Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love wrote an essay detailing his battles with panic attacks.
Love, 29, suffered his first panic attack during a Nov. 5 home game against the Atlanta Hawks.
I’ve never been comfortable sharing much about myself. I thought about mental health as someone else’s problem. I’ve realized I need to change that. https://t.co/355HcQw3Ei
— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) March 6, 2018
The five-time All-Star reportedly disclosed the issue—which caused him to leave a Cavs loss to the OKC Thunder early—during a contentious team meeting in late January.
Love says he was inspired by DeMar DeRozan going public with his own mental health struggles.
Per The Players’ Tribune:
“Everyone is going through something that we can’t see.
“The thing is, because we can’t see it, we don’t know who’s going through what and we don’t know when and we don’t always know why. Mental health is an invisible thing, but it touches all of us at some point or another. It’s part of life. Like DeMar said, ‘You never know what that person is going through.’
“Mental health isn’t just an athlete thing. What you do for a living doesn’t have to define who you are. This is an everyone thing. No matter what our circumstances, we’re all carrying around things that hurt — and they can hurt us if we keep them buried inside. Not talking about our inner lives robs us of really getting to know ourselves and robs us of the chance to reach out to others in need. So if you’re reading this and you’re having a hard time, no matter how big or small it seems to you, I want to remind you that you’re not weird or different for sharing what you’re going through.”
