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Nevaeh Lanter

Ms. Castro

ENGL 1301

24 September 2023

The Mind Affects the Body

The definition of mental health is the psychological well-being and satisfactory

adjustment to society and to the ordinary demands of life (Kariger). COVID-19 was a turning

point for the world; this pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of the population. In

response to the pandemic, many mental health professionals found in their research that out of

the population affected, athletes stand out from the rest. In the article, “The Role of Mental

Health Care in Reaching Optimal Performance in Sports,” Aaron Mack discusses how attending

to the mental health among athletes will increase their performance. The article’s purpose is to

implement mental health awareness in the sports world. In effort to persuade the readers that

mental health is important to athletes, Mack uses logos, or logic, by providing a plan based off of

extensive research, credibility through ethos by including respectable organizations with their

credible findings, and finally, tapping into the emotions of the audience by stepping into the

concerns of the athletes and seeking help with their mental health; this is also known as pathos.

Many people base their point of view on a specific subject because of the facts that come

along with it; logos is a persuasive technique that uses those facts along with research and

statistics to persuade an audience. The article contains a fully developed plan that has been

constructed based on research that focuses on the effects of mental health in athletes’

performance. The text reads, “To that end, the proposed approach includes the implementation
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of two assessments: the Psychiatric Basic Assessment (PBA) and Sports Psychiatric Examination

(SPE) [10];” after this statement, there is a thorough explanation of how and why the

implementation of these two assessments would benefit athletes in the sports society (Mack 2).

The implantation of these tests will provide a safe and ethical way for sports medicine staff to

properly detect and attend to mental health issues (Mack 3). This text also used information

about the implementation of sports physicians and psychiatrists to the sports medicine

department. In effort to persuade and inform the readers Mack writes,

Sports medicine physicians are essential in helping to maintain athletes’ safety and

physical health, providing comprehensive medical care from injury prevention to

diagnosis and treatment… Sports psychologists have been invaluable in helping athletes

manage the mental and emotional demands of competition and training, providing

support, guidance, and strategies to help athletes stay focused and motivated while

maintaining a healthy balance between sports and life (2).

This is a wonderful use of logos because the author thoroughly explains the use of each

profession. By explaining what each doctor specializes in, the reader can better understand the

benefits that come with their addition to the sports medicine staff. Furthermore, the text explains

that “sports psychiatrists can support athletes and coaches to help them navigate the complex

process of seeking help for mental health issues and ensure that athletes receive the best possible

care” (2). Mack writing this further explains benefits that come with the implementations of the

two assessments and two new fields to the staff. Mack uses all the facts he has gathered from his

research to his advantage by sharing fully developed explanations that can not be disputed.

Mack also uses ethos to his advantage by proving that he is credible; he also strengthens

his credibility by showing he is only one of the many other credible sources that has discovered
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this information. Ethos, or the use of ethics, is when an author uses their profession to say “I am

a credible source;” or another researcher’s data to say “I found the information I am sharing from

a credible source.” This article was written by candidates from two psychiatry departments in

two different universities; furthermore, the works cited page harbors ten citations, each a

provisional mental health facility. The research and development of the plan was all done by the

original authors; the only reason there are citations is to support their initial findings. For

example, Mack writes in the article,

Sports psychiatry has advanced significantly over the past few decades, leading to a

greater acceptance of seeking help for mental health issues among high performing

athletes. Evidence suggests that athletes with better mental health are more likely to

perform better than their peers, stay motivated, and show greater resilience in the face of

difficult situations on and off the playing field [2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Moreover, early

sport-specific mental health interventions can improve an athlete’s performance [4, 5, 7]

(2).

From this, it is clear that the citation of multiple sources is used to highlight that the authors are

not the only ones that have found this information to be true, not to say that this is where the

information was found. In doing this, Mack brings strength to his credibility, and the integrity of

his argument by proving that other credible sources are getting the same results from their own

research.

Finally, Mack reaches into the hearts, and taps into the emotions of the readers using

pathos in his article. Pathos is a persuasive technique whose focus is solely on the emotions of

the audience. The technique is used in the article by reaching into the way athletes think and feel

about mental health issues. The text reads, “Many athletes feel that disclosing mental health
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issues evoke feelings of shame and being seen as being not ‘mentally tough’ [8, 9]; further

leading to a culture of silence, continued stigma, and the undervaluing of mental health in the

sports world” (Mack 1-2). From this, he provides an inside look to one of the many factors of

why mental health in athletes is overlooked. “Mentally tough” is the phrase that makes this

quote extremely effective; any coach or player will fully understand the weight of this phrase; the

reason being, this phrase is used and understood across the entirety of the sports industry. (Mack

2). Coaches preach to be mentally tough, and athletes work to prove they are mentally tough. In

not knowing the weight of the phrase in regards to mental health, one could make an assumption

of its power in the sports world because the phrase is used in the context of, “...further leading to

a culture of silence, continued stigma, and the undervaluing of mental health in the sports world”

(Mack 1-2). From this, the reader can identify that some athletes are in a constant state of mental

struggle. However, the stigma that comes with realizing that there is a mental health issue causes

athletes to turn away from seeking help. In consequence, the reader feels empathy towards

athletes, and will in turn support Mack’s solution to the mental health crisis in the sports industry.

This is a well thought out and strategic use of pathos; Mack brings forward a new perspective on

why the implementation of this plan into the sports medicine world is a necessity.

Aristotel, the creator of logos, ethos, and pathos, said that in order to successfully

persuade an audience, all three techniques must be used; in turn, Mack successfully and

effectively implemented all three techniques in his article. Logos is shown with detailed

explanations providing information about the solution he formulated in order to attend to the

mental health of athletes. The use of ethos is shown by proving that the author is not the only

credible source that believes in the implantation of the two assessments. Finally, pathos is used

by showing the reader the inside view of why mental health is overlooked in the sports world
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through the concept of mental toughness. Each of these techniques are used in the effort to

implement a plan that Mack has formulated to benefit athletes in the sports industry. Mental

health issues are real, and they affect many people in the world. This article took a closer look at

those issues in athletes, and argued for the implementation of a guideline and professions to help

the mind of athletes positively affect the performance of their bodies.

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Works Cited

Kariger, Brian. “Mental Health Definition & Meaning.” Dictionary.Com, Dictionary.com,

14 May 1995, www.dictionary.com/browse/story.

Mack, Aaron A., et al. “The Role of Mental Health Care in Reaching Optimal Performance in

Sports.” Sports Psychiatry: Journal of Sports and Exercise Psychiatry, June 2023.

EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1024/2674-0052/a000050.