'Quite remarkable': Roberto Osuna's anxiety disclosure could encourage others who are struggling

The disclosureby Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Roberto Osunathat he is suffering from anxiety is another positivesignal that some athletes feel comfortable enough to publiclydiscuss such issues, experts say.

Yet despite progress being made in awareness and the ability to openly talk aboutmental health, itmay still be considered a "bold" acknowledgementfor the 22-year-old closer tomake especially in the world of sports, where the topic isnot widely discussed.

Sport is still an environmentwherethere's a cultureofmasculinity, a sense that you need to betough,said JohnCairney, a University of Toronto kinesiologyand physical education professor.

"To come forward and to express avulnerability, evensomethinglikean anxiety issue or some form of mentalhealthproblem, is a pretty significant thing for anathlete to do," he said.

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Speakingthrougha team translator on Saturday, Osunasaid an issue with anxiety kept him from Friday's game.

"This has nothing to do with me being on the field, I feel great out there," saidOsuna. "It's just when I'm out of baseball, when I'm not on the field, that I feel weird and a little bit lost."

The Blue Jays' mental performance coach, who travels with the team, has been working withOsunato overcome his anxiety. By Sunday, Osuna had returned to the mound.

'It's bold'

Osunais certainly not the first sports star to go public with struggles with mental health.

A number of top athletes including Canadian Olympian Clara Hughes, and baseball players like the Cincinnati Reds' JoeyVottoand Cy Young Award winnerZackGreinke have been open abouttheir own issues.

Still, Cairney said Osuna's admission is "actually quite remarkable, it's bold."

"To come out in this format and talk about having struggles with anxiety, it's a risky proposition," he said. "People expect him to be on the field and they expect him to be ready to go."

Cairney said Osuna should be applauded for his public acknowledgement of struggling with anxiety, something about 12 per cent of Canadians also experience.

"The difference is [Osuna] is in the public spotlight, and he's in a sport where there's a lot of stressand lot of eyes on him. Soobviouslythat makes his circumstancesquite a bit different."

In other high-stress professions, such as the military or the field of first response, Cairney said some "amazing work" had been done on addressing such issues.

"I think [for] sport, the time has come. Maybe this will be thestart of moreawarenessand more open discussions around mentalhealth and addiction-related issues in sport."

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In a sportsculture,thedemandfor perfection or to maintain a certain image can be a realimpediment to admitting one is struggling with mental health, said Charles Brady, a psychologist and the director of the Ohio Lindner Center of HOPE's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety treatment program.

Yet Brady said he sees Osuna's disclosure as a sign of progress.

"Ithink, finally, there's a little more openness in our culture than therehad been 20, 30 yearsago. Particularlyin a sports culture where there's such a high level of machismo, where any admissionofsomethingthat could sound like anxiety couldsound like a personal weakness."

Mark Aoyagi, director of sport andperformance psychology at the University of Denver, agreed that more athletes have been more open when it comes to talking about mental health issues.

"I think it's also concurrent that society and athletesboth are realizingthat athletes are people, just like everybody else, and they experience the same things as everybody else does," he said.

And whenpublic figures like athletes are openabout their mental health issues, it gives license for everyone else to speak up, said Mark Henick, nationaldirector of strategic initiatives for the Canadian Mental Health Association.

'We need people to stand up'

"It still is, even in this day and age, such a stigmatized issue things like anxietyand depressionand mental health struggles that we need peopleto stand up and say whenthings aren'teasy for them as well."

Brady emphasized the importance of public figures opening up about their struggles, saying this his patients were significantly affectedwhen the Toronto-born Votto spoke abouthis battlewith anxiety after his father passed away.

"They really feltvalidated. They felt, 'Hey, if Joey's going through this, it helps me understandwhat I'm going through. Idon'tblamemyselfand I can really start to face itwithless shame, lessembarrassment.'"