[Houston Press] Royce White Battles Anxiety in the Brutal Spotlight of Pro Sports

He's rated a 68 in 2k13, He must be our 2nd best rookie. Potential to be a started for the rockets!

 

Im more concerned about what his rating is in Real Life.

 

All for supporting White, but the Rockets aren't a charity, if he can't be productive he needs to go. Just as we treated T-Mac and his bum knee.

By not giving up on White they are effectively giving up on someone else who could have his roster spot.

As long as they feel the potential reward is worth the risk, keep him by all means.

 

Like I said before, it's simple. If his excuse is legit, he shouldn't be on the roster. If his excuse is not legit, he shouldn't be on the roster. Either way, he shouldn't be on the roster.

 

Wow you people are ridiculous. Let this play out before you all start bashing him and saying "Let him go...Let him go!"

2 days ago everyone was predicting him to be the next Lebron. Now this and its a 180 degree swing

Come on people

 

I've already said the Rockets should put Royce on IR or D League him. This removes him as a distraction and gives him time to get his #### together. No, I don't think he should be released or traded. Not yet.

 

How is he a distraction? And what exactly is he distracting us from?

 

Sounds like Royce White is a pu$$y with stage fright.

 

You know how to exacerbate someone's stage fright or fear of public speaking (like King Albert of England's speech impediment), every time King Albert or Royce White gets anxious and studders through life, walk away from him and tell him to figure it out himself before you will come back.

If the "excuse is legit," the best thing to do is let him work this through in the company of his coach and teammates so as to build a comfortable place for himself WITH the team. If you make him do it away from the team, then he could easily have THE SAME PROBLEM when you call him up from D-League.

Your idea of how to fix it is quite absurd.

 

You're an a$$ - go away

 

There are no indications that he is a distraction. His condition is most likely explained to his teammates and staff so I'm sure everyone is aware and willing to support him.

This isn't a T-mac situation. He isn't going on the media whining, nor is he complaining about playing time.

He has not disturbed the roster in any way at all. As Morey and the team have already stated, they're going to move on together. That's the mentality you bring to a team, and the mentality I'm proud the Rockets are taking.

Ditching him to the D-league based on something he cannot control sends the absolute wrong message not only to White, but to every other Rocket or potential Rocket.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/20444536/royce-white-brave-for-dealing-publicly-with-his-anxiety-disorder


Royce White brave for dealing publicly with his anxiety disorder
Ken Berger
By Ken Berger | NBA Insider
Oct. 3, 2012 4:03 PM ET

In a gripping video documentary of Royce White's experience on NBA draft night, the former Iowa State star mustered more courage than will ever be required in his basketball career -- wherever that basketball career leads him.

White allowed the cameras of the website Grantland.com to spend draft night with him at the basketball offices on the Iowa State campus. Through tears, he explained how a room full of friends, family and other well-wishers watching the draft unfold on a flatscreen TV seemed like "a pack of wolves" to him. He did not duck or dodge or sugarcoat his condition, which he bluntly and correctly termed a "mental illness." When anxiety attacks come, he said, it's "panic on top of panic on top of panic. It feels like you're dying."


This is the real, unsanitized story of what it's like to be Royce White, a human being with mental illness first and a basketball player second. If only everyone could grasp and articulate his daily struggle as well as he does.

White, selected 16th in the draft by the Houston Rockets despite his anxiety and fear of flying, was not able to muster the strength or comfort to report to the annual zoo that is NBA media day. I am fortunate not to have anxiety disorder, but I would imagine that NBA media day is the last place on Earth someone being treated for that condition would want to be. White was absent from the Rockets' media event Monday and the first day of training camp Tuesday. If he is getting proper treatment -- which by all accounts in the Grantland documentary and other media accounts, he is -- he will be back soon. One mental health professional who specializes in the psychology of sports told me Wednesday that patients suffering from anxiety need to get back to the environment that scared them as soon as possible.

"The longer they stay out, the harder it is to get back in," said Dr. Richard Lustberg, a New York-based psychologist and creator of the website Psychology of Sports. "I've seen hundreds of these cases. They need to be reintroduced very quickly back into the environment."

White told a local TV station this his absence was "definitely linked to my anxiety disorder," and that specifically, his decision not to attend was reached jointly with his doctor as they try to "take a proactive approach" and "put together a solid plan" for him to succeed and manage his disorder as a rookie in the NBA.

Out of the blue, a blog post on the Oklahoman newspaper's web site ridiculed White's absence. In the course of explaining why the Thunder decided not to select White in the draft, the missive referred to White as "a head case."

I am not a media critic, nor am I here to tell my colleagues how to do their jobs. But suffice it to say that several NBA media members who have experienced anxiety disorder themselves -- including CBSSports.com's Matt Moore -- have weighed in eloquently about what White is going through, and in doing so, did their jobs exceptionally.

This is not to say that White's experience equates to anyone else's -- in the media or otherwise. His illness is unique to him, because it is his to bear. He is to be commended for being open and forthright about his condition, because such an approach is likely to help his coping with the disease -- but also, and secondarily, because it will help raise awareness about a subject that remains all too off-limits and misunderstood in sports.

How many athletes have come before with odd behavior and seemingly poor judgment, traits that weren't the result of some character flaw but rather a mental illness? Remember when it was OK to poke fun at Delonte West or Ron Artest? Remember when it was perfectly acceptable to brand them as part of a long line of NBA knuckleheads? It wasn't OK anymore once we learned that West has long suffered from bipolar disorder, and that Artest has been treated for depression.

With the recent epidemic of sports suicides -- Dave Duerson, Junior Seau, Kenny McKinley, Hideki Irabu, the list sadly goes on -- you would think that awareness and compassion for sports stars that may be battling mental illness would have crested by now. With prominent athletes like Artest (now, of course, known as Metta World Peace) and Brandon Marshall speaking openly about their mental illness, you would think a courageous, 21-year-old trying to confront the ultimate private hell in a very public way would be applauded and supported. Sadly, we're not there yet.

Just as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics provided whatever support and compassion they could when West was undergoing treatment in the wake of an arrest on weapons charges, so, too, should the Rockets be applauded for embracing White's talents and also his medical challenges. Sports psychology, Lustberg said, is "very data-driven," and so if anyone in the NBA is going to figure out how to manage the problem and give White the best chance to succeed, it is the Rockets' notoriously metric-driven general manager, Daryl Morey.

"We are committed to Royce's long-term success, and we will continue to support him now and going forward," Morey said in a statement.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank said the league has "a wide array of services and professional resources that are made available to our players to help them deal with mental health issues and other personal problems they may be having." Such services also are available through the NBA Players Association, which educates incoming players about off-court life in the annual rookie symposium. Clearly, more has to be done. And Lustberg said the team that treats and studies the mental health of its highly paid athletes with the same thoroughness that's devoted to their physical health will not only forward the cause of mental health awareness, but also gain a competitive advantage.

"If you're asking me where we should go with this," Lustberg said, "I think that, much like [an athletic] trainer, teams should have a psychologist trainer -- somebody that's qualified. Once you understand how people think and reason, you can improve performance in any job. With preventive care, the ability to give feedback, it's much more beneficial to have a psychologist embedded with the team. The first team that does that, that kind of information is invaluable -- not only for the player, but for the team.

"If you know that this player learns in this manner or needs to be approached in this manner, it would be invaluable information," Lustberg said. "Teams should not be in the dark about their players in this day and age."

And neither should we, which is why we owe Royce White and the Houston Rockets a debt of gratitude rather than scorn and ridicule.

White will be back in his basketball environment with the Rockets, because the nature of his disorder requires him to encounter -- in small, increasing doses -- that which causes his anxiety. He will be back soon, because as Lustberg said, the longer he stays away, the harder it will be for him to come back. He needs to confront the darkness, panic and fear -- the irrational perception that a roomful of loving supporters on draft night was really a "pack of wolves."

We in sports have still have a fair amount of reflection to do ourselves.

In that moving Grantland documentary, White recounted a conversation he had with his doctor when he was 18 -- a conversation that now, somewhat eerily, captures the battle he will always be fighting.

"She looked at me right in the face and said, 'You know what? Basketball might not be what's best for you,'" White said. "'Because this industry is built to defeat somebody like you.'"

Here's to doing what we're not supposed to do in sports journalism. Here's to openly rooting for Royce White to emerge victorious.

 

I am so embarrassed of our fans right now. Laker fans have more class than some of these clutchfans. Give the guy a chance, send him your support and positive energy. Help him, he's one of us. Some people just don't get that. Some fans are great fans, and others, I wish they would just stop posting around here.

 

Royce is a fine young man, who has come through troubled times, but he has a long way to go. The extent of his anxiety is greater than I thought.
It certainly goes beyond fear of flying. I don't know how much due diligence the Rockets did with him, but I am glad that they are supporting him.
This is a chronic problem though, with no easy solution.
If he can get over the jitters of playing in the pros, it will be huge for him.
I do feel that, he may be having a lot of personal problems.
Hope for the best.

 

Sounds like he needs a new doctor.

 

just as long as White says he's willing to put in extra time to practice and watch videos when he's well enough again, although practice time with the team cannot be duplicated.

White should show his face in McAllen even if he can't play yet. McHale and Morey were probably surprised because White showed no problems all throughout summer.

 

It is chronic, meaning he's not likely to beat it, but it can be periodic. My mom had 2 over a 20 year period. The second one lasted about 3 weeks. totally taking over her life. she could do nothing. Wasn't herself. trembling and shaking. Then one day, just gone again. Back to normal. The whole thing is impossible to understand for those who don't suffer. Treatment does seems to reduce symptoms, but seems unreliable to me in terms getting someone back to normal. I'm not sure than anyone understands, but I do think there is a chance he will go lonbg periods without a debilitating attack. Possibly years between episodes, but when they do occur, my experience is that it could be weeks to months before he comes back pending the severity.