James Wade has revealed his darts game in the first half of 2024 has been affected by a health scare and his Bipolar disorder.
The 41-year-old, a multiple major winner on the PDC circuit, including the 2009 Premier League, 2007 World Matchplay, and UK Open in 2008, 2011 and 2021, was diagnosed with mental health condition Bipolar in 2009 and has learned to manage the symptoms.
However, he has struggled with that and an additional health issue of late and won just 11 matches so far this year following his early exit at last weekend’s Dutch Darts Championship.
Wade, an ambassador for Bipolar UK, told the PA News agency: “In the last four months I have been up and down with my moods and very chaotic at times. I think I am still there on the chaotic side but my moods seem to have levelled off a bit.
“I’ve had a tough kind of four months, but that’s part of it. And I’m lucky enough now to know how to make the best of it when I’m like that.
Wade: I have been catastrophising for months
“I haven’t done anything silly, not upset anyone too much. And I’ve done all right. I’m quite proud of myself actually. Because for the last four months, I’ve been feeling pretty low, I would say. I haven’t had that killer bit in me, that desire.
“It was a health reason, I thought I had something and I didn’t get checked and recently I did get checked and I’m all right, so that’s all good.
“I kept it to myself, being silly like men are and I didn’t think to get checked for probably two months. Then I told my wife about it and then obviously, she held my hand and booked me an appointment with the specialist.
“I’ve been catastrophising for the last four months over that until about two weeks ago and that has affected my other bits and bobs around me, definitely.”
‘Cars and fishing help me manage condition’
Wade’s love of buying and restoring old cars has helped him manage his condition.
The four-time PDC World Championship semi-finalist added: “Cars really do take my mind away from it, even though I’ve obsessed with that at the time. It’s one of my escapes, that and fishing are probably the two things that take my mind off things.
“Sadly, I haven’t got a decent car at the moment. I haven’t got anything that floats my boat or anything exciting.
“I’m not even going to admit to what car I have got because any car fans out there would think I’m not one if I told you what car I’d got.
“I actually mentioned I’d like a new motorbike recently to my wife and she said, ‘I think you should need to win some prize money before you think about spending any money on a motorbike’.
“That hurt didn’t it?”
Bipolar UK offers support to anyone affected by Bipolar with their free UK-wide services – peer support line, peer support groups and eCommunity – and resources, including their Could it be Bipolar? information and Mood Tracker app.
