Paul Gascoigne

On the recent documentary aired on the Channel 4 – ‘Saving Gazza’, Paul Gascoigne’s 12 year old son was asked what he thought was wrong with his dad. “Everything” was the reply. The lad should definitely consider clinical psychology as a career. This link to a previous documentary – ‘Surviving Gazza‘ – has some video clips. These were filmed prior to the documentary ‘Saving Gazza.’
Whether or not Paul Gascoigne (the former England footballer) has a formal psychiatric diagnosis is an arguable point, but probably not one worth arguing. However you label the poor guy, he appears to be very ill indeed and possibly beyond recovery.
According to some sources he has suffered at various times from ‘manic depression’ (also known as bipolar disorder), paranoia, bulimia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a mild form of Tourette’s syndrome.

Certainly on his wedding video there were facial twitches and grimaces suggestive of Tourette’s. His need to count things and only be comfortable with certain combinations of numbers is indicative of OCD. He seemed to have a distorted body image in keeping with someone who may have an eating disorder. And he displayed some frankly paranoid delusions about persecution and being followed. Maybe he does have a bit of everything. Tragically, it seems that he is self-medicating primarily with alcohol as a way of coping with his many demons. Not at all what the doctor ordered.