Royce White wears anxiety disorder on his sleeve

Flipping through radio stations this morning on the way to the office it was a hip hop station that grabbed my attention and stopped me in my radio surfing tracks.  The topic of discussion was Rockets basketball player Royce White who has recently made news with his suspension from the team due to his generalized anxiety disorder.

White suffers from a mental health disorder and the Rockets knew of his well-documented anxiety disorder before they drafted him.  The disorder becomes exacerbated during certain situations, one of them being flying in planes.  Royce has had to miss practices and games due to the disorder, thus leading to the suspension.  Royce is very open about the disorder and is not leaving the Rockets without a fight.

As the DJs on 97.9 the Box were talking about him they were surprised to get a phone call from the man himself (he was on a Jack in the Box food run by the way).  He immediately pleaded his case and took a very strong stance for mental health disorders.  One of his statements about mental health was that it doesn’t receive the awareness and attention that other illnesses do such as cancer.  Mental health disorders are very real but also very stigmatized and dismissed.

It was great to hear this dialogue because I’ve found myself becoming an advocate for mental health disorders within the past few years.  My girlfriend is Bipolar 2 and I can vouch to how very very real the disorder is.  Bipolar is very misunderstood and even though I live with someone who suffers from it, I don’t even get it right all the time.  There are only a few of her friends that somewhat understand what she goes through and how challenging it can be on a daily basis.  On the outside you see a very pretty woman with a big smile and bubbly personality, but what you don’t see is a girl struggling with various moods and even thoughts of taking her life.  She’s a fighter and I respect her unashamed stance on the disorder.  She documents her advocacy through her blog PepperVintage.com and her Facebook Page.

I hope that this situation with Royce helps bring more awareness to the disorder and that more and more who suffer from mental health issues would stand up and speak out.  I would venture to say that mental health issues affect more people in this world than cancer does and if there was a large ribbon movement or campaign to identify it, there wouldn’t be enough vehicle bumpers to stick that little ribbon to.

- @hectorgarcia