"I was 23, a millionaire and had everything, yet I was never more unhappy in my life. I felt extremely isolated from my friends and family because I couldn't explain to them what I was feeling. I had no idea what was wrong with me," a statement made by Ricky Williams from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
Williams is a former NFL player, who suffered from social anxiety disorder, while he was in the league and after he was done playing football. Williams is not the first NFL player to battle overcoming a mental health issue.
Unlike physical issues or injuries, mental health is barely discussed in the NFL along with many other professional sports. Mental health is often neglected or barely recognized, but is essential to the player's abilities on and off of the field.
Often players who are suffering from mental health issues have troubles off the field, which lead them to not be able to play to their full potential or causing them to get suspended, so why is this part of the game being ignored?
Mental health issues are extremely prevalent in our society, with one in five American adults having experienced a mental health issue. Along with this statistic, one in ten young people have experienced a period of major depression. This means in a seminar class of twenty, you can guess that at least two of your classmates have or have had major depression.
If so many people are suffering, why is the conversation about mental health being silenced? Even though feeling depressed is a normal feeling that we all must experience, major (unipolar) depression is when a person’s mood will remain at one “pole”, causing this person to remain at low mood continually for a certain amount of time past two weeks.
Bipolar disorder unlike major depression is when someone may suffer from going between the two poles, of manic (happy) and depressed. People suffering from major depression often experience trouble concentrating, angry outbursts, loss of interest in activities they once enjoyed, and lack of energy along with many other symptoms.
This is not an uncommon illness; Terry Bradshaw, former quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and NBA player Willie Burton have also discussed struggling with this mental health issue, along with many other athletes in the NFL.
Among major depression and bipolar disorder, two mood disorders, many players battle anxiety disorders or personality disorders as well. Some players such as Aaron Taylor, Green Bay Packers and San Diego Chargers player, suffer from mental illness in comorbidity; in his instance, both anxiety and depression which he suffered from throughout his career but which came to a head after he retired.
As Taylor explains “hidden just behind the accolades, trophies and championships was a young man suffering from anxiety and depression” and he hid this from others in a fear of “looking weak or being judged”, he told NCAA in his interview pertaining to his mental health. This often is how many people feel whether an athlete or not, that if they disclose their condition, that people will no longer accept them or feel uneasy around them.
After Taylor’s career ended, he explains that his initial reaction to not playing was sort of like “the excitement of playing hookie”, but that the euphoria didn’t last for very long. In the Houston Press, an article that explored Taylor’s journey states that he “soon found himself in a dark place that, sadly, a majority of NFL players experience to some degree after retiring from the game — an empty daily existence fraught with depression and identity issues” due to the dramatic change in lifestyle. But if there are already present issues, these changes can push retired players to the edge or cause them to hit rock bottom. Taylor also explains the ways in which the football mentality can often stifle or inhibit players from reaching for help by stating that “from the time we were drafted, coaches demanded that we have on our 'game face' and show no emotion. If we're being honest, the only thing the NFL truly values is a player not being a pussy. So as a result, we suffer in silence, and unfortunately we continue to suffer in silence once we're out of the game. We do that until we hit rock bottom." When football players do not ask for help with their mental health, it can often lead to a downward spiral that is hard to get oneself out of. But there is also the ability to be able to recover from a mental illness.
Brandon Marshall, a wide receiver for the New York Giants, has made large recovery with his diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, since seeking treatment in 2011. Borderline personality disorder makes the patient struggle to process emotions, magnifying the fear of abandonment, and can create heightened feelings of loneliness and boredom. This also leads to extreme guilt that may cause some patients suffering from the condition to self-injure, they are also are more prone to suicidal thoughts and actions.
Before seeking assistance with his mental health, Brandon Marshall symptoms came to a head in April 2011, when he was stabbed by his now wife, Michi Nogami-Marshall, according to police reports, her act was out of self defense. The couple was not shy to domestic violence since Marshall and Nogami-Marshall were charged with disorderly conduct in 2009.
According to police reports, the couple had been engaging in a heated argument when the conversation became physical with both parties kicking and punching one another outside of a bar in Atlanta, Georgia.
But after being admitted into Boston’s McLean hospital for three months, Marshall underwent many neurological and psychological exams to gain treatment. Since his recovery, Marshall has made huge strides in both his personal life along with his athletic life as an NFL football player.
With treatment and understanding of his condition, Marshall feels that he has a new lease on life. He went on to state that "by no means am I all healed or fixed, but it's like a light bulb has been turned on in my dark room.” Now, he wants to help others with his condition get to that same happier place. He has been been quoted saying that he wants to be “the Face of BPD” and since, has created two foundations to shed light on borderline personality disorder along with general mental health awareness.
His two foundations are Project Borderline and Project 375, which both shed light on how mental health is still considered taboo.
Project Borderline is a foundation that exclusively tries to shed light on borderline personality disorder. In their ‘About Us’ section it is clear their main efforts are to spread the word, fight stigma, reach out, bridge the gap, and change.
The website offers many books and websites that can educate about borderline personality disorder, along with facts about borderline personality disorder, illustrating diagnosis, and in depth explanation of the illness. Project 375 has similar goals, but tries to destigmatize all mental health issues instead of one in particular.
Their goal is to get the conversation going about mental health in and outside of the football stadium. Even though you may not suffer from a mental health illness yourself, you are bound to know someone who is struggling with this issue. Project 375 wants to make mental health illness a more talked about subject, that doesn’t make others uncomfortable, but makes them more aware. Another way they would like to make a difference in the lives of people with mental illnesses is by connecting them to counselors who can fit their needs, since mental health is not a ‘one size fits all’ type of counseling since many diagnoses are dramatically different. The main cause of both of these foundations is to help the public better understand mental illness.
Although it is especially important for people with diagnoses to see a counselor, it can also be very beneficial to those who do not have a mental illness. Such as the Texans running back, Arian Foster, who chose to start going to counseling after his football season was over. On ESPN.com, he claimed how important it was for him to seek out counseling and how before his transition he believed he was "too cool to get counseling; I thought I was above that," Foster said on Thursday. "A lot of guys feel like that, too. The only reason I’m talking about it now is I know a lot of people out there feel like I used to feel,” highlighting his transition, in hopes to inspire others to seek counseling.
He then goes on to point out how the position of being in the NFL can also lead to a lot of external pressure that can turn into internal pressure and may be hard for some to cope with. Foster states that “you’re in a position like a lot of my colleagues in the NFL, when you’re the breadwinner in your family and you’re the man of the house and you’re this and you’re a father and you’re this and you’re a best friend and everyone’s just looking at you for everything. That’s a lot of pressure on a kid really in his 20s,” examining the multifaceted ways that NFL players mental health can be affected by this pressure.
He pointed out that one of the issues he worked through in counseling was “working on myself and self-reflection and digging into things in my past that were causing me to do things that were self-destructive,” a common theme among many NFL athletes. NFL players struggling with issues off the field often revert to self-destructive behavior. For many it can be drugs and alcohol, for another it may be gambling, or even suicidal thoughts or self-harm. Foster also encourages others to seek counseling because “once you’re honest with yourself.., you can begin that growth process, and that’s what I did,” and then went on to state that “emotionally I’m probably the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”
Even though both of these players have made a stand and have started the discussion of mental health in football, there are still many setbacks.
CTE and concussions has been linked to many football players who have had mental illnesses during and after their football career. Many players do not come out and seek help for their mental illness because they are afraid to be portrayed as weak. This is partly true since there is a stigma around mental health and people are often told to “man up” or that their mental illness is a character flaw.
One way concussions have been a part of the news is when the Washington Post reported that President Donald Trump mocked the significance of concussions in football and those who report them. He taunts the legitimacy of concussions by saying ‘Uh oh, got a little ding on the head? No, no, you can’t play for the rest of the season’ — our people are tough,” insinuating those who report their concussions are ‘less manly’ or ‘delicate’.
But the long lasting results of multiple concussions can lead to many mental health issues later on in life. Players who have been diagnosed with CTE after death, while living often had difficulties stabilizing their moods, depression, aggravation issues, dementia, and many had suicidal thoughts or committed suicide.
Since this research, the NFL has come out with a few outlets for NFL players who are having mental health issues, such as NFL Life Line, The NFL Player Care Foundation, and The NFL’s Players Assistance and Counseling Services Program. But the NFL has met this realization with resistance.
Before Concussion came out NFL lawyers started a battle with Sony that they were condemning football and in a New York Times article, “Sony Altered ‘Concussion’ Film to Prevent N.F.L. Protests, Emails Show” the domestic marketing chair, Dwight Caines, wrote in emails that “we’ll develop with the help of N.F.L. consultant to ensure that we are telling a dramatic story and not kicking the hornet’s nest.”
Illustrating the ways in which the NFL has not wanted to shed light on this issue. William C. Rhoden, in his New York Times article, “With No One Looking, a Hurt Stays Hidden” examines that often times these assistance programs are maintained at the professional level, but not at college or high school level. But in the college or highschool level is where they are needed most to control the issue before it spirals out of control.
In the article, Dr. Ira Glick, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stanford University mentions how these problems are often encouraged to stay hidden. He points out how “players want to have somebody to talk to, but they don’t want their teammates or the team to find out because of the stigma and they’re afraid of being dropped,” which emphasizes the ways in which mental health is often thought of by society.
A former NBA player Luther Wright can attest to this, in his memoir A Perfect Fit, he exposes the ways in which athletes must hide and suffer through mental illness. He says that “there’s no room for any type of diagnosis for mental health issues because that would put up a red flag and maybe block you from going to the next level,” and most players are not willing to risk that, so they will try to cope with their internal conflict on their own.
This brings us to the question of how can we change the way mental illness is viewed in professional sports and in normal life? Will there ever be protection for NFL players and will mental health ever be in the forefront of this game that bases itself on physicality? If we continue to see former NFL players commit suicide or take another's life, then will people listen? Or will we continue to blame this as character flaws or as someone being ‘soft’?
