Mental Health and Wellbeing of Elite Athletes

Question 1

What is Mental Health?

Answer 1

Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stress of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community
(World Health Organisation, 2014)

Question 2

What are characteristics associated with mental health problems?

Answer 2

> Wide range of mental health conditions
Problems that affect your mood, thinking and behaviour
Disrupt your daily life
Disrupt your work, school, relationships

Question 3

Define Mental Illness

Answer 3

Clinically identifiable illnesses or conditions that affect our
cognitive and emotional functioning
e.g. depression, anxiety disorders etc.

Question 4

How many adults experience at least on diagnosable mental health problem?

Answer 4

1 in 4 British adults experience at least one diagnosable mental health problem in any given year.
(McManus et al., 2009)

Question 5

Name a study that looked into the Prevalence of Mental Health Problems and Illness in Elite Sport

Answer 5

Rice et al. (2016)

Question 6

What did Rice et al. (2016) find?

Answer 6

> Elite athletes experience a higher risk of being diagnosed with a prevalent mental disorder (i.e., anxiety,
depression)

Question 7

What did Rice et al. (2016) also find?

Answer 7

Risk of experiencing a mental health illness appears to
increase when:
• Injured,
• Approaching/in retirement, or
• Experiencing performance difficulty

Question 8

Name a study which helps our understanding of mental illness and health in sport

Answer 8

Biggin et al. (2017)

Question 9

What did Biggin et al. (2017) find?

Answer 9

Biggin et al. (2017) found that coaches and athletes

disagree about the prevalence of mental ill‐health among elite athletes.

Question 10

What did Biggin et al. (2017) conclude?

Answer 10

Self-imposed pressure and obsessive-compulsive tendencies led to mental ill-health.

Question 11

What study looked into well-being in para and olympic sport athletes

Answer 11

Macdougall et al. (2015)

Question 12

What did Macdougall et al. (2015) do?

Answer 12

Compared well-being between these athletes across 12 studies

Question 13

What did Macdougall et al. (2015) find?

Answer 13

Found that paralympians had lower levels of self-acceptance, however had greater levels of self-motivation indicated by a mastery-oriented climate than regular Olympians

Question 14

Name another study that helps our understanding of Mental Health in elite sport

Answer 14

Coyle et al. (2017)

Question 15

What did Coyle et al. (2017) find?

Answer 15

> Elite drivers demonstrated limited knowledge of mental health
Participants identified risk factors to mental health:
- Physical injuries
- Apprehension about difficult dives
- Retirement
Athletes only defined an issue as problematic if it influenced performance

Question 16

Name a study into educating Mental Health in a Sport Workshop

Answer 16

Sebbens et al., (2016)

Question 17

What did Sebbens et al., (2016) do?

Answer 17

Carried out 1 4 hour workshop with athletes.

Question 18

What did Sebbens et al., (2016) find?

Answer 18

Sebbens et al. (2016) found that the workshop increased the knowledge of sings and symptoms in athletes, and increased their confidence in assisting somebody with a mental health issue

Question 19

What study compared the prevalence of mild or more sever symptoms of depression between athletes and non-athletes

Answer 19

Gorczynski et al. (2017)

Question 20

What did Gorczynski et al. (2017) find?

Answer 20

Found that high-performance athletes were no more likely than non-athletes to report mild or more severe depressive symptoms.