Mental Health in the NBA

 I’ve read all the articles so far and they are extremely informative and revealing. We sometimes forget that professional athletes are human. As fans, we just expect a certain level of performance and if those expectations aren’t met we can get downright nasty. However, for someone who really puts their life into a sport, the pressure to succeed from within is far greater than any outside expectations.  For players that are already dealing with a mental health issue such as ocd, depression, anxiety  etc., that pressure can be enough to drive you insane if you don’t have the right support system and coping mechanisms around you. As someone who has dealt with these issues I know what it can feel like. 

I’m so glad that athletes are finally coming forward and opening up about this as it is a subject that has been avoided for way too long. 

Teams invest millions in their players and coaching staff – so it would make sense that they have a sports psychologist available to talk things through. The likes of MVP and Rasheed would be great case studies! Seriously though sports do use psychologists to help players resolve anger issues but still maintain their will to win.

Fultz’s shooting issues may have been as much mental as physical and I’d guess he’d have had sessions talking things though.

Royce White never really made it to the NBA because of issues, the pressure of winning can cause people to get down or turn to things to help them. That a player has to self medicate is a failure on the team IMO. They spend money on ensuring the players get everything they need on road trips but they may not look at a player directly and see how he is within himself.

 Mental toughness is the number one thing needed to make it into the NBA. You have the whole world sitting and judging you. You have a million different responsibilities. I’m surprised pro athletes have mental health issues at all. I think it’s overblown. Many pro athletes are just duesh bags, and that’s not a mental health issue.

 This is why the NBA is the greatest league in the world…The league is trying to help players and implement things to help them. While you have a league like the NFL who does nothing to help with CTE and deny helping players..just get them hooked on prescprtion drugs. Salute to the NBA and the players for supporting one another. 

 Hunting Park in North Phila & I really like that the national media is finally focused on this issue

The most important part of the article that people who don’t grow up in poor inner city environments can’t understand is that EVeryone is suffering & literally scraping to survive 

As children you are literally on your own in a dog eat dog jungle & it’s up to you to figure out how to survive. Conditions are so harsh adults often turn to alcohol & drugs to cope & this ultimately leads to the destruction of the family unit 

Why does this matter? B/c when the very people who are supposed to Love & Protect you actually humiliate & hurt you day after day after day you No longer trust ANYONE & in this country it is Very diificult to succeed at Anything if you can’t allow yourslef to let your guard down & trust Anyone b/c Every facet of Life is Built on Relationships – think about it 

You are scared to death to let your guard down b/c it’s just to painful to let someone in only to experience what u believe will be betrayal. So the result is that you build a hard exterior shell equipped w/ defense mechanisms designed to drive people away – for example I don’t think I smiled at another human being before my 30’s b/c I Honestly Believed that Everyone was out to get me – so what happens when you Never smile at anyone??? They Never smile at you & assume you are a D-Bag!

It’s sounds so simple but try it sometime – walk down the street & scowl at everyone you make eye contact with & see what kind of reaction you get??? People cowl right back at you & this Reinforces your paranoia that Everyone is trying to Hurt you. You have ZERO positive male role models who pull you aside & say "Stop scowling at people & instead SMILE at them first!" & of course when you do that Everyone SMILES at you! I did this at 33 years old & I was STUNNED! 

I Swaer to you I am Not making this up or exaggerating! I lived in such a violent neighborhood & in such a violent home & it was non stop chaos, I took severe beatings as a child & I was eventually homeless & lived w/ my grandmother eventually as a last stop before the criminal justice system was involved & believe it or not I was one of the Lucky ones but Most of the kids in these areas do get locked up & do get twisted up into the criminal justice system & once you are in the sysmtem it is nearly Impossible to Ever get out & it is Designed that way!

 The violence is unimaginable – it’s like an omnipresent weight over your head 24 / 7 / 365. In thios particular area there are outdoor El Tracks that run over your head & theyt literally block out the Sun & this contributes to this feeling that you are living in the darkness & that Anything goes, you are never protected & it is up to you to survive, guns are Rampant & everyone young male from 12 years old & up carries or has access to a hidden "burner" close by & it’s not to show off or act tough it’s 100% for protection. The drug trade is rampant. People from the suburbs are lined up to buys drugs or young girls or boys for sexual pleasures. It’s too much to to get into in real depth here but what I can tell you is that from a young age you are filled w/ a sense of foreboding that you are NOT improtant & that NO one from here IS important in Anyway. The police & the authorities are Not here to ever Help they feel Literally like an occupying army whose only goal is to Hurt you or jam you up (I’m Not sying that this IS literally true but it FEELS this way & when you see one friend after another either murdered in the drug trade or disappear in the system 

I would really liked to have seen a writer who actually experienced this type of childhood who could provide more perspective & it’s not a race thing b/c there were just as many poor white people living in these ubran inner city distopian hellscapes as there are black, hispanic, asian & so on but to capture the true sense of how Poverty Destroys our Nations children & there is No end in sight 

 Some players have that killer instinct or can take it up a level when it is needed. Regular season LBJ is great but play off LBJ just becomes unstoppable. Kobe was a guy who wanted the ball down the stretch and scored numerous game winners etc.

Often you get a really talented guy who doesn’t have the work ethic of a less talented guy and maybe less desire to win so the less talented guy stays in the league longer.

Yeah, the part about how the Morris Brothers grew up really got to me. 

Made me realize how rare violence or even the threat of violence was in my middle-class upbringing. A couple violent incidents in our childhood, and people like me are talking about it in therapy 30 years later.

But guys like the Morrises lived with it every day. It would be miraculous *not* to come out of that environment with PTSD and other mental health issues.

 mental health is 20,000x deeper and more complex than just saying mental health. The issues athletes face are different than the issues every day people face. I just never hear any discussions about how to address and fix these complex issues that everyone deals with at some point in their life. 

 I have my own issues, and am happy to see the NBA, looking out for its players, 

I was horified years ago when Royce White came out Demanding special privlege, then took advantage of the people that were trying to help him,  refusing to play, then blaming others.

  that was a dark time for this issue, he single handedly sabataged the progress that was being made, i am so happy the NBA got past that and is now making great strides.