Brandon Marshall, one of the newest Bears, has a tumultuous past. His talent and success on the field never gelled with his problems off the field. With every off-the-field incident, it seemed like Marshall was determined to sabotage his own success.
Last summer, he found out why. Marshall was diagnosed with borderline-personality syndrome.
He talked about how the diagnosis helped him understand his problems.
"The turmoil on and off the field really hit home with me," Marshall said at Friday's press conference "The foundation, Project Borderline, that's our mission ... to use my family's experiences to educate."
Marshall's BPD will also be the subject of a movie that's due to come out this spring.
He even thanked his therapist during Friday's press conference. His therapist, a leading researcher on BPD, talked to the Chicago Tribune about Marshall's openness about his diagnosis can make a difference.
"I very much admire him for what he's doing and wish him well,'" said Linehan, a therapist and researcher at the University of Washington who also has been diagnosed with BPD. "Brandon is such a good role model. It is powerful and wonderful he's doing it. The most important thing he's standing up and telling people, 'I can change, so can you.'"
Marshall has had many failings off the football field. He has been arrested more than once and made a slew of bad decisions. But one area he has not failed is his openness about mental illness. Marshall is showing mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of. For that alone, he deserves Chicago's support.
