Athletes and Mental Health: How We Change The Stigma

The past few years have brought a changing tide. How we view health has evolved. Mental health is slowly taking its rightful place next to physical health. The pandemic highlighted how impactful poor mental health can be. This collective suffering increased willingness to seek mental health support. Forced isolation and separation from coping strategies caused many to experience depression and anxiety for the first time. Community leaders, celebrities, and athletic icons are coming forward to share their experience with mental health. The stream of headlines are allowing us to see that mental wellbeing is a cornerstone of  athletics. Let’s talk about why this is happening.

College athletes as a population are perceived as high achieving. They have reached the peak of physicality in their area of interest. They are generally required to meet rigorous academic standards. Expectations are high. From a clinical perspective, they are able to manage these high expectations because they have several levels of built in support. They have their team who they see daily, who they live with, who they play with. They have a coaching staff. They have academic support. Most of them have probably been in this supportive environment their whole lives. They have been playing on teams where they have excelled. Their talents are reinforced and validated.

Drive, motivation, strength. These are all words we commonly associate with athletes. Read them again: drive, motivation, strength. Those all begin in your head, with your mental state. Athletes cannot accomplish amazing feats if they are not dedicated and determined. Determination requires mental fortitude. You have to be mentally strong. 

When this pandemic started, we all worried about our physical health. Nothing seemed clear and information was constantly changing. Safety and security were absent on a global scale. Only once we were all trapped in our homes for months did we realize how important mental health is. Anxiety, depression, suicide,... all of it rose. This increase was just as widespread as the virus itself. High achievers, individuals who were fit and young were just as susceptible. What we have seen are the consequences of losing that mental strength and being expected to compete on the same level. 

Now think of this individual: a female soccer star playing on one of the best collegiate teams in the nation. She has worked 18 years to get to this point and she is LOVING IT. She is balancing school with the fitness requirements of maintaining her spot on the roster. She is working hard and developing connections with her teammates. Then it all ends. 

For me, the end of my athletic career rocked my world and for quite some time I struggled to find balance and to understand who I was both on and off of the field. The tragic death of Katie Meyer, Stanford soccer goalkeeper, and Harry Miller’s recent medical retirement due to mental health struggles caused me to reflect on the current state of collegiate athletics.

Athletes who have dedicated their lives to their sport had everything taken away overnight when the world suddenly shut down due to the pandemic. Of course we were all deeply impacted. Many lost loved ones and jobs and homes. The pervasive devastation touched each of us in some way. I want to focus on the shift in perspective for college athletics given the recent headlines. If we look at the pandemic through the lens of a 19 year old soccer star, if we really put ourselves in her shoes, then I think we can see how we got to where we are. 

The data suggests most of us felt it. Most of us felt isolated, lonely, uninterested, scared, tired, sad, worried, irritable. For some, these may have been novel emotions. For many, we wouldn’t have had tools to navigate these feelings had we not been in the midst of a pandemic. So here is the equation:

Forced isolation + fear/anxiety/depression + limited support + limited coping = mental health crisis. 

The global phenomena created a space where we could all share this sentiment. Suddenly, anxiety wasn’t a weakness, it was a reality. That is the bright spot in the darkness of the past few years. We were brought together by our shared experience. 

Athletes are using their platform. Players like Harry Miller, like Simone Biles, like Michael Phelps, they are coming forward and sharing their stories. And their stories involve mental health. Because all of our stories involve mental health. 

We hope athletes continue to share their vulnerability because it matters. Their honesty will help keep the momentum going and will create awareness around the need for mental health resources. If you are a college athlete, or a coach, or a counselor who is looking for support, contact us. We want to help.