“The stigma has to go away”: Michael Phelps speaks out about mental health among athletes

“The stigma has to go away”: Michael Phelps speaks out about mental health among athletes

Michael Phelps

Olympic legend swimmer Michael Phelps recently talked about the great stigma surrounding mental health amongst athletes at the keynote speech of the HIMSS22 in Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

In the speech Phelps talked about the need to pay attention to mental health, especially during the times of Covid-19, where stress has been high. “This stigma has to go away. We have to break it down,” said Phelps according to healthcarefinancenews.com. Despite winning 28 medals and breaking 39 records over the span of his career, Phelps talked about his struggles with depression and how he continues to deal with it.

“We can’t do this by ourselves,”: Michael Phelps talks about his mental health

Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps

Phelps decided to go public with his feelings and struggles, to make those around him comfortable and help remove the stigma that people have. Participating in 5 Olympic Games, Phelps said that at times it was hard to even get out of bed. “We can’t do this by ourselves,” he said. “We need the help of everybody.”

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“Do I struggle with depression? Do I struggle with anxiety?” he said. “Yes. It’s not going away tomorrow. Through my journey and through my struggles, the ups and downs and the depression; not wanting to be alive – all of these feelings for me were scary.”

In 2008, Michael Phelps set up the Michael Phelps Foundation to teach water safety. Currently the main goal is a learn-to-swim, healthy-living and goal-setting curriculum.

Also read: Olympic Champion Evgeny Rylov pulls out of Swimming World Championships to support banned Russian teammates