Most of us fail to recognize the importance of mental health, even in sports like the NBA. We usually think that athletes need to pass physical preparations before they are ready to play professionally, but their mental health is also a big part of the process. We all suffer from mental ailments, whether we know it or not, and this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. People are always searching for a way to overcome stressful situations at work, but often their methods are unsuccessful. That’s why the NBA came up with a “Mind Health program” for athletes in order to prevent depression, anxiety to more complex illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
The new NBA program was under their parent program, NBA Cares which mission is to address social issues around the world. NBA athletes go through a lot, both in their personal life and professional career.
The best way to keep up healthy mental wellbeing is by avoiding stress. However, sometimes that is harder than you think. This is why the NBA’s mental health program promotes helping each other. This is a great way to overcome the mental issues that you are facing. There is nothing to be ashamed of if you share your personal struggles with teammates that want to listen.
As they say, “being a great teammate and letting those who surround you know that you care about them is crucial to achieving mental health and emotional wellness.”
Their Mind Health program provides resources for youth parents and coaches paired with findyourwords.org to provide helpful links, places for support, and resilience.
Apart from the resources, the NBA Mental Health program also cares about mental health and treatments for players. The league with this program can connect players with licensed mental health professionals. Also, they provide additional help with links and information regarding anxiety, depression that only players have access to.
NBA is taking mental wellbeing very seriously. In fact, they made some changes in their rules starting in September. All teams must have a full-time licensed mental health professional.
Mental health affects everyone, and there is no running away from that fact. The mental health community is trying to remove the stigma that is born from mental health problems.
Alongside their mental health problem, they are following a campaign for discrimination. They also state that depression, anxiety, and more serious mental health illnesses do not discriminate.
So, there is nothing to be ashamed of if you want to reach out for mental help if most of the professional NBA athletes are doing the same thing.
The National Basketball Association is one of the leading sports in mental health awareness and treatment compared to other sporting leagues. They are constantly looking for a new way to approach players and their problems just to keep their mental health balanced throughout their careers.
Such problems happen to everyone. Even players like DeRozan, Love, and Young aren’t ashamed of their mental wellness issues, and they continued to fight.
At this point, it is too early to calculate the results from the NBA’s mental health program. It will take at least 3-5 years until we can see how other generations face such problems. However, it is great that the league is making an effort to help athletes overcome such issues.
So, if some of the best athletes in the NBA Over/Under odds are reaching out for help, there is no point in hiding such feelings for themselves. Keeping healthy mental well-being should be your first priority, especially since we live in dynamic times where we face stressful situations every day.
It is our job to manage such a situation just so they don’t have a serious impact on our mental health. In the future, we expect other sports to participate in resolving the mental health issues for athletes just to have a better impact on this issue on a global scale.
