Mental health and athletes, young and old
Conversations about the mind and sports that I have participated in over the years have tended to consist of topics like mind over body, “training” the mind, etc. Now there’s a different, and growing, dialogue: Mental health and sports.
Mental health is of course still a delicate topic in our culture, and that delicacy only sharpens in the competitive, tough world of sports. This is strange territory. Significant aspects of athletics involve learning to play with discomfort and to work through the mind’s desire to give in before the body needs to. A coach may call you out, challenge you, in a way that changes your life for the positive.
Those perspectives have made up much of the conversations, but now, as the mental health dialogue expands, including into sectors like the military, we’re getting smarter, and the conversation about mental health and sports has included various perspectives on this topic, stretching from the youngest athletes to the pros.
The UKEd story “Sports involvement linked to fewer depressive symptoms in children” described a study that found that “Participation in team sports is associated with fewer depressive symptoms in children.” The link between depression and exercise had been previously reported in adults, but a study from the journal of Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging was the first to make a similar connection in children. Exercise is good for kids–it’s good for them to move around. But today, they often move around in structured ways, ways governed by parents and other adults that may be good for the bodies but less so for their minds.
The Atlantic’s explored the connection between high school athletes and mental health in “Why Are So Many Teen Athletes Struggling With Depression?” The increase in depression, Flanagan writes, may be because “high-school sports have begun to copy the training methods and intensity levels of college sports.” One-sport specialization is in the mix here (and, if you think about it, that makes perfect sense, because if at 15 all your eggs are in one basket and that basket topples… ), as are both increased injury because of such lack of specialization and intensive parental commitment and involvement, which even when benevolent can send kids messages about how much time and money their parents have committed.
Shane Murphy, a Connecticut sports psychologist, told Flanagan that change may come at higher levels: “What happens at the college level will trickle down to high school.” Indeed, in a Chronicle of Higher Education article, “College Athletes Push for Better Mental-Health Care,” writer Kelly Field talks with collegiate athletes who discuss a fundamental aspect of athletics that is at odds with symptoms of anxiety and depression: Withholding weakness. Athletes may be physically healthier than their peers, Field finds, but they have similar rates of mental illness and are “less likely to seek help.” There is a movement to start treating mental health issues with the same immediacy and care as musculoskeletal issues. Right now, only one-fifth of D1 colleges have a mental health provider in the athletic training room vicinity.
The conversation continues through elite sports. The NBA, for instance, has been the subject of several conversations about mental health, including those featuring specific players like Kevin Love, who discussed his therapy experiences in a GQ interview.
I had to put a lot of work in to succeed in sports, and while I had sometimes wished I were a natural, looking back, the fundamental challenge of overcoming my conventional limits was one of the draws for me.
But there were some weird days, like when during my college wrestling career, as a member of the not-so-mighty Rutgers-Camden Pioneers, I had a disappointing night on the mat my senior year. I came home to my apartment and found a 2 x 4, a screwdriver, and some screws (why I had any of those items is a mystery) and spent hours screwing screws into the 2 x 4.
My roommates and I laugh about it to this day. I kind of admire my amped-up 23-year-old self for that.
But it’s a little wacky, yes? And, I swear, I was one of the sane ones (no matter what my roommates might say). Certainly, there was no one to turn to in our training room to tell me one way or the other.
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Great article, so proud of Liz for bring this to everyone’s attention. My brother’s played baseball, basketball and golf back in the 60’s/70’s when organized sports were run by parents. No uniforms other than sneakers, and shirt sponsored by a local business. Fast forward 20 years later, my own sons played soccer, baseball all on very organized and competitive teams. My oldest son quit soccer when they coaches wanted the team to run suicides in 102 degree weather. He left fall ball when conflicted with church obligations. My youngest son hated baseball, (it was a success when his coaches got him to stay in the batters box after getting pegged several times). He played soccer in high school and I suggested he find another sport when he was moving into his junior year. I explained to him that he would not get a great deal of playing time as he was not one of the more talented players, (today that would be considered too honest). I suggested cross country for both of my sons, both are still running and are in good physical shape (thanks Mr. Slocum). My son’s were never star athletes, but the learned the importance
of teamwork. My husband and I taught them that once you joined a team,
you finished with the team. If you didn’t want to play the following year that’s okay. Having 13 nieces and nephews and nieces, and 14 great nieces and nephews, I see first hand how sports has way too much influence in their lives.