Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff spoke about his struggles with his mental health, revealing that he has been seeing a psychiatrist for the last 18 years to help him.
Wolff spoke candidly about how he still sometimes suffers mentally, in the high-risk, public-facing position he occupies in Formula 1 and the pressure placed on him as a result.
The Mercedes CEO added that the stigma of admitting his problems doesn’t faze him at all, and that seeing someone in therapy not only helped him through difficult times, but also allowed him to get the best of himself.
“High-profile people who seem to have it all but are struggling, I think we have an obligation to say that we’re getting help and it’s okay to get help,” Wolff said. The times.
“I have been seeing a psychiatrist since 2004. I think I have been seeing a psychiatrist for more than 500 hours [of therapy]. I have suffered mentally and still do.
“Getting help is a way of overcoming my problems and has helped me access untapped potential. I have never had a problem with stigma.
“Some of the most successful people are very, very sensitive, and very, very sensitive means very, very vulnerable.”
Conversations about mental health in sport have become more prominent in recent years, with McLaren driver Lando Norris also speaking about how he initially struggled to deal with the rigors of becoming a Formula 1 driver and suffering mentally. therefore.
Norris recently admitted himself that while he does his best to “laugh” at online trolls, he is naturally still affected by the negative comments, and sometimes more threatening messages, that he sometimes encounters on social media.
“It’s just an unfortunate reality of the world we live in,” he said“And there were extreme death threats that went way overboard.
“There’s a lot of effort that we as a team and F1 are putting into these kinds of things to improve and get rid of those kinds of people.
For anyone suffering from their own mental health problems, the mental health charity Mind offers support and advice on how these problems can be dealt with.
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