Photo: Alex Caparros / Getty Images
Sergi Darder, player of Espanyol de Barcelona and ex-Lyon, spoke about his mental health problems that he has experienced in the Spanish club and how he has fought in recent months.
“In 2020 I realized and accepted that I was not well. I am not going to use the word depression because there are people who are having a hard time, they are sick, but I needed help. I wanted to be a soccer player, have a house, car, family, children. I had everything and I wasn’t happy”, said the player.
Darder explained that he was in a situation where he had what he had always wanted, but he still didn’t feel happy in his life. “My friends work eight hours a day breaking stones, they have no money and they are happier than me. What’s wrong with me?”, He told ESPN.
“For a year, my mom, my wife, my agent told me ‘you’re not okay, don’t lock yourself in your room, go out and get help.’ I told them: ‘What? How am I going to go to a psychologist? I’m good’. It was difficult to accept it, but when I did I realized that I had no motivation to do anything. I didn’t feel like playing or training. Everyone was better than me, I felt that I was worth nothing. I was 26 years old and said: ‘I have years of football, I want to enjoy them, make the most of them and not suffer them”, commented the player.
Now after attending therapy and getting to know each other better, the Spaniard reported that he began to enjoy football again and improved relationships with his partner and family.
“I wanted to recover the joy of living. He had a bad training session and didn’t want to talk to anyone. They said something to me and I yelled at them. It was wrong; football had dominated me too much. It devoured me, it overwhelmed me. I sought help”, he said.
Darder reported that the specialist helped him to communicate better with his family and to be receptive with them to improve their relationship, and not that the Spaniard shut himself up in his room as a solution to problems.
“My relationship with them was not broken, was that I didn’t speak because I locked myself in my room. It was my fault, not theirs. So my role was to make us happier and he helped me get closer to them again. When I started to recover that part of my life, I was able to move on to more football-oriented mental work. You go from psychologist to mental coach,” he said.
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