All Blacks Rugby Star Opens Up About Crippling Anxiety
By Priscilla Jepchumba
All Blacks center Anton Lienert-Brown bravely shared his experiences with severe anxiety and depression, revealing how it impacted his daily life and even his professional career.
He admitted to suffering from daily panic attacks and experiencing overwhelming feelings of fear and despair.
“Over the years my anxiety got worse and worse to the stage where daily I was having constant panic attacks, It would be spiral and spiral to the point where It felt like I was having a heart attack," Brown said.
He recalled being in the dressing rooms after a win over France and All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith saying he should be the best rugby player in the world.
“I wanted go home and just sleep and forget about rugby, sometimes I could be in a team meeting and be having one and just trying to act like normal,” he said.
Lienert-Brown sought help from a psychiatrist and was prescribed medication to manage his anxiety. He emphasized the importance of seeking support and breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health issues, especially for men.
Lienert-Brown also spoke about his battle with depression on the eve of the team’s northern hemisphere tour.
“Anxiety made me depressed and it made my living every day tough, it took me a long time to seek help,” he said.
Lienert-Brown was now an ambassador for Mind Set Engage, a New Zealand Rugby mental well-being initiative,
"When I got through the other side of my mental health battle, I really wanted to share my experience because listening to people talk about their struggles and how they used to get help, " he said.
Lienert-Brown stated that to Kiwis with mental health issues that it's important to be open, vulnerable and ask for help.
"I asked for help, when i felt weak and struggled to talk about my feelings which I battled for years,” Lienert- Brown said.
The professional athlete stated that he puts more emphasis on his mental health than his physical health. He used ice baths, saunas and a bit of meditation to control his anxiety.
"I don't want to emphasize that medication is the one fix to mental health problems because it's not, it was the start of my journey to getting better," he said.
Lienert-Brown has found ways to deal with the anxiety and continued a successful rugby career including playing at two World Cups.
