talent, but he just totally came unglued when he got out in front of fans...he was ok in practice, but really had a hard time coping in games....I was thinking that the name was Jim Eisenreich, but Eisenreich (according to baseball-reference) had over 1400 games...so I don't think that I have the right player...

Frayed Knot Jan 09 2006 12:07 AM

Eisenreich's the guy you're thinking of. He actually had Tourette's syndrome, but initially it was mis-diasgnosed as something else so the medication he was given actually made the condition worse and so it seemed like an anxiety disorder. He did have a long career but I think you'll find a gap or two in it. At one point he had left the game and was back playing pick-up and beer league games at home in Minnesota. Once the proper diagnosis was made he made his way back into baseball.

Zvon Jan 09 2006 12:25 AM

="Frayed Knot"]Eisenreich's the guy you're thinking of. He actually had Tourette's syndrome, but initially it was mis-diasgnosed as something else so the medication he was given actually made the condition worse and so it seemed like an anxiety disorder. He did have a long career but I think you'll find a gap or two in it. At one point he had left the game and was back playing pick-up and beer league games at home in Minnesota. Once the proper diagnosis was made he made his way back into baseball. Yes, Eisey suffered from that. Was a very decent player for the Phils.

Edgy DC Jan 09 2006 01:06 AM

Eisenreich came up and hit wonderfully for the Twins in 1982, but they couldn't keep him in the lineup because he kept freaking out. He and Hrbek both came up at the same time, both being locals from Minny. If he could have kept it together, it might have been a Hell of an era for Minnesota. (Great as it was without him.)

TheOldMole Jan 09 2006 10:17 AM

I saw Jim Piersall play in Fenway in the Fear Strikes Out season -- shortly before the crackup -- I remember being disappointed that he didn't do anything weird.

Elster88 Jan 09 2006 04:31 PM

Can Tourette's be treated with drugs?

Johnny Dickshot Jan 09 2006 04:46 PM

Fuck if I know

Frayed Knot Jan 09 2006 04:49 PM

I don't know, but the fact that they initially thought it was something else meant that they were either making it worse or just not treating it at all at the beginning. At one point I remember they gave him something for "the symptoms" that made him practically fall asleep on the bench because they thought he was just over-excited. Butch Wynegar was the one guy I remember who actually did have some kind of disorder but I'm not sure if the details of that one ever came out. He just basically retired off of it.

KC Jan 09 2006 04:50 PM

lol, thanks ... I fucking needed that.

Edgy DC Jan 09 2006 04:53 PM

Kiss It Goodbye has a pretty good account of Piersall as a minor-league one-man performance art piece.

vtmet Jan 09 2006 05:03 PM

Frayed Knot wrote: ... At one point I remember they gave him something for "the symptoms" that made him practically fall asleep on the bench ... maybe they oughta see if Torre's on the same meds...

Zvon Jan 10 2006 11:43 PM

before i became educated on the ailment, i thought it made a person shout out obsenities involuntarily. In my imagination it went something like this: UMP: " STRRRRRRIKE THREEEEE-YER OUT!" Eisenreich (walking away in a routine fashion) : " Where was that *twitch* fuck-SHIT-bitch! *twitch* pitch, blue?" UMP: " YOUR OUTTA THE GAME ! "

Edgy DC Jan 11 2006 12:25 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 11 2006 09:40 AM

Most of what I know about Tourettes, I know from Met fan Jonathan Lethem's novel Motherless Brooklyn. What seems to be going on is that, whenever you get a crazy dumb idea in your head, you go crazy until you fulfill it. So the character walks around in his high school hall where the most dangerous thing you can do is exhibit signs of femininity. Like everybody else he's self-consciously trying not to, but unlike everybody else the dumbest idea possible --- kissing a guy --- pops into his head and he acts on it. Or he gets the number in his head, and he can't eat lunch without ordering and eating four hot dogs. He can't drive off in his car without starting it four times. So, being that the craziest idea is letting the hostile little voice in your id go, I guess for some peeps it manifests itself as chronic profantiy in delicate times. I'm certain I'm misreading all this and my summary is way off, but this is my way of summoning the Old Original JB to set us all straight.

Johnny Dickshot Jan 11 2006 07:01 AM

The basketball player who had tourette's ... Chris Jackson aka Mahmoud Abdul Rouf (sp.) was one of the best FT shooters in the NBA because for him tourette's was all about a complusion to get things to feel just right. I saw a film on him once where he'd ties and until his sneaks dozens of times to get therm to "feel right." He would also throw back his head and say "Whoo!" almost uncontrollably.

old original jb Jan 12 2006 09:57 AM on Tourette's Syndrome

Tourette's is a tic disorder. Some of what is being described here is more along the lines of obsessive compulsive disorder which is probably related but not exactly the same. In OCD, there is an irrisistable impulse to carry out complex behaviors (washing, checking, arranging things in a certain manner etc.) and there may also be repetitive thoughts that seem unconnected to anything the person really cares or thinks about, but which can't be shaken. In Tourette's, there are vocal and motor tics. As is the case with the complex behaviors of OCD, the person with Tourette's may feel an irristable urge to discharge these tics, and they are in fact involuntary. The vocal tics can famously take the form of curses or other inappropriate utterances, but can also be grunts or nonsense words. The motor tics are usually jerks, writhing movements, blinking and so on. I don't think anyone really knows why so many of the tics take the form of socially unacceptable behaviors. It may be that many are neutral and these get less notice, or it may be that there is something special about the way our brains handle things we all know we are not supposed to do which is especially broken in Tourette's. To make matters more complicated, probably half of all people with Tourette's also have some degree of OCD, although most people with OCD do not have Tourette's. Another common comorbidity with Tourrette's is ADHD. This is not too surprising because the brain circuitry involved in these conditions most certainly overlaps, involving different parts of an area of the brain called the basal ganglia. This portion of the brain is involved in attention, focus, drive, and formation of habitual activities as well as the initiation and control of movement. It is the part of the brain that helps initiate actions that are planned in the cortex, and that helps stop an action when it is finished. Other diseases which involve the basal ganglia include Parkinson's and Huntington's. As you can see, the basal ganglia is an important brain structure that (alas) can break down in many ways. Treatments are different for OCD and Tourette's; OCD is best treated with very high doses of serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI's) like prozac; the high dose required is a good indication that prozac ( and other SSRI's) are doing something different for OCD than for depression or anxiety. OCD can also be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy, and it may be that a combination of therapy and medication produces the fastest and most durable results. Tourette's, to my knowledge, is not amenable to any "talking" therapy (except in helping the person cope with having the illness). Tourette's is typically treated with medications that block dopamine--haloperidol and pimozide are the ones most often used. For people whose Tourette's includes OCD, the combination of an SSRI and a dopamine blocking drug is usually the treatment of choice. Maybe sometime when I'm really hurting for things to do, I'll post a diagram of the basal ganglia circuitry.