If you are an athlete, you have not only heard these words before, but they seem to be the essence of mental toughness. So what happens when being nervous turns into an anxiety attack? TOUGH IT OUT? And what happens when sadness turns to depression? Unfortunately, the issue of mental health of high school and college student-athletes is neglected and stigmatized.
According to a 2016 study by the National College Athletic Association, 30% of about 200,000 student-athletes reported feeling depressed or claimed to have experienced overwhelming anxiety. Today, 1 in every 4 student-athletes suffers from some sort of mental distress. They minimize the effects of their depression, anxiety, or eating disorder in fear of being perceived as inferior by teammates and coaches.
According to a 2016 study by the National College Athletic Association, 30% of about 200,000 student-athletes reported feeling depressed or claimed to have experienced overwhelming anxiety. Today, 1 in every 4 student-athletes suffers from some sort of mental distress. They minimize the effects of their depression, anxiety, or eating disorder in fear of being perceived as inferior by teammates and coaches.
Services
For the longest time, I thought asking for help was a sign of weakness because that's kind of what society teaches us. That's especially true from an athlete's perspective. If we ask for help, then we're not this big macho athlete that people can look up to. Remember the saying, "Sports are 20% physical and 80% Mental."?
Call it a stigma or call it fear or insecurity - you can call it a number of things - but what I was worried about wasn't just my own inner struggles but how difficult it was to talk about them. I didn't want people to perceive me as somehow less reliable as a teammate, and it all went back to the playbook I'd learned growing up.
Whether you're a student athlete, coach or a psych professional, tell us your story for a chance to be on our YouTube show to be interevied. Want to discuss Mental Fitness? Tell us why you should be our next guest on OffsetPsych. This websites content is not designed for use as medical references to diagnose, treat or prevent medical illnesses or trauma.
Reviews
Be the first to review Offsetpsych.
Write a Review
