"Heartening to see more conversations on mental health" - Rahul Dravid
Former Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid has discussed his views on cricketers coming out and speaking about mental health issues. After England all-rounder Ben Stokes decided to take an indefinite break from the sport, mental health and the taboos surrounding it are being widely discussed in the cricketing fraternity.
Rahul Dravid said it was heartening to see more conversations around this topic over the last few years and appreciated the players admitting to having these issues.
"Mental health has been an issue in sport, and it has been an issue in cricket. And, it's heartening to see there have been more conversations around this topic over the last decade or so with many players actually having the courage and the confidence to actually admit to having issues."
Dravid also pointed to the immense amount of pressure individuals face while playing any sport and added that cricket is no different.
"I mean, as you know, sport, and cricket especially can be, is a high-pressure environment and a lot of players, you know, play in that kind of environment."
"In the past, people didn't know how to react to it" - Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid has also spoken about the shift in people's perspectives on mental health. He opined that sportspeople found it tough to deal with mental health issues in the past and even mentioned that people didn't know how to react to it. Dravid said that, with players having the courage to admit to their problems, there has been a far better outlook on the issue.
"In the past, it's probably been a certain stigma associated with admitting to your weaknesses or your frailties or admitting that you have a problem was maybe people didn't know how to react to it, they didn't know how to deal with it but with the few players coming out and having the confidence to do it, I think there has been a lot of positive, a lot of more better conversation around the space of mental health in sport and especially in cricket."
Also Read: "Everyone can’t be MS Dhoni" - Former cricketer Maninder Singh on dealing with mental health issues