Given that nearly 1 in 5 U.S. adults are dealing with anxiety, depression, or another mental health condition, it’s not surprising that many household names — including celebrated athletes in the National Football League (NFL) — have struggled with their own psychological issues, too.

NFL players face an increased risk for depression, confusion, aggression, and other mental health challenges, according to an article published in the American Psychological Association (APA)’s Monitor on Psychology. Blame lies in part with the repeated head injuries so common in collision sports like football. Those head injuries, in turn, can cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease, according to research published in July 2022 in Frontiers in Neurology.

What’s more, pro football’s ultra-masculine culture is a breeding ground for negative attitudes about mental health problems. As players grow up and train in this sport, they’re often told to “suck it up” and “push through” when they encounter challenges, which can make it difficult to be open about psychological pain, according to Dwight Hollier, a licensed professional counselor and former NFL player, in the Monitor on Psychology article.

To combat that stigma, about a decade ago the NFL launched a league-wide initiative called “Total Wellness,” which provides treatment resources to “all people in the NFL family.” That initiative, in part, may explain why more and more NFL players have recently gone public about their own mental health struggles.

When top athletes and others in the public eye share their experiences with mental illness it helps dispel lingering taboos surrounding the topic and inspires others to seek treatment, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Read on to see how nine football stars deal with their own psychological challenges and what they want others who are struggling to know.