In recent years a number of NBA players — starting back with Ron Artest/Metta World Peace and up through Kevin Durant and DeMar DeRozan — have talked about their challenges with depression and anxiety as NBA players. They have worked to de-stigmatize the idea of therapy and seeking help.
On aspect of NBA player mental health rarely discussed? The transition to being out of the league and out of the game. It is hard for players to adjust to the lifestyle change, the lack of highs and the routine.
How is Dwyane Wade going to deal with it? He told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in an interview he is going to seek help.“I’ll be in therapy. Seriously,” Wade said. “I meant it, it is going to be a big change. I told my wife, I said, ‘I need to do therapy, and we need to do a little bit.’
“I was always against someone that don’t know me telling me how to live my life or giving me instructions. But I need someone to talk to about it. Because it is a big change. Even though I got a long life to live, other great things I can accomplish and do, it’s not this. So it’s going to be different.”
That’s a mature attitude.
Wade knows he is in for a massive change, and as much as he has interests and businesses — and, of course, a family — outside basketball, it’s still a radical life style change. Something a lot of players struggle with.
Wade admitted his problem, that’s the first step.
