Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen: ‘It’s true I am bipolar’

In his first public comments since he was taken by ambulance for mental health treatment on Nov. 24, Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen announced on social media that he has been living with bipolar disorder.

"It's true I am bipolar," he wrote on Instagram. "I will embrace it and I will be an advocate for mental health. I been running from it a long time. I'm not ashamed of it anymore."

A post shared by Everson Griffen (@eversongriffen)

Griffen wrote his struggles with bipolar disorder started when his mother, Sabrina Scott, died unexpectedly while visiting him in the Twin Cities in October 2012.

"Went into a dark place, thought I was great for many years," he wrote. "I promise this time I will do everything the experts say. I love my family and I miss my friends. Thank you for all the love and support, but most of all thank you for all the prayers."

The 33-year-old is currently on the non-football illness list while he receives mental health treatment, after an impasse with police where he refused to come out of his home for several hours. Griffen called 911 shortly after 3 a.m. from his Minnetrista home on Nov. 24, saying someone was with him and that he needed help from law enforcement. He also told the dispatcher that he fired one round but nobody was wounded, police said; they added no intruder was found.

The same day, Griffen had posted, then deleted, a video on Instagram saying people were trying to kill him as he held a gun in his hand.

He was alone inside the house, with police outside, until he emerged willingly and agreed to be taken for treatment. Vikings mental health professionals assisted for several hours.

Griffen also spent four weeks undergoing mental health treatment in 2018 after two incidents that September — one at the Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis, the other at his home in Minnetrista — prompted police involvement. He later revealed he lived in a sober house for the remainder of the 2018 season. Griffen returned to play 17 of the Vikings' 18 regular-season and postseason games in 2019; he spent 2020 with Dallas and Detroit, and he has posted five sacks this season after the Vikings brought him back on a one-year deal in August.

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