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YOUR BALANCE
New Story: Football, Life and Depression: Guillermo opens up
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New Story: Football, Life and Depression: Guillermo opens up


Sep 8, 2015, 8:01 AM

 
Football, Life and Depression: Guillermo opens up

Football players are modern-day gladiators, and they are supposed to be impervious to pain. Football players are expected to play through torn ligaments and broken bones, and fans and coaches alike expect those same players to wipe off the blood and keep on playing. They’re football players. They’re tough. But Jay Guillermo knew he needed help, and he asked for it. Full Story »


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Brave young man. Respect to Jay


Sep 8, 2015, 8:05 AM

and maybe this story is help to Reader if, in fact, his is dealing with similar things.

Takes a man to admit such things!

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Kudos to Jay


Sep 8, 2015, 8:11 AM

I'm a Child Psychiatrist and I know what kind of guts it took both to make it through the depression and to open up about it. I always liked Jay before he came to Clemson. I'm impressed with how he has fought this disease. His story will no doubt help the lives of many dealing with the same disease. I know I will likely reference it now that it is public. You'd be amazed how many athletes deal with mental illness - especially depression and anxiety. Thanks to Jay for sharing his story and to Tigernet for reporting it. Good WILL come out of this.

Ken Pittman, MD

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Re: New Story: Football, Life and Depression: Guillermo opens up


Sep 8, 2015, 8:17 AM

Glad he had the currage to face this and to get help. Glad Dabo didn't just throw him away with an, "oh well, next man up" attitude so many coaches seem to have. Good luck, Jay!

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Re: New Story: Football, Life and Depression: Guillermo opens up


Sep 8, 2015, 8:29 AM

And that is one of many reasons that Dabo is different than most D1 coaches. I'm sure he could see the changes in Jay, but until you are willing to open up about it, no one from the outside can really help you to get better. Dabo did the best thing he could for Jay. He gave him time away and assured him that he would be welcomed home when he was ready. I'm so proud of Jay for asking for help, and proud of Dabo for the way he handled the situation. It's what truly makes us a family at Clemson. Would this have happened in Cootville? Nah, that scholarship would have already been pulled and given to someone else.

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Admire him for speaking up


Sep 8, 2015, 8:20 AM

I have battled depression my whole life and it is a cruel illness. What Jay has done by speaking publicly about his journey opens the way for others young and old to find the courage to get help. Awesome young man!

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Re: Admire him for speaking up


Sep 8, 2015, 9:04 AM

^^^ Well t-net is an ideal place to be to avoid depression. I don't see how anyone can get depressed reading all this nonsense. :)

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Re: Admire him for speaking up


Sep 8, 2015, 11:37 AM

There are some who post here who are depressing......

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Great article. Pulling for you, Jay.***


Sep 8, 2015, 9:03 AM



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Lucky Johnson


Re: Great Story Jay, Tiger Nation Supports you!


Sep 8, 2015, 9:05 AM

Great story, thank you for sharing, like Mike Williams, we are concerned for Jay Guillermo the person, not the player! Respect you for speaking out and for persevering, lot's of respect for you young man and best of luck, hopefully your story will help others with similar battles!

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Re: that takes a fair set of stones to...


Sep 8, 2015, 9:12 AM

Open up and speak of that. I've been there mentally and can totally relate. Good on this young man..go tigers

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Re: New Story: Football, Life and Depression: Guillermo opens up


Sep 8, 2015, 9:25 AM

Praying for you, Jay!

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Takes tons of courage to say this. I admire the h*ll out of him***


Sep 8, 2015, 9:31 AM



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NO FARMERS NO FOOD


We like you every day, Jay.


Sep 8, 2015, 9:32 AM

Depression is everywhere. It is in my family as well. Thank you for opening up with this interview. You are an inspiration on the field and off. We know you are a great football player, but now you have the opportunity to be a great human being for life. Help everyone you can, buddy. If you are having those thoughts, please remember, there are a lot of others struggling that are needing your help. They need you here, Jay, so you can help them.

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Keep fighting Jay. You've already shown a lot of courage and


Sep 8, 2015, 9:56 AM

fight and your Clemson family is here, even from afar, to lift you up in thoughts and prayers. Stay strong!

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Re: New Story: Football, Life and Depression: Guillermo opens up


Sep 8, 2015, 10:37 AM

We're behind you Jay!

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Re: New Story: Football, Life and Depression: Guillermo opens up


Sep 8, 2015, 11:06 AM

This is going to be a long post. Do bear with me. I hope that you find it worth your time.

I have been depression's vivctim for most of my life, although for many years its corrosive work was hidden even from me--I was always lost in my own doubts, without knowing why, always seeking the approval of others to bolster my self esteem. Since 2006, and especially 2008, it has consumed my life, and exhausted me. I finally admitted that it's a very real disease and runs in my family. (My grandfather suffered with it, too.) It's not my fault that I suffer from it, although knowing so doesn't make losing years of life and seeing my family hurt feel better. I gave up on trying to hide the fact that my doctors at the university here are trying to find an effective antidepressant to replace the ones that have failed. And, I'm starting therapy to dig out whatever that is warping my thoughts and remains buried deep inside.

I admire this kid. Someone with depression often wishes, as William Styron wrote in the memoir of his first crushing bout with it, that he was confined to a hospital bed, wired up to monitors, being fed intravenous medicines. Such a patient would be universally regarded as sick. Depression will kill you just as dead as will any fatal cancer, but the threat is invisible or trivialized. True athletes are supposed to be resilient, to forget a loss and move on. For him to step up and say, "This is bigger than me. I'm not recovering on my own from a hurts that no one else sees," and to step out of line for his own safety, that is the act of a mature young man. And I thank God that Dabo and his staff were trained to recognize his problem or naturally smart enough to react properly. Some schools (Yale!) have been in the news lately because they have a policy of not automatically readmitting a student who leaves to get a mental illness treated, even after his doctors provide evidence it's under control. At least one of those denied kids killed himself. But Clemson held open his place, and so did the program, and so did Dabo. That's compassion and a little courage at work. It doesn't seem like much, but for a big public university with a high-profile football squad, it's a huge endorsement. I graduated in 1980, and I've seen the team go 11-1 under Fuller and Woody Hayes go berserk, in person. I was at UGA one of the two times we won at Sanford. I watched the 1982 Orange Bowl in Colorado in a hotel ballroom full of Nebraska alumni. But I've never been more proud of the Tigers.

This young man is going to need continuing support. He'll probably never be completely rid of his condition. It takes sympathy, because depression is incredibly cruel: it goes right at the part of you that fights back. He's got some battle left in him, and people who care about him enough to help heal his confidence. He's lucky to be at Clemson, and lucky his parents raised him to reach out, and that God gave him the strength. I'm sure he'll help his peers in need. That's the real blessing.

Brian Broadus '80
Charlottesville, Virginia
434 882 0867

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Kudos to Jay & T-Net. This story may well save lives.***


Sep 8, 2015, 12:01 PM



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Re: Kudos to Jay & T-Net. This story may well save lives.***


Sep 9, 2015, 10:05 AM

I hope it does!

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Thank you for writing this story. Mental illness is real.


Sep 8, 2015, 12:39 PM

My dad is bi-polar and it isn't just a matter of being in a bad mood. It's a chemical imbalance.

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Re: Thank you for writing this story. Mental illness is real.


Sep 8, 2015, 2:04 PM

I have a wife that has suffered from depression and today she has it under control. She has always been the most compassionate and kind person I have ever known. I would not trade her for a 20 something starlet that had millions in the bank. My wife, after 52 years, remains the jewel she was at 19.

I had depression for two days and it lifted to never return again. It was God's wake up call for me to do the heavy work of marriage as I was an idiot about depression. I was a football player that was given the gift of determination. I have been able, with God's help, to be the man He meant me to be.

That said, I am pleased to see this article about a young man that also has a gift of determination that was crippled by depression. Mental illness is indeed real and my prayers are with this young man and his family.

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"This is worth it all..."


Sep 8, 2015, 1:59 PM

Yes it is. Glad you made it back Jay, and props to you for opening up. Tiger Nation loves you, and not just on football Saturdays.

Great job last Saturday by the way, stepping in when Norton went down.

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"Dabo crushed my soul." --- Classof09


From someone that has delt with depression personally


Sep 8, 2015, 2:52 PM

it is a terrible thing. It wears on you more and more each day. The anxiety that goes along with depression is debilitating and little by little you fall further into darkness. It takes everything you have to finally be able to admit it to yourself and to someone else and seek help. No one that has ever experienced depression truly understands it. You may not have any one thing that is causing you to be depressed it is just there and anything short of seeking professional help is going to make it better. My friends would tell me all the time "what are you depressed about, your life is perfect", or "just suck it up and get over it". Depression is not something you can just wake up from one day and say ok I'm not going to be depressed anymore.

Very glad to hear that Jay was able to face his problem and was able to find the help he needed to get his life back on track. I would imagine that there would be no better more understanding coaches of a situation like this than Dabo and his staff and just another reason we are blessed to have a man like him as our head coach.

Here's hoping to your continued recovery Jay and that you have a great season! Go Tigers!

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Article really hit home. Depression is terrible.


Sep 8, 2015, 3:45 PM

Takes a strong man to talk publicly about depression. Kudos to Jay for 1) recognizing he needed help, 2) getting help and 3) to the Clemson family for helping him when he needed it.

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Prayers for you,Jay, and thanks for having the courage to


Sep 8, 2015, 2:54 PM

open up about this disease. Hopefully, anyone going through this will realize from your story that there is help to be found.

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A real man, right there!***


Sep 8, 2015, 3:07 AM



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Re: New Story: Football, Life and Depression: Guillermo opens up


Sep 8, 2015, 3:11 PM

Jay.

Thank you.

Personally had depression off and on for probably my whole life – and on the exterior it’s a charmed one. With the intensity I cheered for Grady Jarrett, I will cheer for you – can’t say it will be without bias.

Keep surronding yourself with good people and working on your mind-body and spirit.

College is an especially hard time for many and I can’t imagine having line up against Wilkins in the morning.

And thank you David.

JWMJ

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One of the best articles I've ever seen on T-net.


Sep 8, 2015, 8:32 PM

Thank you Joe.

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Re: New Story: Football, Life and Depression: Guillermo opens up


Sep 8, 2015, 8:40 PM

Best wishes!

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Thanks Jay. Thanks David.


Sep 8, 2015, 9:11 PM

Thank you to Jay for opening up. Thank you David for sharing Jay's journey so eloquently.

You both have helped people that needed to be reached. I am hopeful that there are those out there now willing to seek help for themselves after reading about Jay.

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Re: New Story: Football, Life and Depression: Guillermo opens up


Sep 8, 2015, 10:04 PM

Depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain. It can strike anyone. It requires professional help. There is only one end result if those with it do not get the right help. I believe that most do not seek help. It is a huge step for anyone to face it & seek counseling. I have known many who did not seek help. I have known only one who did - though he was forced to by a hospital. The good news is, after getting the proper help, he seems to have completely recovered & is not undergoing any treatment now. He still does not wish to talk about it. For Mr. Guillermo to both seek help & to be able to talk about it - well that's the best case scenario. I'm optimistic that he'll be OK.

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Glad you are back Jay and wish you great health and


Sep 8, 2015, 11:18 PM

success. Glad you are a Tiger.

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