Athletes Have Mental Health Issues Too!

Because we see athletes in the media as bigger than life, we also tend to view them as super human and devoid of problems. Just recently, illegal behaviors have surfaced among some high-profile athletes. Athletes in trouble with the law is certainly not breaking news, but it is important to understand that many times mental health issues drive these behaviors. Although criminal activity may be recent, mental health issues have been there all along, sometimes for many years.


High-level athletes – professional, college, high school and youth - are viewed with such god-like qualities that we often forget they are human beings. This does not excuse their illegal and/or inappropriate behaviors, but it is important to realize that athletes and coaches – no matter how talented – possess mental health issues. The field of sport psychology has been expanding its focus in the "clinical" area, in which mental health and personal problems among athletes and coaches are being addressed. Some of the issues include depression, anxiety, burnout, career transition, marital and family problems, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse and anger management just to name a few. As one can notice, however, these are common problems faced by millions of people throughout the world every day, not just athletes. Thus, because athletes possess incredible physical skill does not make them immune to depression, anxiety or a host of other emotionally-related challenges.

Mental health issues are frequently ignored by athletes and coaches because of the stigma being attached to "having a problem" or "seeing a shrink." "Having issues" is viewed as a sign of weakness, and weakness has no place in sports. Although greater acceptance of emotional problems exists in society today, it is not so in athletics. Sports are about winning, success, and not showing weakness. The problem with this mentality, however, is that athletes and coaches ignore mental health issues, and as a result, they grow like bacteria and become worse. Their mental health issues do not go away, and only continue to become worse in most cases. Anytime an emotional difficulty worsens, problematic behaviors resulting from that issue can become more severe. But it is the same with non-athletes – if they struggle with depression or anger management and do not address it, the problem only grows worse and can result in more severe and frequent inappropriate and/or illegal behaviors.

Thus, coaches, athletes and society need to realize that mental health issues are common and not a sign of weakness. In fact, it takes far more courage to address emotional issues than it does to ignore them – talk about strength in athletics! We all need to realize the mental health issues have always been and will always be a part of the human condition, including high-level athletes.