Maybe Dunn needs a dose of Dr. Phil

So many people have been in Adam Dunn's head, yet there has been no mention of the person with a license to go there.

As far as we know, White Sox' manager Ozzie Guillen has been talking with Dunn. General manager Kenny Williams has been. Hitting coach Greg Walker has been. Comiskey Park fans have been. The media have been.

It's remarkable that they found room for them with everything else clattering around between Dunn's ears.

None of them has helped so far anyway. Dunn is barely hitting my weight, much less his, and has struck out 100 times faster than you can howl, “You're out!”

Dunn at the plate looks like somebody with a herniated head, boggled brain and mangled mind.

Sox' fans express their displeasure at this poor ($56 million over four years), little (6-foot-6, 285-pound) slugger after every strikeout.

They must know Dunn is too pathetic to harass any more, so maybe the boos are for Guillen inserting him in the lineup, which he has to do, or for Williams acquiring him in the first place, which sure did seem like a good idea at the time.

I'm not inclined to feel sorry for overpaid, underachieving athletes. However, this Dunn thing has a different feel to it.

For one thing, he always has been known as one of baseball's good guys. For another, he's going so badly that it's verging on cruelty to add to his torment.

As Dunn struck out four times Sunday, I started thinking that the Sox would send him to famed orthopedic surgeon James Andrews if the problem were an ankle, knee or shoulder injury.

But Dunn's pain looks more mental than physical now, so why not send him to a psychiatrist's couch? Couldn't the Sox put him on the disabled list with an acute case of mental mess?

Monday, on yardbarker.com via ussportspages.com, there was a story about Celtics' forward Glen Davis, ironically known as “Big Baby” as opposed to Dunn being known as “Big Donkey.”

“I hired a sports psychologist,” Davis said when asked how he's dealing with his own issues. “As far as you miss a shot, you don't worry about that ... Let it pass like a cloud. Clouds pass by you all the time and you don't worry about it and you've just got to keep going.”

Sounds simple but maybe Dunn needs a professional to install that mindset in him, because it sure looks like his previous cloud is leading to a storm of strikeouts.

No psychiatrist or psychologist is listed under “Major League Medical Staff” in the Sox' media guide.

Let's see, there are five team physicians, a team ophthalmologist, a team optometrist and a team podiatrist ... but no psychiatrist or psychologist.

The Cubs' media guide lists a physician, orthopedist, orthopedic consultant and nutritional consultant ... but no psychiatrist or psychologist.

A good guess is that the Sox, Cubs and most other teams make mental health professionals available, maybe even have them on retainer, in the event a player concedes that he needs somebody qualified to probe inside his head.

But how many athletes admit to needing that kind of therapy? Isn't Big Baby likely one of the few? And would it even help to get help in the middle of a season?

Searching for answers on how to treat a slump is enough to boggle the mind.