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-things completely out of character.

Just curious - how many of these do we have to hear before something goes from being “out of character” to being “in character”? I thought stupid is as stupid does. No?

As a person who was, as a child, diagnosed with cyclothymia (a milder form of bipolar disorder which has been completely managed with a huge amount of exercise and no drugs), I can tell you that when manic-depressives have an "episode" they say things that, in times of sanity, they do not agree with or hold as true.

The best way normal people can understand this behavior is to remember back to the throes of adolescence when, in a fit of anger, we might have screamed at a parent those famous words "I hate you."

We didn't hate them at all...but when overrun by emotions and hormones, we said things we didn't mean.

Adolescents who experience this are so angry and frustrated with surging hormones and powerful emotions that their limbic systems simply overpower their cerebral cortex (and hence irrational emotion overpowers rational thought).

Take a grownup having a bipolar episode (they're quite similar to the adolescent fits) and add a large dollop of alcohol...and you get Mel Gibson.

I am in no way excusing what he did...he might have even killed someone, even himself.

What I am saying is that he needs to take responsibility for his actions and get immediate help. I can assure you he has been warned of this (by the police, his doctor, and family members).