Vlog: Foxdrop’s post on being diagnosed with agoraphobia shows the importance of mental health

Well-known LEC caster and League of Legends content creator Dan ‘Foxdrop’ Wyatt published a Twitlonger post yesterday about his anxiety.
It was a personal and brave post mentioning how he has been diagnosed with a panic disorder with agoraphobia – in which you fear and avoid places or situations.
In Foxdrop’s case, his panic disorder gave him a fear of being away from home. In this instance, travelling to the Berlin LEC studio.
“The short story of what I experience is the further away from my “safe zone” (my home) I am, the harder I struggle,” Foxdrop said.
 

“When my anxiety really hits me I feel like the world is ending, I shut down, I cannot function and cannot cope. It quite literally is the worst feeling I can think of (from a mental standpoint).”
Foxdrop

 

He goes on to talk about the diagnosis and how light is at the end of the tunnel: “Two weeks ago I’d pretty much reached the point of giving up when I decided to book a private appointment with a psychiatrist.
“He told me that I had a panic disorder with agoraphobia. You may recognise that colloquially as ‘a fear of going outside’. More specifically for me it’s a fear of places “from which escape is difficult”. Rather than a literal sense, like crowded places or elevators, for me it’s a fear of an inability to run away to my safe zone, i.e home.”
Foxdrop said he’s talking about it publicly because if he can share his problems, it might help people in his audience who also suffer.
Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco really related to Foxdrop’s post, and instead of writing a long-winded opinion article, decided to post a vlog on his thoughts instead:

Further reading: Let’s talk about mental health in esports: 10 individuals share their stories

Dom Sacco

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.

As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.