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Bachelor Clayton Echard shares his experience with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a mental health condition that involves obsessively focusing on a real or perceived flaw in one’s physical appearance to a point where it interferes with daily life. If you suffer from BDD, you can find information and resources at ADAA.

In football, I play safety. It’s a position I have taken most of my professional life but also in my journey with mental health advocacy and calling for more awareness and equity, particularly in sports.

Depression and anxiety have a way of creeping into even the most “successful” lives. I convinced myself that if I just worked harder, I’d finally feel whole. But no matter how much I accomplished, it was never enough. I reached a breaking point where I had to make a choice: keep pretending, or finally ask for help. The truth is, reaching out for help was the strongest thing I had ever done.

After years of outward success as a filmmaker, I found myself quietly unraveling—burned out, disconnected, and grieving parts of myself I had buried under achievement. A personal documentary on grief changed everything, teaching me that true healing begins not in pushing forward, but in pausing to feel.

Throughout my journey and the years since, I’ve tried many different strategies to get better including self-help strategies and websites like ADAA for information on what depression is, to formal treatment options including medication, talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and peer support groups.