Wrestling With Mental Health

June 25, 2007. “The Day The Music Died” for the professional wrestling business and its fans.  It was not the day that the business died, but the day that it was altered forever, our own personal “9/11″. It was also not the day that the crisis started whereas much like “9/11″, there were many preceding factors that could later be viewed as antecedents.

On that day, the bodies of professional wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy and their seven-year-old son Daniel were found dead in their family home. It was learned that this was the result of a double murder-suicide in which Chris Benoit killed his wife, killed his child and then killed himself. And to this day, we are all still trying to fathom how this could have happened.

Almost immediately, the search for an answer began. For some, this was a search to determine who was responsible, whether it was an individual, a company, a segment of society or just the business itself. For others, there was an attempt to understand what had happened. Some attempted to do both. It appears that noone has fully succeeded at any of the three to this day.

I do not know that I can succeed either, but I do feel I am in a position to add to the discourse and discussion on the topic of Chris Benoit and of mental health within professional wrestling.

On an educational basis, I completed my Bachelor of Arts degree with a Major in Psychology in 1996. I completed my Bachelor of Social Work degree with honors in 2002. And I have just recently completed my Masters of Social Work degree, with the convocation forthcoming.

On a professional and experiential basis, I have been working in the helping field and/or in the area of social work in some capacity since 1996. This has included extensive work in child protection, in working with people with developmental disabilities, and in working in mental health both on a crisis intervention basis and on a counseling basis. Area of relevance that I have intervened in throughout my career have included child abuse, mental health, substance abuse, domestic violence, as well as numerous other issues.

On a personal level, I have been as avid a fan of professional wrestling as is possible since 1986, when I was eleven years old. This has included moments of joy in watching my favorite form and/or genre of entertainment. It has also included moments of confusion, anger, sadness and personal conflict in observing the difficulties that individuals within wrestling have experienced over time. These difficulties have been broad in scope up to and including death.

It seem to be natural to seek out someone to blame and to provide criticisms rather than solutions. I feel it is important to provide examination, assessment, analysis and recommendations in order to gain new ground in the understanding of mental health within professional wrestling.

Within this venture, I will attempt to do so through the use of empirical literature and research, reflection, and mental health formulation. I will be incorporating elements of biopsychosocial assessment in doing so. By this, I mean that the topics at hand will be considered from a global perspective with consideration of biological factors, psychological factors and social factors and their influence upon the topic. While this will be the approach will be used, I should note that I have made no arrangements to interview anyone within the professional wrestling business as of this time. Therefore, it would typically be more accurate to consider my ventures to be analysis of concepts and theory rather than direct assessment of individuals and groups. Best efforts will be made to provide treatment and practice recommendations where appropriate.

I am not of the impression that I will solve everything. I am merely setting a goal of contributing to discourse. Hopefully this is a venture in which I will have a degree of progress and success and this website can grow in quality and scope as I do so. I welcome any feedback, which can be sent to my email address at wrestlingwmh@hotmail.com. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Sincerely,

Dave Musgrave