Sepp Blatter, Diagnosis Amygdala

Sepp Blatter admitted to the hospital. Diagnosis: Amydala:

Sepp Blatter remains in a Swiss hospital after what his spokesman called a “small breakdown” related to stress.

The 79-year-old suspended FIFA president expects to leave the hospital next Monday, Zurich-based spokesman Klaus Stoehlker told The Associated Press on Wednesday…

On Friday, Blatter’s American lawyer told the AP that he was at a hospital. On Wednesday, long-time Blatter aide Walter Gagg told the AP “he was always at the hospital.”

Growing up I took all sorts of injuries, and only rarely went to the hospital. I probably skipped out on 30 or 40 stiches over the years, waited to see if a humeral fracture was just swelling, ignored a separated shoulder, got concussions, and only had to finally go in for the arm fracture. To go to a hospital is an unpleasant endeavor which requires a pretty nasty symptom. Skipping was always a relief.

I’d love to know what this guy’s symptoms are. My guess is they are serious and stroke like, based on my experience with other weak amygdalae. I get a kick out of the end, where the guy says, “he was always at the hospital.” With the FIFA corruption probe, I’ll bet the amygdala stress is never ending. Imagine what it must be like to be at the mercy of a brain you can’t control, which just periodically overloads, requiring hospitalization. It must be hell.

It is also a good example though, of how a life of ease can lead to neuroses. Imagine if suddenly he was being stalked by Hell’s Angels. No laws, no rules, just get a gun, and when they come you shoot at them and try to negotiate an exit. Nothing constraining your behavior like laws or other people’s opinions, just win or die.

Would he care about the FIFA bullshit? Probably not. He’d be too busy trying to focus on his next moves, and if he got past his initial terror and got a couple of successful shoot and scoots under his belt, I think he’d be less prone to overload.

Instead though, all he has to think about in his life are his reputation, and his life as President of the organization, and his money, and his life of ease – all of which he now has no control over. It occupies all of his mind. His amygdala focuses on it, replays it in his mind, worries about what might happen, rebels at his lack of control, and then freaks out over it and overloads.

All of that circuitry would be entirely shut down by a simple repel-the-horde scenario.

I hate rabbits, and can’t stand the neurotic bullshit, but I have to admit, they have a pretty rough ride of it too.