Simone Biles: The New Face of the Mental Health Crisis.
Mental health and Simone Biles?
When we look at Olympic gold medalists, like Simone, we rarely think of emotional disturbances or dysfunction like anxiety, depression, and more.
We look at these incredible athletes simply as machines, many times forgetting they’re incredibly human, with deep insecurities, and mental health challenges, regardless of how many gold medals they may achieve in their existence!
There are others, that doubt that their performance is really of their own training and doing, and I’ve worked with so many major-league athletes over the years that if they have a series of bad games, matches, or events… It can lead to an incredible spiral down which many times they can cover up for years by adding more work to their schedule and more distraction until the anxiety and or depression breakthrough!
Simone, one of the most celebrated Olympic athletes in the history of time, reached a breaking point recently in the Tokyo Olympics and had to pull out due to her own mental concerns, issues, many that we may never know about.
And, from a variety of reports, the challenges she has faced over her life have been immense.
For the past 40+ years, as a counselor, minister, number one best selling author, and former Division I athlete, I’ve had a chance to interview some of the most amazing Olympic athletes, celebrities, and more as they expressed their own challenges in life, challenges that were often behind the scenes that no one knew about until there was a breakdown or a breakthrough.
Recently in Tokyo, former swimming great and gold medalist Michael Phelps made a comment that he had struggled with the immense pressure that Simone was dealing with right now, and had battled with his own depression and anxiety for years… And one of the quotes that he said on national TV was “I understand Simone when she said, “I feel the pressure of the world on my shoulders “, I felt the same way at every Olympics and it’s a daunting task to overcome this.“
And the list goes on and on through the history of time.
When I interviewed Olympic gold medalist diver Greg Louganis, we talked about the Olympics in which during a dive he came too close to the board and cut his head which required stitches… Everyone at that moment thought he was out of the Olympics for good only to return to win a gold medal!
He had mentioned during my interview that it could’ve easily taken him out of the Olympics, the fear of hitting his head again was prevalent in his mind, but that he had used the help of his coach and his own mental conditioning to get back up on the diving board and to go for gold, which he accomplished.
But not everyone has that ability, or the training, or the background, to overcome something as insidious as anxiety, depression, or even low self-confidence after an athlete misses their mark, or performs inconsistently regarding their current level of conditioning and of course the expectations of the world.
With Simone, and I have no other information from the inside other than what has been posted in the news and listened to on television interviews, was most likely battling with something for a period of time before one event at the current Olympics exposed the challenge within, and she made a choice to remove herself from the competition.
Going back to Michael Phelps, he said this was the smartest move that Simone could ever make.
The interesting thing about the insidiousness of anxiety and depression even with the top athletes, celebrities, and most powerful people in the world can be submerged for the longest period of time, through a variety of ways that we compartmentalize anxiety and depression.
We can decide to put more hours in the gym to not deal with and face anxiety and depression.
We can decide to work longer hours to avoid dealing with anxiety and depression.
We can be put on medication so that we don’t have to deal with anxiety and depression or any other mental health condition like low self-confidence or low self-esteem.
We can even distract ourselves by constantly reading motivational books, in order not to deal with anxiety and depression.
In my own life, I went for over 30 years of denying that I struggled with anxiety and depression on a daily basis until I finally cracked… And reached out for help… Something I denied because of my position in this world.
Why would I, a number one best-selling author, radio and television host, counselor, and minister need to reach out for help?
I must be smart enough as a mental health professional, in order to help myself get through these periods of depression and anxiety… But I was dead wrong!
I think Simone did the exact right thing as well, not only for her own mental health and physical safety but also as a message to the world: Wake up! The mental health crisis is real, it’s here and it’s now!
Some of this can actually be linked to the Covid pandemic, where our normal routines of socialization, our normal routines have been shattered, our normal routines where we might be able to feel confident enough to ask for help has been destroyed… And many of us have been living in isolation, which only feeds the anxiety, depression, and low self-confidence.
I look at Simone’s strength as an unbelievable sign for the rest of the world to look at, and to look within, are we struggling with anxiety that we don’t want to deal with?
Are we dealing with isolation that is hurting our mental health but we’re not sure what to do?
Are we dealing with depression but don’t want to face it so we overeat, over drink, overwork, maybe even spend more time than necessary in the gym in order to avoid dealing with our own internal reality of dysfunction?
The mental health community is way understaffed, the mental health community has never been prepared for a pandemic in order to deal with all of the crises that we see around the world with individuals, companies, families, and more.
The only way that I worked through my own personal depression and anxieties was with the help of professionals. With what I know about the human mind and body, I can easily help millions of other people, but using that same knowledge on myself was not easy at all, as a matter of fact it never worked.
Like Simone, if you’re finally facing, because of her bravery, your own mental health issues, please, please reach out for help today to any mental health professional that you can reach.
I’ve worked with athletes in almost every major sport in the world, who have overcome great challenges through the help of mental health professional.
I remember a number of years ago interviewing Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison, and her story is well known how she was sexually abused by her coach at a very young age but she kept it inside, leading to incredible bouts of low self-confidence, low self-esteem as well as depression… Until she finally gained the strength to share the news with her mother, who was able to get her help, and the coach was then put in prison for the acts that could’ve destroyed her entire life.
But the pattern is the same. When you notice something is off with your own mental state, when you see yourself overeating or over drinking or over smoking or watching too much television or maybe using pot or some other drug to numb out your anxiety and depression… Look at these as signs from inside that are screaming for help!
And then act on those signs. Please ask for help.
If you do not know who to turn to, you can always turn to me. Along with my own battles with mental health in the past, and the experiences that I’ve gained by interviewing some of these amazing individuals who have faced their own mental health crises and overcome them, reach out to me today at www.davidessel.com
And, let’s work together to help you heal.
We all have the opportunity to heal. But we will probably never do it on our own. Please be humble, ask for help, and let’s move through all of this together.“
David Essel‘s work is highly endorsed by individuals like the late Wayne Dyer, and celebrity Jenny McCarthy says “David Essel is the new leader of the positive thinking movement.“
His work as a counselor and minister has been verified by so many different organizations such as Psychology Today, Theravive, Therapy Tribe, and marriage.com has verified David is one of the top counselors and relationship experts in the world.
To work with David one on one from anywhere in the world via phone or Skype please contact him directly at https://www.davidessel.com
