Kevin Love is ready to change the stigma around mental health

NBA champion Kevin Love is here to change the way people think about mental health.

On November 5th, 2017 during a game against the Atlanta Hawks, 5-time All Star, and NBA champion Kevin Love had a panic attack for the first time in his life. Love went to the hospital, but after it was determined that there were no physical injuries, he finally realized what he had been pushing aside for a long time.

As a kid Love remembered not understanding what he was going through and having “rage fits” that he couldn’t really explain. His older brother even recognized it, saying that they would lose him for a few weeks because he was going through something he couldn’t explain or want to admit.

“It was something that I wasn’t really ready to share or admit — especially around my peers because I was afraid to be vulnerable around them at that age or talk to a counselor, teacher or girlfriend about what I was going through,” Love said. “It never surfaced because it was always something that I set to the side.”

After the hospital visit couldn’t determine what caused the panic attack, Love realized that there was a bigger issue that he needed to deal with. Love was struggling with depression and anxiety and for the first time in his life he was able to admit that.

“It was only last year that I started to do the work, and it organically turned into me sharing my story and being vulnerable and trying to help not only myself but a number of people,” Love said.

Love’s panic attack led him to share his story with the world through an article for The Player’s Tribune where he detailed his panic attack and coming to grips with how he was using basketball as an escape from dealing with and talking about his feelings.

Through Love’s journey of understanding mental health came a project he’s currently working on in collaboration with Schick Hydro to foster a healthy conversation not just about mental health, but about masculinity called Locker Room Talk.

The goal of the project is to make people, mainly men, feel more comfortable about being vulnerable and opening up instead of suffering in silence as Love did for so many years.

“Getting to see other athletes like Michael Phelps spread a positive message, that not only empowers me but makes me feel better to effect any demographic, gender, socioeconomic status or sexual preference,” Love said. “This affects each and every person if not directly,  indirectly it affects someone in their life one way or another.”

Since Love has opened up about his experience dealing with depression and anxiety he’s noticed a positive change in himself. This journey has also helped him discover what he wants to do when he retires from the league.

“I never thought that I’d be sitting here today after 29 years going through what I’ve gone through and now being able to affect so many people in a positive way,” Love said. I feel like I know what I’m going to do after basketball, and that’s impact people in a positive way.”