Kevin Love is opening up about his struggles with mental health that forced him to exit early during a game this season. Earlier in the season, Dwyane Wade and Isaiah Thomas questioned Kevin Love in a team meeting as to why he left a January game versus Oklahoma City early and missed practice the next day. Several teammates reportedly believed he may have been faking the flu, but Love explained that he left a game in November due to panic attacks. Love shared his story with the Players Tribune.
“For 29 years, I thought about mental health as someone else’s problem,” Love wrote. “Sure, I knew on some level that some people benefited from asking for help or opening up. I just never thought it was for me. To me, it was form of weakness that could derail my success in sports or make me seem weird or different.
“Then came the panic attack.”
Love experienced a panic attack on November 5th that forced him to connect with a therapist at the Cleveland Clinic. Love revealed that he was suffering from panic attacks during a team meeting on January 22nd in which Dwayne Wade and Isaiah Thomas allegedly challenged him during the meeting. Love revealed that he was encouraged to share his story after Demar DeRozan revealed he has been suffering from depression.
On his battle with panic attacks, Love added the following:
“I want to make it clear that I don’t have things figured out about all of this,” Love said. “I’m just starting to do the hard work of getting to know myself. For 29 years, I avoided that. Now, I’m trying to be truthful with myself. I’m trying to be good to the people in my life. I’m trying to face the uncomfortable stuff in life while also enjoying, and being grateful for, the good stuff. I’m trying to embrace it all, the good, bad and ugly.”
Love is incredibly brave to share something so personal with the world and hopefully, it helps someone who is experiencing the same issue.
