On the Couch : By Dr. Richard Lustberg

An Analysis of Current Topics and Issues in Sport
April 2, 2001

Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden

Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry will forever be linked in the minds of many sports fans. Those early years with the Mets were a heady experience when it seemed that these two athletes, with such limitless potential would carry the team on an endless wave of success that would provide fans with many euphoric experiences. Ultimately this proved not to be the case as both players fell victim to drug abuse and life.

Now both are similarly linked in another chapter of their lives, this one being the adjustment to life after baseball. Gooden has retired and is expected to find employment with the Yankees and Strawberry is on the run from the law, a broken man.

As usual, there have been and will be a slew of predictable media stories about both players. No doubt the search for Strawberry will bring about opinions of his behaviors past and present. Clearly it appears to me that Strawberry's predicament seems pitiful and precarious at this moment, as he faces a recurrence of colon cancer, drug addiction, and financial and personal woes.

Strawberry like all others in his position, deserve both sympathy and empathy. Empathy is the more difficult of the two, because it involves internalizing his pain as well as understanding his problems. Something many are finding it hard pressed to do.

Make no mistake about it, this is a man under tremendous pressure, who has shown poor judgment even in the best of times. Thus his behaviors should not be viewed as a surprise, but as predictable given his past actions.

Once again he has simply shown a proclivity to choose a faulty coping mechanism, which in essence are what drugs, indiscriminate sex, and poor choices are about. Whoever said that all athletes ever had great emotional intelligence or judgment? They are no different than the rest of us, when it comes to dealing with life's problems.

While all people experience and react differently to the problems they face, it is not unreasonable to expect Strawberry to be a very frightened, confused, defeated, and depressed man. He has made numerous attempts to kick his drug habit and has been unsuccessful. From all reports he does not have a great deal of money. He thought he had beaten cancer, and it returned. The treatment, chemotherapy is not a game. Its potential emotional and physical side effects are often very harsh, and they do not discriminate.

Life is all about experiences and one's perspective and Strawberry is getting a harsh dose of reality, enough to try anyone's perspective. We can only imagine the feelings of disillusionment and defeat regarding his inability to deal with his problems; particularly when one takes into account his achievements as a baseball star who was endowed with extraordinary skills.

The baseball field was a relatively safe haven for Strawberry, although granted he did have many detractors among his peers and the media. It was only when he stepped off the field that he had truly real problems. In this context it is easy to see why (besides the need for money) that he would be so desperate to return.

But all this is not really about baseball, this is about life; and Strawberry is having one tough time with it.

Although Strawberry's situation seems to be more precarious at the moment both medically and psychologically, there should be no rush to judgment about Gooden's future despite all the pronouncements of his personable character and his well-intentioned behaviors. Gooden has always been well liked by all he encountered. This will have nothing to do with how he fares after baseball.

Research and common sense suggest that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Gooden like Strawberry has had his share of problems both on and off the field. Adjustment to retirement is a risky proposition for many, and certainly difficult for an ex-athlete with a drug history.

Gooden is fortunate to have a wife and family who have stood by his side and who love him. He is certainly lucky to have George Steinbrenner and the Yankee organization looking after his interests. In addition, he is going to continue to need all the supports he has had in place as he attempts to continue his recovery. These supports include continued drug counseling and the friendship of his peers. Hopefully, Gooden will be one of the few to beat the odds.

Both Gooden and Strawberry both have had suicidal ideations and plans. This past history makes it all the more probable that Strawberry is at potential risk for just this kind of action. No amount of money, fame and adulation is going to help him now. Given his track record, and his current problems, his situation certainly looks bleak.

Drug addiction is one of the most difficult problems to overcome. Despite advances in understanding the root biological and sociological predispositions to this problem as well as the body's response to drugs, the long-term cure rate remains relatively low. Most estimates remain below thirty percent. Simply put more than seven out of ten do not succeed in kicking the habit. It is a brutal affliction and a life long battle. Research also suggests that people with recurrent colon cancer have a small chance of remission as well.

The media and many fans sit in harsh judgment of two athletes who were potential Hall of Famers. But in actuality the focus must be on Gooden's tenuous struggle to continue to overcome drug addiction and on the tremendous burden Strawberry carries. The media might adopt a policy of "compassionate kindness".

It is overwhelming to cope with a potentially terminal disease much less to also attempt to overcome drug addiction at the same time. As a human being one can only try to walk in Strawberry's shoes and care. For the next time we hear about Darryl Strawberry it just might be in the form of a eulogy.

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For more about Dwight Gooden and Daryl Strawberry read Dr. Lustberg's previous article entitled Athletes and Addiction.