We Need To Talk About The Mental Health Of Men

Cleveland Cavaliers superstar Kevin Love opens up about his panic attacks. Are men getting the kind of mental health support they need?

Scooby Axson, writer for Sports Illustrated. (@ScoobAxson)

Terry Real, family therapist, author of "I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression."

Michael Thompson, clinical psychologist, co-author of "Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys," "It’s a Boy!: Understanding Your Son’s Development from Birth to Eighteen," and "Speaking of Boys: Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About Raising Sons."

Sports Illustrated: Kevin Love Discusses Panic Attack, Mental Health Issues — "Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love opened up about his struggles with mental health and says he was hospitalized earlier this season after having a panic attack."

The Players Tribune: Everyone Is Going Through Something — "It came out of nowhere. I’d never had one before. I didn’t even know if they were real. But it was real — as real as a broken hand or a sprained ankle. Since that day, almost everything about the way I think about my mental health has changed."

Cleveland Caveliers forward Kevin Love is a star. He also suffers from mental health challenges. Panic attacks that at least once forced him to flee the court and hide in a locker room. He went public this week, following the lead of Raptors star DeMar DeRozan who’s talked about his own struggles with depression. And now so many more are also talking about men and mental health writ large. About masculinity and presumptions about strength and weakness. About how, as Kevin Love put it, “Everybody is going through something.”

This hour, On Point: Athletes leading the conversation on men and mental health.

---Meghna Chakrabarti