Linlithgow Rose boss Brown Ferguson praises brave Darren Smith for revealing mental torment

Linlithgow Rose boss Brown Ferguson has praised the bravery shown by midfielder Darren Smith in publicly sharing his mental health issues.
Linlithgow Rose manager Brown FergusonLinlithgow Rose manager Brown Ferguson
Linlithgow Rose manager Brown Ferguson

Coinciding with Mental Health Awareness Week which finished on Sunday, Rose star Smith tweeted about how anxiety and depression can negatively impact his mood at the drop of a hat, leaving him feel socially isolated.

Smith posted: “It’s impacted me a lot and makes me unable to do certain things.

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“My depression comes especially at night time when I’m in my house and I feel alone and again it’s because of my social anxiety which forces me to stay in.

“I just sit myself with a load of thoughts going through my head most days and nights and put more pressure on myself to try and get out of this feeling but I can’t do it.

“I’m so lucky I have a great family and I’m so thankful to the people who have helped me with it so far but I don’t know when this feeling will go away or if it will ever go away as it doesn’t feel like it will.”

Prestonfield gaffer Ferguson responded to Smith’s heartfelt post by telling the Journal and Gazette: “It was very brave of Darren to put out a tweet about his anxiety and depression.

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“It’s great he has acknowledged that and hopefully there are supportive teams and people round about to help.

“Not having football around is stripping players’ identity away because that’s who they are.

“I think it would be the case in any walk of life or industry, if you take something away from anybody that they are used to doing and they enjoy doing it is going to be very, very difficult to deal with that.

“But there are ways in which people can do so.

“They have to keep themselves mentally in a positive state.

“Because football is sport there are things that you can do instead to keep focussed and keep fit.

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“Hopefully the sooner we can get back to playing football it’s going to be a benefit for everybody because it’s something that we all love.”

Ferguson revealed that Rose players have been staying integrated during lockdown via a WhatsApp online group which includes them participating in a weekly quiz.