OKAFOR Jahlil

General
MENTAL HEALTH
In 2018 he began working with a therapist to help him work through issues with his mental health. He had experienced feelings of anxiety that year while he was out of the Brooklyn Nets team due to a period of bad form, although he believes the problem may have started after his mother passed away when he was age nine. "I was kind of avoiding the real world [in 2018]. It was a dark place now that I think about it. I wasn't really happy. I didn't want to leave the house. I was always put on a pedestal for my class and my sport. Not playing, kind of being embarrassed about not being able to play, it affected me. It affected my family. I didn't want to leave the house. I didn't want to really be seen. [There is] no telling when it started. I lost my mom when I was nine. It could have started way back then. I dealt with a lot of stuff growing up. I don't know when it started, but this summer was when I addressed it. A week before the season ended, I looked at myself in the mirror and knew I not only had to get my body right but my mind right. I went straight to Miami and changed my diet and worked out. But most importantly, I started talking to a therapist to help me get through the depression and anxiety that I was going through, and it's something I'm still dealing with. But I'm coping with it a lot better, and I'm learning ways to continue to feel good." (nola.com, 04 Apr 2019; theathletic.co.uk, 09 Oct 2018)