‘When I Was Playing, No One Really Talked About Mental Health.’

As a lineman for the Miami Dolphins, Jonathan Martin was at the center of a scandal in 2013 that created a national conversation around bullying and mental health in sports.

He left the N.F.L. two years later, and has contended with depression and anxiety. He’s bounced from job to job and was arrested in 2018 and charged with making a criminal threat for posting to social media a disturbing photo of a shotgun. The charge was dismissed this year after Martin completed a diversion program.

In his first public interview in years, Martin, 32, said that therapy and medication have helped control his depression, anxiety and mood swings, a point he plans to underscore when he speaks Friday at a…