Mental health is a vital part of the success of an athlete, whether they are a student or

professional. In a ten-year time frame, 477 athletes died from suicide (Velasco, 2017). The

purpose of this synthesis was to determine which mental health issues are most prevalent among

college athletes, how they handle them, and what colleges and universities are doing to help.

From someone who did competitive sports their entire life, mental state was a large consideration

to my performance and the way I felt while practicing, competing, and all-around being a more

robust athlete. There are many alternative views on the stigma of psychological state in sports.

Many sources state that mental states must be normalized while in sports which athletes

shouldn't be stigmatized for a chemical imbalance within the brain that they can't control. The

four most prevalent mental disturbances in athletes is depression. It's becoming more prevalent

in college sports that they are employing a mental state specialist to assist with this stigma in

sports. There's also a stigma on mental state professionals in these sports that they do not know

what they're talking about. Athletes are also liable to misdiagnosis of psychopathy than are

non-athletes, particularly with problems that are associated with preparation and will be viewed

from a more narrow physiological perspective instead of a broader bio-psychological

perspective.

I've found many sources supporting this argument of constructing a psychological state

normalized in sports and athletes mustn't be penalized for having psychopathy. This source is titled,

“Stigma deterring elite athletes with mental state issues from seeking help.” In keeping with

Science Daily quoting the BMJ, the stigma of mental state in elite athletes is keeping them from

seeking help. Therefore may lead tohigher cases of suicide and worsening psychological disorders.

During this article, coaches and sport governing bodies are providing a key to changing the culture

at hand. The researchers note, “Athletes fear, possibly rightly so, that disclosing psychological state
symptoms or disorders would scale back their chances of maintaining or signing an expertteam,

contract or an cause.” Athletes who have this fear of not getting a contract with a team or drive are

more likely to never speak up about their mental state. Coaches should be one amongst the lead

roles during this issue, they must be providing the resources for his or her athletes to look for help

and believe that it's completely normal to feel the way they are doing. The researchers argue that

this stigma prevents athletes from seeking help because they're afraid that they'll be viewed as a

weakness instead of a winner or success story.

Another excellent source comes from a narrative review written by Gary Souter, Robin

Lewis, and Laura Serrant. The report is titled, “Men, mental state and Elite Sport: a Narrative

Review.'' The subsequent researchers are huge within the medical specialty industry specializing in

Health and Wellbeing. They describe within the article that this stigma majorly affects men. Men

have always had this expectation to never share their feelings or show weakness because they're

imagined to be viewed as the protector during this society. Within the article, it states, “Anxiety in

athletes is often both facilitative and debilitative. Elite athletes can view symptoms of tension as

performance-enhancing. In some sports competition, anxiety is taken into account as normal,

although athletes who experience excessive levels of competition anxiety can experience negative

consequences like impaired performance.” When an athlete has impaired performance due to bad

psychological state training, it can affect the full team and the way they'll all perform overall.

Something I noticed while doing competitive sports was that if one person had a negative attitude

or had a nasty day, the entire team would become very negative. These three researchers are mainly

describing the aftermath of athletes not addressing or speaking out about their psychopathy issues.

They include the subsequent about injuries being associated with having no “mental toughness”

and also if an athlete is injured it causes a greater risk to the athlete developing a depressive or
mental disturbance. Athletes suffer from the next risk of injuries and 80% of the time, athletes

attending for treatment on their injury also discussed their psychological issues caused by the

injury. The researchers target a gaggle study, negative emotions like depression, sadness, and anger

were potential outcomes for both short-term and long-term injuries. Their main thesis and argument

on the subject are that although there are a variety of help-seeking campaigns particularly

supported on social media, there should be further education and awareness of psychological state

issues geared toward elite male and feminine athletes. Athletes can't be considered “mentally

tough” all of the time but if they're supported and encouraged to get help and share their

experiences, this may significantly improve their mental fitness and provide them a greater sense of

emotional wellbeing.

Likewise, during this source, the researchers are mainly blaming the faculties and

universities for being the matter with athletes not speaking out. Schools must be held in command

of their actions towards helping elite and student athletes with their mental state, and also the

NCAA has been avoiding addressing this issue. they're defending coaches and other authority

figures for this stigma not being addressed and taking it out on the systems of the faculties in

question. there's a writing that specifically calls out the NCAA for not providing the resources

needed to mend the stigma because they simply don’t believe that it's an issue. The article is titled,

“NCAA faces an uphill battle getting psychological state care to student-athletes.” The first

researcher and author of this text are Wendell Barnhouse. Wendell Barnhouse started his career as a

sportswriter at 18 and spent the subsequent four decades in newspapers writing and editing. He has

spent the last three years freelancing, last covering college basketball for The Athletic. Within the

article, Barnhouse argues that “Athletes in any respect levels of competition can face psychological

state issues. However, many are afraid to hunt help, and finding that help will be challenging
especially if their coach isn't supportive.” Athletes shouldn't be terrified of what is going to happen

to them or their career if they speak up about what's happening inside them and outdoors the game.

In conclusion, this stigma of mental health in sports should be brought to more attention. As

someone who has struggled with mental health and also performing in elite sports for 13+ years, I

think this is a huge issue. Athletes have always been so afraid of sharing how they are doing

because of the consequences that have been acted on in the past on other athletes. Mental toughness

is a huge part of performing to the best potential in a sport and athletes should be taught these ways

and how to cope. I think a part of this issue can be pointed towards the coaches and schools as well.

They are not providing the resources such as a mental health specialist or being open to help their

athletes get the help they need.

WORKS CITED:

➢ BMJ. "Stigma deterring elite athletes with mental health issues from seeking help:

Coaches and sports governing bodies key to changing the culture, say, experts."

ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 May 2019.

<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190516185917.htm>.

➢ Ramsammy, Andrew. “NCAA Faces Uphill Battle Getting Mental Health Care to

Student-Athletes.” Global Sport Matters, 18 Feb. 2021,

globalsportmatters.com/health/2019/08/21/ncaa-faces-uphill-battle-getting-mental-health-

care-to-student-athletes.

➢ “Men, Mental Health and Elite Sport: A Narrative Review.” PubMed Central (PMC), 1

Dec. 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6300449.

 ➢ Carr, Christopher. “Sports Psychology: Psychological Issues and Applications.” PubMed,

2006, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16952750.

➢ Gee, Chris. “How Does Sport Psychology Improve Athletic Performance? A Framework

to Facilitate Athletes’ and Coaches’ Understanding.” PubMed, 2010,

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20935240.

➢ Gulliver, Amelia. “Barriers and Facilitators to Mental Health Help-Seeking for Young

Elite Athletes: A Qualitative Study.” BMC Psychiatry, 26 Sept. 2012,

bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-244X-12-157.

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