The evening after Olympic gymnast Simone Biles shocked the athletic world by withdrawing from the women’s team event in Tokyo, she sat in the stands and cheered on teammate Sunisa Lee as the 18-year-old Hmong American delivered a stunning gold-medal performance in the all-around competition. Afterward, Biles laughingly told reporters that as she watched Lee, she found it hard to believe that a human body could perform such astounding feats.
Of course, the world has been saying similar things for nearly a decade about our fellow Texan, the most dominant gymnast in history. Now we have another reason to admire the poised and eloquent 24-year-old. Her decision to withdraw from Olympic competition because of mental stress has focused attention on the mysterious workings of the mind and the need for all of us — including our elected officials — to take mental health as seriously as physical health.
Biles said she was inspired by Naomi Osaka, the tennis champion who withdrew from two Grand Slam tournaments earlier this year to tend to her mental health. “We have to protect our minds and our bodies, and not just go out and do what the world wants us to do,” Biles said.
Her astute observation transcends gymnastics; it transcends sports in general. The courage of a young role model to acknowledge her vulnerability has focused much-needed attention on mental health for everyone.
Another bit of related news out of Washington, D.C., received less attention. The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia announced that two of its officers who responded to the Capitol riot on January 6 had died by suicide in recent weeks. Gunther Hashida, a member of the force’s emergency response team, was an 18-year veteran of the force; he was found at his home on July 29. Officer Kyle DeFreytag, a four-year veteran, was found on July 10.
Their deaths were the third and fourth suicide among law enforcement officers who responded to the invasion of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. Officer Howard Liebengood, who died on January 10, was a 16-year veteran of the United States Capitol Police Force. Officer Jeffrey Smith, who died on January 15, was a 12-year veteran of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. (Another Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, died after suffering two strokes in the aftermath of the riot.)
Obviously, the deaths of four police officers by their own hand is a much more serious and distressing occurrence than the dashed aspirations of a celebrated gymnast. All, however, are sobering reminders that mental health issues, whether performance anxiety, the strain of a months-long pandemic lockdown or a first-responder’s post-traumatic stress disorder, are just as serious as a physical injury.
Athletes at every level have long been expected to “suck it up” or “power through it,” whether the difficulty they’re facing is mental, physical or both. For gymnasts, the ideal has been Kerri Strug who badly injured an ankle and landed a vault on one leg at the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta, as the United States won its first-ever team gold medal.
Police officers also have been expected to stoically endure one of the most stressful jobs imaginable. They expect it of themselves as well. Those expectations are unrealistic.
Filmmaker Conrad Weaver, working on a documentary about first-responders dealing with PTSD, points out in a March blog posting on the National Alliance on Mental Illness website that mental health disorders are widespread. He noted that more than 140 police officers had killed themselves in the first three months of 2021 and cited other troubling statistics: both firefighters and police officers are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty. An estimated 18-28 percent of 911 dispatchers and 35 percent of police officers suffer from PTSD. Trying to cope with the trauma they encounter every day, many self-medicate with alcohol or other substances.
“We know they are heroes; but we don’t realize that many are in trouble themselves!” Weaver wrote.
For both athletes and first-responders, a stubbornly enduring stigma discourages admitting mental-health difficulties. Fortunately, world-class athletes such as former Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps talking about depression and now Biles raising mental health issues in her own high-stress sport are beginning to chip away at the reluctance. Police departments around the country increasingly acknowledge the need for therapy, but officers often worry that asking for help could be detrimental to their careers. They may be right.
In addition to the stigma, police officers and others dealing with mental health issues often have difficulty finding a therapist, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, particularly if they live in rural or small-town America. And when they do, they’ll likely face issues with insurance coverage.
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, enacted in 2008, was supposed to prevent health insurance providers from “imposing less favorable benefit limitations” on mental health or substance use disorder than on medical and surgical benefits. It hasn’t worked out that way. Mental health treatment is still not equal to physical health treatment.
Several pieces of legislation dealt with parity in the regular session of the Texas Legislature this year, although it remains an ongoing challenge to make sure that insurance companies, employers and the public at large are aware of the coverage disparity. A young gymnast deserves our thanks for reviving the conversation about these so-called invisible illnesses — illnesses that affect one in five adults in this country.
In the midst of the highest-profile athletic event in the world, Simone Biles grounded herself, literally and figuratively. She brought the rest of us back to earth, as well, with her reminder that a healthy mind is just as basic and rudimentary — and deserving of attention — as a well-functioning body.
