According to the American Psychological Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Ed. (DSM-5), a mental disorder is a syndrome characterised by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotional regulation, or behaviour that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning. Mental disorders can affect both males and females, across different age groups and ethnicities.
An athlete's mental well-being is vital to their performances. As such, they must be cognizant of the universality of mental disorders in sports including, but not limited to, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Following this, an athlete should be capable to identify with the varying severity of symptoms that are associated with these mental disorders, for example, the extent of impairment in their daily functioning activities.
Australian cricketer Nicole Bolton opened up about her struggle with depression and anxiety in June 2019. Bolton's overall well-being started to decline at the peak of her career, which adversely affected her performances, resulting in missing matches, negatively impacting upon her profession. Bolton stated that she was on the verge of retirement due to mental health issues. In most cases, athletes with mental disorders may tend to avoid people and places.
Premier League footballer Aaron Lennon also freely shared his struggles with depression, associated with a loss of interest in the game, which caused him to lose his place in the Everton team.
Depression is a mood disorder whose wide-ranging symptoms include: extreme feelings of sadness, emptiness, hopelessness, constant tearfulness, reduced interest in pleasure from activities (anhedonia), significant weight loss/gain, insomnia/hypersomnia, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness, diminished ability to concentrate, irritability, and suicidal thoughts.
Symptoms of anxiety involve extreme fear, which can be characterized by an emotional response to real or perceived stimuli, whilst anxiety itself represents the perceived likelihood of future danger.
Athletes may also experience symptoms of depression and anxiety from body shaming. Body shaming involves making humiliating remarks in relation to a person's physical appearance, particularly with respect to body size and shape. This has impacted athletes undesirably, and in many cases resulted in the development of eating disorders, depression, and anxiety.
An Eating Disorder is described as a persistent disturbance in the intake of food which significantly disrupts the physical health or psychosocial functioning of a person. The most popular eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. Prominent US Gymnast Katelyn Ohashi disclosed in March 2019 that her coach body-shamed her by calling her “fat”. She was unable to compete at the elite level in 2015 due to physical injuries as a result of an eating disorder. Similarly, renowned US Olympic Ice Skater Gracie Gold, suffered an eating disorder and depression after she was body-shamed by her coach. This had harmfully affected her presentation in the 2016 Winter Olympics, where she fell during her performance.
Other mental disorders affecting athletes, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD (usually occurring after loss or injury) can be found in the DSM-5 manual.
<Causes of Mental Disorders>
The prognostic factors of mental disorders can stem from temperamental, environmental, genetic, and physiological factors based on valid research.
<Mental health and sttigmatization>
There exists a stigma that surrounds mental health in contemporary society and by extension the Caribbean. Athletes may be apprehensive to speak out on their mental health challenges because of shame, guilt, and/or fear of disapproval by family, friends, society (fans), coaches, and teammates, leading to termination of their career and a loss of identity. The National Institute of Health (NIH) continuously works to transform people's perception of mental health, aimed at prevention and healing.
Recommendations
*An agency similar to the NIH should be established in the Caribbean to address athlete's mental health issues.
*Athletes should also be advised to seek assistance from qualified mental health practitioners, such as a clinical psychologist, psychiatrists, clinical social workers, or mental health counsellors, or to visit a medical doctor for appropriate referrals.
*Coaches and other members of the technical team must be sensitized about mental health issues especially as it relates to the execution of their duties. There also be clearly stated guidelines as to what is considered acceptable behaviour by officials and this must also be communicated to all players as well.
*Athletes are advised to inform their coaches, teammate(s), family member(s) or friend(s) about their symptoms. Sarah Taylor was in praise in a manner in which the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), coach Mark Robinson and her teammates treated with her challenges of anxiety. There must be a high degree of maturity and confidentiality when addressing the issues of mental illness as it relates to all athletes in every sporting discipline.
Editor's Note:
Clinical psychologist Melissa Kanhai (MSc) also collaborated and contributed with the author for this publication.