Rockets rookie Royce White missing from training camp while dealing with anxiety disorder

Houston Rockets rookie Royce White hasn’t made it to the Rockets training camp yet. White suffers from an anxiety disorder that has prevented him for participating so far. This news isn’t a surprise to the Rockets, White was very open about his issues during the draft process, he’s working on them but that doesn’t mean the solution will be quick. His struggles involving anything from the basic day to day pressures to flying.

For their part, the Rockets plan to stick by White for the long term.

“We are trying to figure out a plan for me to be healthy and successful long-term,” White said. “It’s not really anything that’s going on right now. It’s more of trying to take a pro-active approach and trying to put together a solid plan.

“It is definitely linked with my anxiety sure, but it’s not so much as far as my anxiety now. Basically what happened was my doctor, we discussed it, and it was decided the way the plan was now just wasn’t logistically healthy.

“So what can we do strategically to try and improve the chances of everybody being successful in this situation, my success and the Rockets success? If I fail then that’s not good for them either, because it’s an investment.”

Ron Artest aka Metta World Peace was one of the most recently NBA players to bring his struggles with mental illness to the forefront. In the NFL, Bears Brandon Marshall has also been very open about his struggles with borderline personality disorder. There is still a lot of stigma attached to mental illness but with more athletes in the limelight being brave enough to open up about them, it can help others to seek the help that they need.

Kudos to the Rockets for supporting Royce.