User:Adejulius/Health issues in athletics

Help-Seeking Behaviors[edit]
There is a stigma associated with mental health in athletes. Many barriers are present for athletes to find treatment for their mental health issues. It may be considered weak, and they should be conditioned to 'push through' the psychological pain and obstacles. Another barrier may be explaining to the athlete their right to privacy, though it is sometimes the athlete's trainer, coach, or team physicians who provide the resources for the athlete to seek help. It has been hypothesized in previous studies that athletes underutilize mental health services, which may be concerning due to the level of depression in athletes particularly. Health care professionals and/or a sports medicine staff working with the athlete may play a key role in identifying the signs of depression or other mental illnesses in athletes and refer them to the proper resources such as a sports psychologist. There are many sport psychology interventions that may be helping maintain athletes' mental health and preventing any psychological disorder. Sport practitioners and researchers focus on mindfulness and resilience as two key factors that contribute to an athlete's well-being. Mindfulness has been shown to help with the general well-being of an athlete and also aid in the enhancement of athletic performance. Interventions based on mindfulness have been shown to assist both clinical and subclinical psychological concerns in athletes.

By having poor mental health student athletes are stripped from their peak athletic performance, their ability to fully engage with their academics, and it amplifies the pressure they put on themselves. This creates a low self-compassion student athlete who struggles to find the good in themselves and the ability to deal with their own problems. Many student athletes fear they will be stigmatized by their coaches, teammates, and fans if they reach out to mental health centers. So instead of getting help they hold their negative thoughts within trying to fight off their mental state. Negativity from outside voices control their self -esteem and diminishes whatever they have left that keeps them going throughout the day. Ultimately, this can result in the athlete struggling with their mental health before it is too late to reel them back in to get help. This could lead the athlete to taking their own life and or thinking very negatively about themselves because of unrealistic expectations. Perfectionism It is common for athletes, especially those of elite status, to strive for perfectionism in their sport. Coaches may pound it into their athletes that "practice makes perfect" - a common misconception that with more and more training, perfectionism will be reached. Although having high standards may be part of elite athletics and can, in return, be beneficial for the athlete's performance, this idea that nothing but a perfect performance is good enough plays a key role in developing a negative self-concept and a fear-of-failure syndrome. Individuals who struggle with a negative self-concept and strive towards perfectionism may excessively engage in cognitive rumination about the need to be perfect. They may also be more susceptible to be more concerned about every little mistake, struggle with forgetting about a past error, and doubt their physical abilities. (My own personal thoughts on perfectionism did not come from any author.) Student athlete stress builds as they attempt to balance the workload they are given, working to satisfy the coaching staff, and continuing to try to play at their best. This pressure gets to a lot of the athletes and they start to break down mentally. Constant demand to perform at their best is very hard to attain, and puts wear and tear on the human body and mind. This is why they see many athletes step away from their sport that they have been playing since they were young because the love, the passion, and their mental state is no longer there. These athletes may be at a significantly higher risk of a low self-esteem in results of the slightest negative feedback. Athletes who over-strive for perfectionism also put themselves at risk to experience more levels of negative emotions and heightened levels of anxiety and depression.