Former England spinner Monty Panesar has opened up about the mental health issues that he says almost ended his career.
Former England spinner Monty Panesar has opened up about the mental health issues that he says almost ended his career.
Panesar, who hasn’t played for England since the 2013 Boxing Day Test, is on the comeback trail having battled poor mental health in recent years, the 33-year-old admitting he was “in denial” before he finally sought help.
The spinner is seeking strong performances for county side Northampton-shire, who confirmed just last week that Panesar would be available for selection for the 2016 season, in the hope of adding to his 50 Test matches on England’s tours of Bangladesh and India later this year.
“I had paranoia issues,” Panesar was quoted as saying by the Telegraph in cricket.com.au.
“Mentally my confidence would go low and I would feel like my own teammates were out to get me. Partly I was putting blame on myself for not reaching standards.
“When you have mental health issues people stay in denial for a long time and I did that. It took me a while to come out of that.
“But I suddenly realised ‘why am I behaving so abruptly with people My behaviour is not in check’. That is when I realised something was not right and I needed to get help. ”
“I just needed (to) talk through it and identify what was wrong. I have come out of that and I feel a lot better about myself. People are now saying to me that I am lot more together and more my old self,” he added.
