Sunday, June 21, 2009

Major-League Anxiety

Some people spend much energy keeping their symptoms of mental illness private. If they work hard enough at covering things up, the average person might be able to get by without too many people noticing that anything is wrong. When you're a major-league baseball player, that's not going to happen.

For more than a month, St. Louis Cardinals' infielder Khalil Greene has had a very public battle with social anxiety disorder. He reportedly has experienced increased self-consciousness during games, resulting in verbal and physical outbursts. The problems also didn't help his level of play. On May 31 a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article quoted Greene as saying:
"It's so strong. It's a very intense feeling and it's very unpleasant. It's not life threatening. I'm not putting myself at risk. But at the same time those responses are there automatically. I really have to concentrate to slow down, focus and stay in the game."
As a result of his problems, Greene was placed on the disabled list May 28, and later began a "rehab assignment" in the minor leagues. He returned to the Cardinals last week.

Whatever Greene has been doing to address his disorder has not been reported, but if quality of play is any measure, his treatment is working. Over the weekend Greene hit a home run in each of the three games he played in Kansas City, helping put the Cardinals back in first place. Even more encouraging, two of his homers came after he'd fallen behind in the count by two strikes. Further, Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz reported Greene played "fine defense" at third base, having been moved from his position at shortstop.

The quickness of all of this calls for caution. Relapse both large and small is the norm for people dealing with any mental illness. Let's hope that Greene is learning effective techniques that he can call upon during times of stress, which must be constant during the long baseball season. If CBT is part of his treatment, then he is learning how to be his own therapist--something any professional athlete (not to mention those of us who are not so rich and famous) could appreciate.

Whether or not Khalil Greene can keep up his comeback is yet to be seen. Support from Cardinals fans can only help. Having grown up in St. Louis, I proudly count myself among them.

Go Khalil, and go Cards!

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