Football has been described as “more than just a game” (Jones, 1995). As a result, footballers are experiencing psychological distress despite achieving great sporting success. To attest to this point, more than one quarter of professional footballers suffer from symptoms of depression and anxiety (Gouttebarge, 2014). Football is a highly pressured environment where emotional experiences […]
1 in 4 of us will suffer with poor mental health at some point in our lives. Anxiety can affect around 16% of the British population at any one time with depression affecting around 1 in 10 adults. Anxiety and depression are generally controlled through medication and, for the fortunate who have reached the top […]
It is often said that a sports star will die twice, the first time at retirement. For elite athletes who have dedicated their lives to sport, what happens when your time comes to an end, if you aren’t an athlete, then who are you? Elite athletes train extensively for years, in many cases, consuming the […]
Numerous accounts of high profile sports people suffering from depression have surfaced in recent times. Unfortunately, not all cases have been reported by the victim and recent newspaper reports in Ireland revealed the tragic loss of a talented young inter county senior hurler. He was one of many that suffered in silence. The opening up […]
Retirement – the reality! For many years, sport psychologists have referred to retirement from sport as a ‘transition’. However, Nesti and Littlewood (2010) argue that the term ‘transition’ suggests that such an event is smooth and easy to negotiate. Although there will be cases where this is in fact true, in reality, the experience of […]
Not so long ago I was asked by a friend of mine, who is an athlete as well as me and has been for most of his life, whether I would encourage my own children into the competitive world of athletics. After a lot of consideration there was an uncertainty over the answer, but more […]
Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses worldwide and in recent years the affirmation of depression has increased within the elite athlete population. Despite the alarmingly large amount of athletes acknowledging their depression, a lot remains unknown about their true experiences and why it occurs. Robert Enke’s suicide, Kelly Holmes act of self-harming, […]
The development of depression during retirement from professional sport has been highlighted by many athletes and most recently by swimming legend Ian Thorpe. James Cracknell has spoken about his tunnel vision of sport performance and subsequent inability to broaden his horizons in retirement. Alternatively sports stars have often quit a major competition or retired from […]
More and more factors such as anxiety, depression, anger, worry, and frustration just to name a few are becoming the norm in not just elite level and professionals sport but even sport at a recreational level. Sports psychologists are in ever increasing demand to deal with these issues with performers often explaining how they want […]
Introduction Firstly I should state that I’m not a mental health expert. I have however studied sport and exercise psychology, therefore the effects that sport and exercise have on our mental attitude (and vice-versa) is of immense interest to me. As a result I’m going to approach this article from an exercise psychology perspective and outline […]