I think my left eyeball is swollen.

…

That is all.

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Topic #180: Are you too lazy or too busy?

As you can probably tell from everything I’ve been doing lately, I’ve been too busy.

Even when I’m not on a tight schedule, if I feel as if I am slowly approaching a level of laziness, I usually find something that I can do (and there always is something that I can do). For example, I could easily flip open my laptop and write a new article for my website or go to the library and find a book to read. So, overall, I don’t think I ever reach a point when I’m too lazy.

My Homework for Your Reading Pleasure

In my abnormal psychology class, we do homework assignments called “The Doctor Is In” where we take the role of a clinical psychologist and apply our abnormal psychology knowledge to real-life events.

This week’s assignment was on the topic of mood disorders and suicide. The prompt was to write a summary about a suicide case that you know of (could be personal or of a celebrity), and find out if any mental disorders had underlying roles in causing the suicide.

Being a WWE fan, I instantly decided to write about Chris Benoit. My paper is included below for your reading pleasure.

Chris Benoit was a professional wrestler best known for his time at World Wrestling Entertainment. He performed a double murder and committed suicide days before he was scripted to become the ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling, a division within the WWE) Champion.

On June 22, 2007, he killed his wife Nancy Benoit at home in an office. Autopsies showed that she was killed after Benoit pressed a knee into her back and pulled a cord around her neck, strangling her. They also found Xanax (also known as Alprazolam, normally used to treat severe anxiety disorders) and hydrocodone and hydromorphine (both narcotic analgesics and antitussives, commonly used as morphine substitutes) in her body.

On the following day, June 23, 2007, Benoit called co-worker and fellow professional wrestler Chavo Guerrero to let him know that he had overslept and missed his flight, and would be late for the upcoming show in Beaumont, Texas. Guerrero noticed that Benoit sounded stressed and tired; Benoit justified his tone by saying that he was having a tough day with his wife and son suffering from a bout of food poisoning, vomiting blood, and having to go to the hospital.

On June 24, 2007, Benoit used both his and his wife’s cell phones to send out a total of five text messages, with recipients including Chavo Guerrero and WWE referee and official Scott Armstrong. Four of the texts indicated their physical address in Fayetteville, Georgia, while the remaining text message informed the recipient that the family’s dogs were safely enclosed in a pool area and the side garage door was open.

Later that day, Benoit killed his son by sedating him with Xanax and suffocating him to death in his bedroom. Then, Benoit hung himself by creating a noose using the cord of a weight machine and committed suicide.

On June 25, 2007, Guerrero and Armstrong informed WWE of the text messages they received, who in turn alerted the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department and asked them to do a wellness check on Benoit at the noted physical address. This is when authorities discovered the three dead bodies inside Benoit’s place of residence.

After it was discovered than Benoit had died, many people, including the WWE, mourned his death and aired a Benoit tribute instead of their normal scheduled broadcasting. The WWE soon started distancing itself from Benoit after details of the murders and his suicide were discovered and released. They removed all mention of him from all television broadcasting and videos on their website, and removed his merchandise from the WWE Shop.

There were three main speculative theories about the motives of the double murder and suicide. The first involved conflicts between Benoit and his wife, as his wife had filed for divorce five years earlier but withdrew a few months after the initial filing. It was also found that they had gone through recent arguments about Benoit possibly having an affair with a WWE Diva (a female performer) and a life insurance plan. The second involved an accusation of drug use that stemmed from Benoit’s history of illegal steroid usage back in February 2006. However, Benoit was undergoing treatment for his previous steroid use and was prescribed artificial testosterone to make up for the damage it had caused, which justified the higher-than-normal levels of testosterone found in his toxicology report.

The third and most convincing motive for his actions was the fact that Benoit was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy. CTE is characterized by the degeneration of the brain as a result of repeated, untreated concussions. It is highly likely that this is applicable to Benoit because, according to fellow professional wrestler Christopher Nowinski, Benoit was one of very few people who was willing to take steel chair shots to the head during performances. Furthermore, according to the conclusive report from a brain analysis conducted by Sports Legacy Institute’s neurosurgeon Julian Bailes, “Benoit’s brain was so severely damaged [that] it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient.” It also “showed an advanced form of dementia that appears on the brain scan as brown clumps or tangles. … In Benoit’s case, the damage was found in every section of the brain – all four lobes and deep into the brain stem.”

The known symptoms of CTE are memory and other cognitive ability loss, behavioral problems including aggression and confusion, and depression. Other individuals known to have CTE showed characteristics of deep depression and harming themselves and others. Benoit’s father suggested that it was highly likely that brain damage suffered while working for the WWE was the cause of his uncharacteristic actions, but the WWE dismissed the idea as speculative and refused to take responsibility.

Benoit’s double murder and suicide gives us some insightful information about the nature of brutal contact sports like professional wrestling. Because of his work, Benoit was more prone to receiving brain damage that ultimately led him to make choices he otherwise would not have made. On top of that, even though he was not able to think straight, he still sent out subtle requests for help and left sufficient information for authorities to find out what had happened, emphasizing the importance of acting quickly on all signs of potential suicide or other suspicious activity. Had Guerrero or Armstrong alerted the WWE and the authorities immediately after receiving the text messages rather than waiting the next day, it is possible that Benoit would have been found before he was able to commit suicide, and possibly even before he killed his son.

The death of Benoit is a wake-up call to all sports performers who put their work before their own health. Even though Benoit may have been seen as a brave individual willing to go to lengths other wrestlers would never go, the trade-off for his recognition was an incident that ended both his career and his life.