In his return to Chicago, where he spent the first part (and majority of) his career playing with the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons’ guard Derrick Rose spoke at the University of Illinois-Chicago on Thursday about mental health during a discussion panel at Dorin Forum.
“When I was younger, we used to have a lot of things that used to happen in my house and on my block to where I kind of got PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) in a way” Rose said during the panel, according to ESPN’s Eric Woodyard.
“I’ll be downstairs in the basement doing something and I’d hear somebody playing upstairs and I’d run up there thinking somebody was bursting in our house about to attack my cousin … this girl,” Rose described. “She used to beat up everybody in the neighborhood, like she would beat up somebody and I would think they were coming back for revenge. So any little bumps or sounds in the house, I’m scared, or at night I would hear something and get scared because I was thinking that these people came back.”
Rose was forced to drop out of Saturday’s skills challenge due to an adductor strain, but still made it a point to reconnect with the basketball fans in Chicago. Rose has done a lot to repair his relationship with the city, and Bulls fans.
Rose is averaging 18.2 points and 5.8 assists on a career-best 49.0% shooting for the Pistons.
“I wanted to be around my son, my kids. I know it sounds crazy” Rose said. “I wanted to feel the cold weather and to be a part of that in a way where I’m not involved in none of it but people will feel my presence here, so that’s what it’s about.
“I’m enjoying the city — [the activities are] all propaganda,” he added. “Don’t get me wrong, for everybody that’s being a part of events, that’s a great honor and achievement and great accolades, but in the grand scheme of things, all of this is propaganda. It’s man-made, so me knowing that, I feel like I have a better understanding of what I want out of certain things in life and who I’m becoming to give and spread that the way that I want to.”
“I think it’s repaired well. I just know the chi. My vibrations were low,” Rose said speaking to ESPN. “When your vibrations are low, you hear everything, you seek everything, and me seeking or hearing everything. That was just me being attracted to how I was feeling at the time, and that’s negative, so when I changed my vibrations and matured as a person and as a man, that’s when I started to grow and develop who I was as a person and individual and change my character.”
To conclude the session, Rose then talked about what he would say to the 16-year old version of himself if he had the chance to do so today.
“I think it’s repaired well. I just know the chi. My vibrations were low,” Rose said. “When your vibrations are low, you hear everything, you seek everything, and me seeking or hearing everything. That was just me being attracted to how I was feeling at the time, and that’s negative, so when I changed my vibrations and matured as a person and as a man, that’s when I started to grow and develop who I was as a person and individual and change my character.”