The 31-year-old took a break from sports last year to focus on his mental health as he suffered a panic attack caused by his father’s brain cancer nearly two years ago.
He announced in July that he would retire from one-day cricket, citing the “unstoppable” rigor of playing all three formats of the game.
“I never thought I’d be on medication to help me with stuff like that. I’m not ashamed or embarrassed to say that because I needed help at the time,” Stokes said in an Amazon documentary.
“But it’s not done just because I’m playing back. I still talk to the doctor, not regularly, and I’m still taking medication every day. It’s an ongoing process.”
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Stokes said that when he took a break, he felt a deep resentment towards cricket because he was not able to meet his dying father as much as he wanted.
“So I had a real thing with cricket when I took a break. I was really angry at the game because it was deciding when I could see my father,” he told the Telegraph in an interview.
He emphasized the importance of talking openly about mental health and said that it was not human nature to pretend to be well.
I think sometimes people are a little nervous to go into detail about things like this with me. It’s believed that you can’t feel a certain way – it’s a sign of weakness that you’re not feeling well mentally,” he said.
“People think they can’t ask people who have struggled. No. That’s fine. I’ll happily tell you as much as I can.”