Published on Sep 4, 2012 by GrantlandNetwork
Last June, we spent 24 hours with Iowa State forward Royce White before the NBA draft. To us, Royce was the most intriguing story in the draft, with an extraordinary combination of skills and size. He’s also incredibly open about his generalized anxiety disorder, which he deals with on a daily basis.
The fact that this kid would allow this day to be filmed speaks to his enormous courage and character, and fantastic support from his family.
I hope to see more professional athletes, role models and modern idols that they are, come forward to discuss mental illness with Royce’s level of openness and frankness. The more commonly we discuss mental illness, the less securely its stigma sticks to the next generation of sufferers.
