Footballer Thomas Marijnissen has returned to his old club NAC after five years. The attacker played one professional game for the Breda team at the end of 2016. After that, he was affected by psychological problems and even stopped playing football. He talks candidly about it in the Omroep Brabant sports program De Zuidtribune.
Five years ago, Marijnissen suffered from panic attacks. It took a while before he knew what was going on. “I didn’t talk about it,” he says now. “I also think because of shame. I didn’t know this about myself at all. I was always in the front and then this.”
“I couldn’t place it all.”
But the anxiety disorder didn’t go away, it kept spreading and getting worse. “When I got up, I felt tension in my body. When I went to the club, but also at home. I had palpitations and things like that. I couldn’t place it all. Then I thought, it won’t happen again today, will it? Well, then you can guess it of course.It got very intense at one point, I couldn’t eat and I couldn’t sleep anymore.
I didn’t talk to anyone about it until I saw a TV broadcast with Andy van der Meijde and Ricardo Kishna. The football player of ADO Den Haag struggled with depression and panic attacks. He talked candidly about this on the TV show. “It really opened my eyes,” says Marijnissen. “I thought I have that too.”
“I’ve been given a second chance.”
It didn’t go away on its own, he really had to work with it and he did. “It was such a relief and it’s important to talk about it. I think there are more people who have the same thing as me, but it’s not talked about much, especially in sport.”
Marijnissen eventually ended up with the football amateurs and managed to fight back after a few years. “I feel good, mentally and physically. I enjoy what I do, I can play football more freely and then you have to think less and it goes by itself. I have been given a second chance, I will use it well.”