“Didn’t realize how much I was struggling” – Aly Raisman on bringing attention to mental health crisis

Aly Raisman is one of the greatest Olympic gymnasts ever. She is a six-time Olympic medalist, which includes three gold, two silver, and one bronze medal.

Last month, the captain of the 2016 Rio Olympics America's Final Five team appeared in an interview with Fox 5 New York channel. Raisman was asked about the time she realized that she was struggling with depression and not a teenage thing. The Olympian replied:

"I think I started to realize that when I had moments where I actually felt better, and I felt happier, and I realized that I maybe hadn't felt like that in a long time and um, I guess, I didn't realize how much I was struggling until I started to feel, um, you know, just more like myself."

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Aly Raisman talks about her mental health issues

In last month's interview, gymnastics legend Aly Raisman opened up about her mental health issues and how she tackled the problem. She started by telling the interviewer that she is still learning about anxiety and depression. Raisman also talked about what happened to her during these phases.

Later on, the Olympic medalist was asked about how she deals with triggers. She explained, in response, how difficult it is to know the trigger points and how hard it is to deal with them.

"It's very hard. That's also an everyday struggle for me. You know, I still am navigating my triggers. It's something that I've just, I'm learning. Um, and sometimes even just being aware of my trigger is, um, can be challenging in itself. Because it's almost like, sometimes I feel like worse before, I feel better because being aware, that I'm triggered almost makes me feel like more frustrated and more upset, of like okay!"

Aly Raisman continued detailing how she is dealing with the problem and mentioned the people around her who helped her recover from it.

"That's why, I think doing therapy, and being, you know, just meeting so many people has really helped, because it made me realize that every day, it's okay, that I feel differently and just learning to take a day by day. But you know, as I mentioned, I'm also in therapy and I have also learned the importance of communicating with my support system, that people around me and just asking for help. You know, when I need it and I asked for it."

Aly Raisman at the testimony of Larry Nassar Investigation

In the end, Aly Raisman was asked how she managed to take care of herself even after talking about the man who abused her - Larry Nassar. She explained:

"I'm learning to advocate for myself and to set better boundaries. And, you know, I think that when I first started speaking up about my experience of abuse, I did feel this pressure to always talk about it. You know whether I was at dinner at the airport, if someone wants to talk about it, I felt this pressure like I had to."

Raisman went on to reveal how she managed not to speak to people about the incident:

"Because I spoke about it, now you know, if you know, if honestly, it was like recently, at a party for a friend, and somebody came up and wanted to talk about it. And I try to really kindly let them know. You know, I'd love to talk to you honestly about anything else, except for my experience of abuse."

Aly Raisman has certainly been a great gymnast. But she has also played a great role off the mat, in raising issues that afflict sportspersons.