Dolphins WR Brandon Marshall Diagnosed With Borderline Personality Disorder

To say Dolphins WR Brandon Marshall has led a volatile life is an understatement his college career and early seasons in the NFL have been marked by incident after incident. Marshall started counseling in January of this year (this wasn’t his first attempt at therapy but he didn’t find much success) After a situation in April with his wife Michi Nogami-Marshall, that left Brandon in the hospital recovering from stab wounds — he admitted he trapped her in a closet to keep her from leaving — he knew he needed more intense treatment.

BPD is a mental illness that studies say is more common than schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but is rarely diagnosed because of misperceptions in the mental health community, and the challenges of providing a proper treatment plan.

Marshall underwent three types of treatment. He met on a daily basis with clinicians and fellow patients for at least four hours a day learning how to properly process his emotions. He’s discovering things like mindfulness, radical acceptance, distress tolerance, which comes naturally to most, but doesn’t to someone suffering from BPD.

“Anytime there’s conflict it’s a challenge,” Marshall said. “What I’m feeling or trying to get across is right, but I’m reacting wrong. My actions or what I’m saying is not effective or productive and it makes the situation worse.”

The disorder is marked by difficulties with relationships and self-image and controlling moods and emotions.

The charges against Marshall’s wife, Michi Nogami-Marshall, have been dropped. Nogami-Marshall has always maintained she acted in self defense. Both Brandon and Michi opted not to speak further with authorities after their initial statements. For his part, Brandon always maintained that he was cut by a vase.

I applaud the fact that he’s decided to open up about his mental health issues. This is often an area that’s overlooked but really has a factor in shaping some of the so called “problem” athletes. Proper diagnosis and therapy can help them learn to manage their emotions better to avoid the outbursts.

Oh, he also has a documentary coming out: