Fallout from Brad Delp's Suicide Continues

[Enigma869]

Sad story. Several of the original members of Boston grew up in the same town as I did and I had the pleasure of working on a business deal with Sib Hashian many years ago. Really sad that Delp's life had to end like this and that some just can't let it go. Shows the turmoil that the rock and roll lifestyle can cause in one's life.

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles ... e_turmoil/

[Saint John]

I read 2 fucking pages and now it's asking me to register or sign in to read the rest. John, you lazy prick, copy and paste the fucking thing! I'm tired of asshole's posting links!

[Enigma869]

When, suddenly, the sun was gone
Brad Delp’s voice defined the band Boston; his suicide left a void for bitterness and lawsuits to fill

In his basement, the gawky engineer fresh out of MIT painstakingly recorded layers of guitars, keyboards, and bass until he got it right. But it wasn’t until Tom Scholz, the stubborn perfectionist, met Brad Delp, the dark, complicated singer with the soaring voice, that those basement demos came alive.
They became Boston, a band that dominated the FM airwaves through the 1970s with hits such as “More Than A Feeling’’ and “Don’t Look Back.’’ Boston’s 1976 debut remains, at 17 million copies, the second biggest-selling in US rock history. It launched Scholz, Delp, and the band’s three other members into a world of sold-out arenas from California to Copenhagen. The sensation of their rise was matched by the bitterness of the breakup of the original five members, who last performed together in 1979. Scholz and the three other musicians, later cast from the band, have battled in the press, courts, and Internet ever since. And no part of the feud has been as ugly as the latest: the fight over who or what caused Brad Delp, the man in the middle, to take his life in 2007. Now a pair of defamation lawsuits, filed by Scholz in the wake of Delp’s suicide, have exposed new details about the bitter turmoil within the band that preceded Delp’s death. And they have led to revelations about the never-before-reported relationship problems that burdened Delp in the last year of his life. Scholz’s legal team is contending that Delp’s problems with his fiancee led to his demise, while his opponents point to the decades of dissension within the Boston family tree — a fracturing that deeply troubled Delp. A Globe examination of hundreds of pages of depositions, affidavits, e-mails, and other court filings linked to the lawsuits — one against Delp’s ex-wife, Micki, the other against the Boston Herald — provides a fascinating backstage view of a band that has sold more than 30 million albums over the years. The band’s history is particularly tangled because of marriages by members, with the dueling alliances they created, and because Scholz and Delp remained the only clear constants in an ever-changing group lineup. Even after Delp’s death, Boston continues on with Scholz, other musicians, and new singers. The cases have put attention back on the 1970s version of Boston, while also thrusting a group of lesser-known figures into the band’s saga, including Delp’s fiancee Pamela Sullivan and Richard Kilbashian, a sometime soundman for Delp’s Beatles tribute band, Beatlejuice. Their stories, along with those presented by others in testimony, provide a portrait of a deeply depressed man who, because of his own aversion to conflict, kept his true feelings from many who considered themselves closest to him.

Page 2 of 5 --

Brad Delp’s final year “There’s been an accident,’’ Kilbashian remembers Pamela Sullivan telling him on the phone. “Brad’s dead.’’ It was March 9, 2007. This was no accident, Kilbashian knew, growing hysterical. Brad Delp, 55, had killed himself. In the year leading to his death, Delp and Kilbashian had grown closer. The night of that phone call, Kilbashian was planning to go see Delp play a gig with Beatlejuice. The singer had never opened up much to his bandmates. But he trusted Kilbashian and reached out to him for help. Delp told Kilbashian that he had discovered his girlfriend, Sullivan, was having an affair after she mistakenly left a Gmail message open on their computer. Could Kilbashian, who had some technical savvy, help him track Sullivan’s correspondence? As the fall of 2006 turned to winter, Delp fixated on whether he could trust Sullivan. She was moving out of the house in Atkinson, N.H., he e-mailed Kilbashian, but then a few weeks later, they were making plans to get married. Delp’s mood shifted, sometimes daily. Then he was gone. For three years, Kilbashian kept what he knew to himself. He watched in dismay as a series of Boston Herald stories, based on an interview with Delp’s ex-wife, Micki, and material from unnamed sources, seemed to point the blame toward Scholz. It wasn’t until 2010, when Scholz filed a defamation suit against the Herald and its Inside Track columnists Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa, that Kilbashian hesitantly stepped forward. ‘Lost my desire to live’ Brad Delp was alone that Thursday night. His fiancee, after going out for drinks with friends, stayed over in the Exeter, N.H., apartment they had rented for her a few months earlier, when things were not going well. Sometime before or during the night of March 8 and afternoon of March 9, 2007, Delp wrote four notes — for his children, his ex-wife, Sullivan, and Sullivan’s sister — and sealed them in separate envelopes.
Delp hauled two hibachi grills into the bathroom, along with a photograph of Sullivan and a bottle of Sam Adams. He sealed the door with duct tape, lit the charcoal and rested his head on a pillow. That’s where he died. Sullivan found him on March 9. A note attached to Delp’s shirt contained a simple message: “Mr. Brad Delp. J’ai une ame solitaire. I am a lonely soul.’’ Another note, left on a bedroom door, warned of the carbon monoxide and alerted whomever discovered him to check on Floppy, their cat. “I take complete and sole responsibility for my present situation,’’ Delp wrote. “I have lost my desire to live.’’ On March 16, a week later, the Herald’s Inside Track writers quoted Micki Delp under the headline, “Pal’s snub made Delp do it: Boston rocker’s ex-wife speaks.’’ In the story, the Herald’s Fee and Raposa stated that Micki Delp, who was married to the Boston singer from 1980 to 1996, said her ex-husband was “upset over the lingering bad feelings from the ugly breakup of the band Boston over 20 years ago’’ and “driven to despair’’ by recent changes in the band, specifically that co-vocalist Fran Cosmo had been “disinvited’’ from an upcoming tour. It was, the Herald reported, “the last straw in a dysfunctional professional life that ultimately led to the frontman’s suicide, Delp’s ex-wife said.’’

Page 3 of 5 --

Similar statements followed in subsequent Herald stories. In addition, Micki Delp’s sister Connie Goudreau attacked Scholz on the Internet and e-mailed the Inside Track as a source, according to court filings. Goudreau is the wife of guitarist Barry Goudreau, one of the three former members from the band’s 1970s heyday. Delp was tangled in complicated loyalties: While he had stayed in the band with Scholz, he remained close and played music with Goudreau, bassist Fran Sheehan, and drummer Sib Hashian, all of whom had complained bitterly about Scholz, Boston’s mastermind, after leaving the band. Late in 2007, Scholz filed defamation lawsuits against Micki Delp and Connie Goudreau. He sued the Herald in 2010. Connie Goudreau has since settled her case, stating that Scholz had nothing to do with Delp’s suicide. But the Micki Delp and Herald cases are unresolved, and they have been consolidated in Suffolk Superior Court. In suing the newspaper, Scholz’s attorneys contend that Fee and Raposa published false and fabricated statements attributed to Micki Delp and unidentified sources, and that the Track writers disregarded warnings that Micki Delp had a personal vendetta against Scholz. In his testimony for the lawsuits against Micki Delp and the Herald, Scholz said the humiliation brought on by the Herald’s March 16 article made it hard for him to work on music, eat, or sleep. The accusations strained his new marriage. He stopped ice skating — the “one physical activity I routinely enjoyed’’ — and had to cancel vacations and fund-raisers because he wasn’t well enough to fly his single-engine plane. After the Herald items ran, “I felt like a disgrace and a hoax,’’ Scholz stated in a court filing. “I did not want to leave my house. I suddenly noticed people staring at me in an odd way and avoiding me altogether.’’ Relationships questioned Ultimately, a jury may be asked to decide what caused Delp to kill himself. That issue forms the crux of the cases. Micki Delp’s attorneys contend that her comments to the Herald are “non-actionable’’ opinion and that, because they are based on what she says her ex-husband told her over time, Scholz can’t prove that she doubted the truth of her statements. The Herald’s attorneys say that Micki Delp was accurately quoted. They have been building a case around testimony and documents from Micki Delp, friends of Brad Delp, and ex-Boston members Sheehan and Goudreau, who say the singer disliked Scholz and desperately wanted to quit the band but feared that Scholz would make his life miserable if he did. Meanwhile, Scholz’s attorneys argue that he had nothing to do with Delp’s depression and blame his state of mind on his up-and-down relationship with Sullivan. The principals in this suit — including Micki Delp, Scholz, the Boston Herald, Connie Goudreau, and Kilbashian — declined comment. But reams of testimony and filings examined by the Globe provide their voices.

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From the testimony, it appears Delp confided in fewer than a handful of friends about his problems with Sullivan. That tiny circle included Rick “Skillet’’ Kilbashian, who Delp first met in 1986 when Kilbashian was working as a tour manager. Kilbashian has testified that Delp’s suicide had “nothing to do’’ with Tom Scholz and that his problems with Sullivan consumed him. E-mails between Delp and Kilbashian underscore the singer’s struggle. “On the surface things are going OK but I’m getting a very strange vibe lately,’’ Delp wrote on Nov. 27, 2006, in a note with a subject line “I’m weakening.’’ “Unfortunately I think her Gmail account has the answers I need.’’ Delp wrote Kilbashian, in another note, that they were “at least publicly, committed to try and work things out.’’ But in the fall of 2006, he helped Sullivan move out to the Exeter apartment. Some days, Delp wrote, he felt hopeful. Other days, he fixated on how to install software that could covertly track her keystrokes — and thus her e-mails and online chats. Some friends said that Delp and Sullivan had patched up their problems and he was thrilled to be getting married; some e-mails between the two support this happier view. The friends also dismiss Kilbashian, saying he had little contact with Delp after the engagement. But Delp’s ex-fiancee Patricia Komor, in an affidavit, described a man who viewed his wedding with resignation, not joy. She said that when Delp proposed to Sullivan on Christmas Day 2006, he had called her to explain. “Brad told me that Pamela had raised the idea of marriage with him,’’ she stated. “Brad told me he was too old to be alone and that he was not going to find anyone else.’’ Emotions remain raw Pamela Sullivan does not like to follow the controversy closely. But she knows that she’s been sucked into it. On a recent evening, she agreed to an interview at the Hardcover restaurant in Danvers, near her work. Sullivan, 39, still wears her engagement ring. She speaks slowly and with pauses, sometimes needing a minute to compose herself, often removing her glasses to dab an errant tear. The legal fight, she said, does not make life easier. “I wish the entire thing would go away,’’ Sullivan said. “Everyone involved wishes it would go away.’’ She calls him Bradley and says she will always appreciate the six years they had together. Not that it was easy. Friends and family have described Delp as deeply depressed, a guy who could spend days holed up, alone, watching movies on his 73-inch TV screen. Sullivan confirmed Delp’s depressive personality, but said she did not want to go into details out of respect for him. Micki Delp, in her testimony, said Delp’s panic attacks led to their divorce and that he took an anti-anxiety medication, Xanax, daily.

Page 5 of 5 --

Sullivan said their problems predated her affair, which she termed as “brief,’’ and they had moved past their rough patch. Their wedding was planned for Aug. 18, 2007, an important date to Delp. On that day in 1966, he saw the Beatles play at Suffolk Downs. “We were working on what was wrong and eventually we had thrashed things out and agreed at that point whatever was wrong we could work on together,’’ said Sullivan, who later released e-mails to her from Delp, including one in the week before his suicide, in which he called her “love of my life.’’ In the days after Delp’s death, Tom Scholz and his wife, Kim, sent Sullivan a check for $5,000. After the March 16 Herald story ran, Sullivan left a message on Scholz’s answering machine referring to it as a “pack of lies.’’ “What happened to Bradley, it’s not Tom’s fault, it wasn’t the music industry’s fault, it was not my fault,’’ she said. “The responsibility for what happened and the reasons for what happened lie with Bradley. After the fact, people think they can piece together an answer or blame. I can’t understand that.’’ Boston’s pull on Delp Oddly enough, as Brad Delp’s depression grew deeper during 2006, there remained the distinct possibility that Boston’s most successful version might reunite. Tom Scholz and Barry Goudreau, once great friends, later courtroom opponents, started to talk for the first time in 25 years. But when Delp found out, he was upset, Goudreau said recently in an interview. “ ‘I can’t believe you’re buddying up with Tom when I’m trying to pull away from Tom,’ ’’ Goudreau remembered Delp telling him. “Brad had told me maybe 100 times over the years that he just wanted the Boston thing to end.’’ Yet Goudreau believes Scholz probably had no clue that Delp was unhappy. “That was Brad,’’ said Goudreau. “He was nonconfrontational to the extreme.’’ Later that year, the reconciliation collapsed. In an angry e-mail exchange, Goudreau told Scholz that Delp stayed with Scholz out of fear of being sued. In January 2007, Scholz wrote Delp. “I initially ignored [Goudreau’s e-mail], but then began to think, what if it was actually true and Brad wants nothing to do with me?’’ Scholz wrote. Three days later, Delp replied. “First, I would like to say that, of my many fears and phobias, ‘facing you in a lawsuit,’ would be far down on my list,’’ he wrote. He followed with an invitation that provided some insight into their relationship. “It occurs to me that, in the close to 40 years we’ve been working together, I don’t think I’ve ever invited you out for a beer. I’m thinking it might not be such a bad thing for you and I to get together and have a drink and a little conversation about life in general,’’ Delp wrote. “Nothing confrontational. I generally avoid confrontations of any kind like the plague.’’
As the cases proceed, Suffolk Superior Court Judge John C. Cratsley has not yet ruled whether they should go to a jury trial. Meanwhile, many of those Delp left behind reflect sadly on how the singer might view the situation. John Muzzy, a drummer who played in Beatlejuice with Delp, has been asked by both Micki Delp and Scholz to provide a deposition. He has declined. “Brad was such an incredibly private person,’’ said Muzzy. “I’ll tell you what, he would have been mortified about all of this.’’

Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com.
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.

[JohnH]

The suicide was a tragic loss. For me, it's removed the enjoyment I used to have listening to Boston. It was an innocent teenage feeling I would get, that's gone. I still enjoy jamming to those tunes and listening to them, but it's not the same and I don't think it ever will be. I still get that same feeling listening to Journey, Deep Purple or Van Halen, thank god.

[Saint John]

I've been awfully hard on Brad Delp in the past and this article cements my belief that he was a troubled and selfish soul. I don't care how severe your depression is. When you have people that love you, especially children, you battle and fight until something or someone other than yourself takes your life. He quit on his children, family and friends. I can't begin to imagine the amount of cowardice it must take to peacefully end your life knowing that your pain is going to be over, but that of your loved ones is just beginning. If that were my dad, I would have went and shit on his casket.

[SteveForever]

He wanted more than anything to stop the pain, but to also hurt the girlfriend beyond belief. Very sad, but very selfish.

[Andrew]

I've been awfully hard on Brad Delp in the past and this article cements my belief that he was a troubled and selfish soul. I don't care how severe your depression is. When you have people that love you, especially children, you battle and fight until something or someone other than yourself takes your life. He quit on his children, family and friends. I can't begin to imagine the amount of cowardice it must take to peacefully end your life knowing that your pain is going to be over, but that of your loved ones is just beginning. If that were my dad, I would have went and shit on his casket.

Fuck me SJ. I'm not going to war with you on this again, but you clearly pain yourself as completely ignorant in reagrds to depression and what it does to a person. You simply cannot comprehend that it alters your mind. It puts you in another reality altogether and selfish has NOTHING to do with it. Please don't ever let me hear you say that again. EVER.

People with depression - severe or not - can fight the urges of self harm, but that battle is not always winnable, nor is it something you can just cast aside. It goes when it is ready to go and sometimes that can last a lifetime. It comes and goes and he did NOT quit on anyone. Dude, I hate you saying that. Deporession takes control of your hormones, your mind, chemicals within your body.

If you want to discuss more, I'll happily do so via PM. Otherwise please don't comment on what you know little of.

[Enigma869]

Fuck me SJ. I'm not going to war with you on this again, but you clearly pain yourself as completely ignorant in reagrds to depression and what it does to a person. You simply cannot comprehend that it alters your mind. It puts you in another reality altogether and selfish has NOTHING to do with it. Please don't ever let me hear you say that again. EVER.

People with depression - severe or not - can fight the urges of self harm, but that battle is not always winnable, nor is it something you can just cast aside. It goes when it is ready to go and sometimes that can last a lifetime. It comes and goes and he did NOT quit on anyone. Dude, I hate you saying that. Deporession takes control of your hormones, your mind, chemicals within your body.

If you want to discuss more, I'll happily do so via PM. Otherwise please don't comment on what you know little of.

Spot on Drew. Dan is a good dude, but none of his over the top comments really surprise me. My life experience tells me that unless someone has been personally afflicted with depression or had someone very close to them afflicted with depression that they can never really wrap their head around what it all means. By very definition, a person who is clinically depressed (which Delp CLEARLY was) isn't someone who is having rational thoughts. Hindsight is a great thing to Monday Morning QB with, but not everyone has that luxury. In my opinion, raking a guy over the coals for taking his own life is a sad commentary on one's inability to have compassion for what is a very sad story. I'm not suggesting that it hasn't been horribly sad for the loved ones that Delp left behind, but give the poor bastard a break!

[Saint John]

I've been awfully hard on Brad Delp in the past and this article cements my belief that he was a troubled and selfish soul. I don't care how severe your depression is. When you have people that love you, especially children, you battle and fight until something or someone other than yourself takes your life. He quit on his children, family and friends. I can't begin to imagine the amount of cowardice it must take to peacefully end your life knowing that your pain is going to be over, but that of your loved ones is just beginning. If that were my dad, I would have went and shit on his casket.

Fuck me SJ. I'm not going to war with you on this again, but you clearly pain yourself as completely ignorant in reagrds to depression and what it does to a person. You simply cannot comprehend that it alters your mind. It puts you in another reality altogether and selfish has NOTHING to do with it. Please don't ever let me hear you say that again. EVER.

People with depression - severe or not - can fight the urges of self harm, but that battle is not always winnable, nor is it something you can just cast aside. It goes when it is ready to go and sometimes that can last a lifetime. It comes and goes and he did NOT quit on anyone. Dude, I hate you saying that. Deporession takes control of your hormones, your mind, chemicals within your body.

If you want to discuss more, I'll happily do so via PM. Otherwise please don't comment on what you know little of.

I have gone through some shit that you couldn't even fucking fathom, pal. Stuff that kept me holed up for almost 2 years and tore a big fucking part of my heart out, and it's never coming back. That said, I prayed, ran, worked out, cried, stayed up for days, drank, got high, broke shit, but I could NEVER imagine my mother standing over my casket. I would rather be sentenced to an eternity in hell than put her through that. So pardon the fuck out of me if I think this asshole was selfish and so are other people that can't hack "real life." Because to insinuate that these people were justified in their actions is telling me that I somehow did the wrong thing. I will never believe that his suicide was anything but a conscious choice to end his pain. Hell, his letters paint a picture of a guy having a rough go with things and admitting that he's tired of fighting. That's called quitting and, to me, it's selfish.

Edit: My contributions in this thread are over, per Andrew's request. But I had to have a say.

[Angel]

There are many different types of depression and not one person's experience is the same as someone else's. There are people that truly have a distorted reality and they can't see past the fact that they are suffering-they often even truly believe that everyone that loves them would be better off and happier without them. You were not wrong in the way you dealt with depression but you can't ever say that you understand what someone else went through. I could tell you that I have suffered with depression also but it wouldn't mean that I had any idea what your experience with depression was like. The theory that depression is just some weakness that people need to "buck up and get over" is what prevents people from getting proper treatment.


But, that's just my opinion and I'm just a Nurse notveryprettyface so what would I know????

[Andrew]

I have gone through some shit that you couldn't even fucking fathom, pal.

You might be surprised.

Stuff that kept me holed up for almost 2 years and tore a big fucking part of my heart out, and it's never coming back. That said, I prayed, ran, worked out, cried, stayed up for days, drank, got high, broke shit, but I could NEVER imagine my mother standing over my casket.

That suggests to me that you were pretty fucked up, agry, bitter and emotional (perfectly fair and normal and understandable), but perhaps not in the grips of depression.

End of story from me also.

[Saint John]

From a PH.D. and it makes perfect sense. It's a great read.

Depression Is Not An Illness

Contrary to the APA’s assertion, depression is not an illness. In fact, depression is an adaptive mechanism which has served the species well for millions of years. When things are going well in our lives, we feel good. This good feeling is nature’s way of telling us to keep doing what we’re doing. When our lives are not going well, we feel down or depressed. This is nature’s way of telling us to make some changes.

This is very similar to pain. Pain is a signal that tissue is being damaged and that urgent action is needed. For instance, if you touch a hot stove, the pain induces an immediate reaction to pull your hand away. Usually this is accomplished with minimal damage to the skin. Without pain, we would not respond as quickly to these kinds of situations, and we would incur a great deal more tissue damage than is actually the case.

Depression or despondency is not as acute a sensation as pain. It is more generalized and it signals – not imminent tissue damage – but problems of a more general nature. In order to feel good, the following seven factors must be present in our lives.

- good nutrition
- fresh air
- sunshine
- physical activity
- purposeful activity
- good relationships
- adequate and regular sleep*

*Sleep was added to this list on December 12, 2010 at the suggestion of Derek – see comment #31 below

When any of these factors are missing, or are present to only a slight degree, we begin to feel despondent or depressed. When many of these factors are missing to a large degree, we sink into despair. Over the years, I have worked with hundreds of people who were depressed. To all of these people – without exception – I could say, “If I were in your shoes, living the life you are living, I would be depressed too.”

Many of these individuals lived on a diet of soda pop, cigarettes, and salami sandwiches. Others drank enormous quantities of alcohol. Few ate vegetables regularly. Many stayed indoors almost all the time. Physical activity was almost always minimal. Purposeful activity – i.e. activity directed towards some kind of goal – was seldom present, and good honest, open relationships almost non-existent.

The point here is not to disparage or castigate people who are depressed, but rather to point out that depression is essentially and fundamentally a function of what we are doing – how we are living our lives. It is not an illness. It is the body’s natural feedback system. It is nature’s way of trying to induce in us some motivation to make changes in our lifestyle – to eat better; to abstain from toxic substances; to get out in the fresh air and sunshine; to identify goals and pursue them and to talk to friends and family honestly and openly about the things that trouble us. If we do these things consistently and regularly – if we integrate these things into our daily routines, then we will start to feel good. If we don’t do these things, we will feel depressed. Or as Peter Breggin, MD, puts it in Antidepressants Cause Suicide and Violence in Soldiers: “The principles for overcoming depression are exactly the same principles required for living a good and happy life.”

Everybody experiences an occasional down day. But we also know what to do about it – get out for a walk; start a project; talk to a friend or loved one, etc. Chronically depressed people, however, are individuals who have been neglecting these areas for years. They spend the vast majority of their lives indoors, watching television and eating snack food. They are often over-weight, have no goals other than the next TV show, and although they may have many acquaintances, they do not share their concerns and worries in an open and honest manner.

Of course, not all depressed people are deficient in all these areas. Some depressed people eat well, but never share their worries or concerns with anybody. Others share their worries, but have no purposeful activities. Others have purposeful and rewarding jobs, but never get outdoors and never engage in physical activity and so on.

To feel consistently good, we need to have all of these factors present in our lives to a substantial and significant degree. Nor is this such a daunting proposition. A person who eats moderately from the five main food groups; who controls his intake of sugar and alcohol; who doesn’t smoke; who has a job or hobby that provides challenges and a sense of fulfillment; who gets outdoors most days for exercise or even for a brisk walk; and who has at least one other person with whom he is open and honest, will feel generally positive. A person whose life is lacking in one or more of these areas will feel generally negative. This latter is not an illness – it is not an instance of something going wrong in our bodies. Rather it is an instance of something going right. Depression is a message from the organism calling for change. Induction of negative feelings is the only language the organism has to express the need to make changes.

Severe losses can, of course, precipitate depression even in otherwise very orderly and functional lives. Even when all seven factors are present to a substantial degree, the loss of a loved one will usually result in profound feelings of depression. Similarly, the loss of one’s career, health, home, etc., will generate some measure of depression regardless of previous lifestyle. People who have been living functional and productive lifestyles, as described above, however, will normally come to terms with the loss in a reasonable time frame. They will talk about the loss to the people in whom they confide; they will continue to eat well and to exercise, and will continue with the various purposeful activities they have always pursued. Gradually the sense of loss will recede and the ability to enjoy life will return. When it seems as if life is coming apart at the seams, it is our routines that save us – provided we have established good functional routines which incorporate the seven factors mentioned above.

However, for people whose lifestyles are deficient, or only marginal, in terms of the seven factors mentioned earlier, a major loss can put them “over the edge,” and they sink into a state of chronic long-term despondency. In this regard it is worth noting that all human lives are, sooner or later, touched by major tragic losses. What matters is: how equipped are we, in habits and lifestyle, to handle these losses. When a person goes to a mental health center and asks for help with depression, the first priority should be a detailed assessment of the person’s lifestyle, habits, relationships, history, etc., to determine the source of the depressive feelings. From this assessment, a remedial program should be developed and active support and assistance provided to the client in the implementation of this program.

In practice this almost never happens. The client who mentions depression is routinely shuffled off to the psychiatrist. He gets a prescription for an antidepressant and is told (falsely) that his depression is an illness like diabetes, and that he must take his pills in the same way that a diabetic must take insulin. If supportive or adjunctive therapy is provided at all, it usually takes the form of patronizing pats on the back or reminders to take the “medication.”

Despite decades of highly motivated research on the part of pharmaceutical companies and university departments funded by pharmaceutical companies, no evidence has ever been presented that depression is caused by a physical problem in the brain. Yet this assertion is routinely presented to clients and their families as justification for the drug prescription. Elliot Valenstein, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Michigan, having reviewed the various biological theories of depression, summarizes the results as follows in his book Blaming the Brain:

Although the often-repeated statement that antidepressants work by correcting the biochemical deficiency that is the cause of depression may be an effective promotional tack, it cannot be justified by the evidence.

The fact is that anti-depressants are mood-altering drugs (essentially in the same general category as alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines, etc.). All of these drugs have in common that they alter people’s moods. They make people feel better. That’s why people take them! But it doesn’t mean they are a good idea. There are two ways to get drugs in the United States. You can go to the street corner and buy them illegally; or you can go to a physician and tell him you are depressed, or anxious, or both. Either way, you’ll get something that will give you a temporary “fix” for whatever negative feelings are troubling you. But you will not get any real help with your problem.

In recent years many hospital and clinics have been offering free depression screenings. If you go in for one of these screenings, it’s obvious that you have been experiencing some depression, and the interviewer will quickly establish (through insultingly simplistic questionnaires) that, yes, you are indeed depressed, and that you would benefit from one of the many wonderful antidepressants currently available and wouldn’t you like an appointment to see our psychiatrist. These “free” screenings are almost invariably paid for by a pharmaceutical company. They are a form of marketing and have been a major factor in the promotion of psychotropic drugs. The hospital staff who participate in these charades are well-intentioned, but in fact are mere cogs in an enormous drug-marketing scheme.

The purpose of the DSM is to promote the false notion that depression is really an illness, and to legitimize the prescription of mood-altering drugs. The manual lists several different kinds of depression. Acute, severe depression is called Major Depressive Disorder. Persistent though less severe depression is called Dysthymia. Depression that comes and goes and is interspersed with periods of mild mania is called Cyclothymic Disorder. And so on. And, of course, if a client doesn’t meet the criteria for any of these – there’s always Depressive Disorder Not Otherwise Specified: a residual category to broaden the scope of the diagnostic net. In fairness to the APA, all of the several diagnoses require a fairly significant level of severity. In practice, however, the precise criteria are routinely ignored. In fact, most of the staff working in the mental health system have only a vague notion of the criteria. A client who says he’s depressed is assigned a diagnosis and is given anti-depressant drugs.

There are, of course, small numbers of mental health staff who although constrained by regulatory agencies to work within the DSM context, nevertheless ignore the implications of the sickness model and provide real help to their clients. These staff members are a very small minority and the vast majority of mental health workers embrace the DSM taxonomy wholeheartedly and believe unquestioningly in the ontological validity of the diagnostic categories.

[Andrew]

From a PH.D. and it makes perfect sense. It's a great read.

Sounds like a bunch of stating the obvious as far as anyone taking care of their lives. But sufferign from depression does not allow one to do that. They are lucky if they can function at all sometimes. A good read if you are cealr of mind, but clearly written by someone who has never lived thru it, or delt with it.

Let's move on.

[Angel]

This article looks more like an opinion and does not cite any research at all. I would be interested to know his qualifications, or his name, or where this was published. I think he may be slightly confused about which came first, the chicken or the egg? Sure, exercise, talking it out with a friend, hobbies, etc are great treatment for depression but that does not prove that it is not an illness. Many well designed studies have confirmed that depression is in fact an illness and requires treatment-the treatment may be as simple as diet and exercise changes or it may require therapy and medications.

[Angel]

From a PH.D. and it makes perfect sense. It's a great read.

Sounds like a bunch of stating the obvious as far as anyone taking care of their lives. But sufferign from depression does not allow one to do that. They are lucky if they can function at all sometimes. A good read if you are cealr of mind, but clearly written by someone who has never lived thru it, or delt with it.

Let's move on.

OK, Andrew, I'm sorry that that was funny!!!!!! (BTW, a good laugh is a great treatment for depression too!)

[Saint John]

Let's move on.

Agreed, boss.

[Andrew]

From a PH.D. and it makes perfect sense. It's a great read.

Sounds like a bunch of stating the obvious as far as anyone taking care of their lives. But sufferign from depression does not allow one to do that. They are lucky if they can function at all sometimes. A good read if you are cealr of mind, but clearly written by someone who has never lived thru it, or delt with it.

Let's move on.

OK, Andrew, I'm sorry that that was funny!!!!!! (BTW, a good laugh is a great treatment for depression too!)

opps...rushing...typos galore.

As for Dr. Quack, I might add that someone with depression doesn't NOT feel like getting off their ass and going for a 10 mile hike. WTF!

[slucero]

Just as every mans pecker length and every womans boob size is subjective, ... so is one's strength of character... and chemical makeup...

[Angel]

From a PH.D. and it makes perfect sense. It's a great read.

Sounds like a bunch of stating the obvious as far as anyone taking care of their lives. But sufferign from depression does not allow one to do that. They are lucky if they can function at all sometimes. A good read if you are cealr of mind, but clearly written by someone who has never lived thru it, or delt with it.

Let's move on.

OK, Andrew, I'm sorry that that was funny!!!!!! (BTW, a good laugh is a great treatment for depression too!)

opps...rushing...typos galore.

As for Dr. Quack, I might add that someone with depression doesn't NOT feel like getting off their ass and going for a 10 mile hike. WTF!

Yep! It's a downward spiral and often takes intervention to break the cycle.

[Marabelle]

I have to step in here for a moment; I was taken aback by the fact the man was taking Xanax. There are all kinds of medications which are anti-anxiety, why he would be placed on something so addictive seems a puzzle to me. It can be a good drug if used properly but if not...it can cause havoc in your life.

[chynablue]

I have to say...this thread has given me a lot to think about. Sad about the Brad Delp story, but thanks to Andrew & St. John for bringing out some deep insights to ponder.

[verslibre]

I'm just a Nurse notveryprettyface

You're turning me on. XOXO

[No Surprize]

Sad indeed. Boston was a great band, "More than a feeling" a top 5 song in my book. To bad this band couldn't put aside differences for the greater good.

[Andrew]

I have to say...this thread has given me a lot to think about. Sad about the Brad Delp story, but thanks to Andrew & St. John for bringing out some deep insights to ponder.

Cheers Eric. An important subject without doubt.

[conversationpc]

I have personal experience dealing with depression and while I've never experienced depression myself, I know what it can do to a person. While I agree with Andrew that folks who experience clinical depression aren't able to think clearly, I also think the person who suffers from depression, like Delp, also still have a choice to make in regards to suicide. He didn't have to do it. He could've chosen otherwise. That being said, I don't consider him a coward but I also wouldn't pass judgment on those close to him who might be angry that he decided to leave them behind.

[Ehwmatt]

I've been awfully hard on Brad Delp in the past and this article cements my belief that he was a troubled and selfish soul. I don't care how severe your depression is. When you have people that love you, especially children, you battle and fight until something or someone other than yourself takes your life. He quit on his children, family and friends. I can't begin to imagine the amount of cowardice it must take to peacefully end your life knowing that your pain is going to be over, but that of your loved ones is just beginning. If that were my dad, I would have went and shit on his casket.

Fuck me SJ. I'm not going to war with you on this again, but you clearly pain yourself as completely ignorant in reagrds to depression and what it does to a person. You simply cannot comprehend that it alters your mind. It puts you in another reality altogether and selfish has NOTHING to do with it. Please don't ever let me hear you say that again. EVER.

People with depression - severe or not - can fight the urges of self harm, but that battle is not always winnable, nor is it something you can just cast aside. It goes when it is ready to go and sometimes that can last a lifetime. It comes and goes and he did NOT quit on anyone. Dude, I hate you saying that. Deporession takes control of your hormones, your mind, chemicals within your body.

If you want to discuss more, I'll happily do so via PM. Otherwise please don't comment on what you know little of.

I have gone through some shit that you couldn't even fucking fathom, pal. Stuff that kept me holed up for almost 2 years and tore a big fucking part of my heart out, and it's never coming back. That said, I prayed, ran, worked out, cried, stayed up for days, drank, got high, broke shit, but I could NEVER imagine my mother standing over my casket. I would rather be sentenced to an eternity in hell than put her through that. So pardon the fuck out of me if I think this asshole was selfish and so are other people that can't hack "real life." Because to insinuate that these people were justified in their actions is telling me that I somehow did the wrong thing. I will never believe that his suicide was anything but a conscious choice to end his pain. Hell, his letters paint a picture of a guy having a rough go with things and admitting that he's tired of fighting. That's called quitting and, to me, it's selfish.

Edit: My contributions in this thread are over, per Andrew's request. But I had to have a say.

Sorry man, but I'm with you. I just cannot countenance these chemical imbalance stories and all that bullshit.

The ONE possibility I would consider is the ability to do something like this when you don't have a solid family support network around you. Most people go through horrific lows at some point in their lives - even many of the most charmed and privileged celebrities do.

I've got far worse things going on with some members of my own family. And I can assure you that the individuals struggling with those issues will never, EVER consider suicide. That person is now afflicted with a crippling autoimmune disease that is ravaging her joints, her energy, and her will (and has also been severely mentally ill for 30 years), and her husband has had a rough go with jobs. Speaking frankly, life is not enjoyable in the least for her right now, and probably never will be (she's not even 50 yet). But, she would never once consider doing something this selfish, even though she has a diagnosed mental illness. Suffice to say, she would KILL to just have the energy and ability to sit UPRIGHT and "watch movies all day on a 73-inch screen" as Delp did during the throes of his depression.

Reading this story, I saw a guy who never learned how to live in the real world. He couldn't deal with relationships ending and moving on and he couldn't deal with the "fight" that is life. As you said, he admits as much in his troubled letters. Furthermore, he "hated confrontation." Well, I got news for you pal: We all need to deal with confrontation, and sometimes, be the instigator of confrontation in our lives if we want to function out in the world. Maybe it's because he made his living as a rock star, particularly when Scholz handled all the business dealings. Maybe it's a personality defect. Whatever the case, the guy simply lacked the tools, experience, and fortitude to deal with living.

It's a shame we lost a great voice, and I feel lucky to have seen him twice with Boston. But, I just cannot respect what he did, and reading more about it just makes Boston music lose some of its once substantial luster to me.

[steveo777]

This is a thread that I didn't need to read, but somehow did. It kind of tarnishes Boston for me. Other than that, I'm not going to get into the debate about whether depression is real or not, but I wish this article had not come up and let people rest and live in peace.

[Moon Beam]

[Tito]

stayed up for days, drank, got high, broke shit

You were depressed in college?

[Tito]

From a PH.D. and it makes perfect sense. It's a great read.

Sounds like a bunch of stating the obvious as far as anyone taking care of their lives. But sufferign from depression does not allow one to do that. They are lucky if they can function at all sometimes. A good read if you are cealr of mind, but clearly written by someone who has never lived thru it, or delt with it.

Let's move on.

Unlike Delp who replied. “First, I would like to say that, of my many fears and phobias, ‘facing you (Scholtz) in a lawsuit,’ would be far down on my list.’’ Apparently, it's near the top of yours, huh.