Update on DJ AM - Survivor's Guilt and PTSD

RIP, DJ AM

Travis Barker from Blink 182

Just a quick follow-up on the death last week of DJ AM. I don't think anyone can know what was going on in his head when he relapsed, and ultimately died from what seems to be an overdose of crack cocaine and pain meds.

via MSN.com

"After living through the terrible ordeal of the plane crash that took the lives of four of his friends in September 2008, Adam Goldstein, or DJ AM, suffered from Survivor Guilt. Although he and friend Travis Barker from Blink 182 managed to get out of the plane, they received severe burns. Despite being alive, DJ AM could not shake the feelings of sorrow for the fate of his friends that perished on the plane.

In an email that was sent last October, shortly after the crash, DJ AM expressed his feelings of guilt that he survived while others did not. The recipient of the email shared it with Radar. Here is a sample of what DJ AM said: "I had no idea of how the survivors guilt could have felt. I'm a mess though man. I just hope time will fix this depressed feeling asap. I can't go on being this miserable." Survivor guilt is a mental condition in which a person perceives himself to have done wrong by surviving a traumatic event. It may also be described as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

This event makes me wonder if DJ AM had actually taken care of his mental health after surviving the plane crash last year (with Blink 182's Travis Barker). I would guess he didn't. Survivor's guilt is a real condition and is accompanied by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I certainly hope Travis is involved in some sort of intensive psychotherapy at this point, even though he's on tour. This is just another blow to a fragile psyche (of a musician going through a nasty and public divorce, no less). We really don't need or want to hear any more bad news...

Travis? Please take care of yourself.