bBrazilian striker Richarlison has spoken publicly for the first time about his depression after the World Cup in Qatar. The attacker of the English Premier League club said that he was about to give up Tottenham Hotspur in an interview with the ESPN Brazil television channel. “I had just participated in a World Cup, in my best moment. I reached my limits. I won't talk about wanting to commit suicide. But I was in depression and I wanted to give up,” Richarlison said through tears.
As favorites for the title, Brazil failed in the quarterfinals on penalties against Croatia. After the World Cup, Richarlison scored three goals in four games Brazil He was the top scorer, it seemed “as if everything was falling apart. Even me, who seemed mentally strong. Before going to training I wanted to go home, I wanted to go back to my room. “I don't know what was going through my head,” said the professional.
He also told his father that he couldn't take it anymore. “To go to my dad, who was the one who pursued my dream with me, and say, 'Dad, I want to give up,' is crazy,” Richarlison said. He just thought “garbage, I even googled garbage, I just wanted to see some garbage about death.”
He found a way out of this negative spiral with the help of a psychologist. “I think the therapist saved me, he saved my life,” Richarlison said. He strongly advised people who felt like him to seek psychological help.
Before that, I also had great prejudices against psychologists. Some in his family would still think that going to a psychologist was “crazy and crazy.” Richarlison has long seen it differently: for him it was “the best discovery I have made in my life.”