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Dan Kois: So now we have this very high-profile example of someone at the absolute top of her sport, literally the greatest gymnast of all time, bailing in the middle of the biggest competition there is. And I am struggling to figure out how to talk about this. Because while I understand the importance of mental health, and I understand applauding Simone Biles for taking care of herself in a crisis situation, I have now discovered that I apparently still have all kinds of presumably old-fashioned ideas about athletes fighting through adversity, and Olympians sticking it out for their teammates, and even playing through pain. Probably I’ve been watching too many NBC puff pieces about people winning gold, even after they tear their seventh ACL.
Listen • 47:24
Medical worker Margaret Watkins embraces co-worker Shelly Burke as part of their morning therapy, a family check in. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
A year of COVID, economic downturns and poisonous politics. So how are you doing? Really. We discuss the pandemic’s impact on collective mental health.
Guests
Dr. Luana Marques, trained research psychologist. Associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Director of Community Psychiatry PRIDE at Massachusetts General Hospital. (@DrLuanaMarques)
Dr. Kevin Simon, trained adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist physician. Child and adolescent psychiatry fellow; addiction medicine fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital. Clinical fellow in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. (@DrKMSimon)