It’s a lot easier to talk about mental health now, than it was 17 years ago.
That was the message Michael Landsberg said Friday morning at DayBreak 2014: tackling mental health stigma in sports.
Landsberg, the host of TSN’s Off the Record, told XFM News he came out diagnosed with severe depression seventeen years ago. Anti-Depressants helped Landsberg before 2008 when he relapsed.
Landsberg recalls the Grey Cup in 2008 when he was filming for OTR as that being the worst week of his life and wanted to be someplace different.
Before coming out in 1998 he suffered in silence for eight months. It was never a secret that he suffered from depression, although he never told anyone, but he never hid it.
Landsberg told the audience he never thought once he should go on TV and say he is suffering from server depression, and never thought about the impact it would have on people.
Landsberg who interview’s a lot of athletes see’s the mental health stigma in the sports world, and says a lot of athletes are afraid to say if they struggle with the illness as it may affect their career.
He recalls an episode he tapped with an NHL star that also suffered from depression, after that episode he received fan mail commending him and after a few emails back and forth with a fan and a few years later that fan emailed Landsberg and said if it wasn’t for him he wouldn’t be here.
The TV broadcaster says being in the public eye most would see as an excuse but no matter what you still feel the stigma.
He says depression is not like a car accident where one minute you’re fine and the next moment you’re life has changed.
The conference wrapped up Mental Health Awareness week.
