Elite athletes are human beings. They have relationships, jobs, families, pets, bills to pay, appointments to keep, friendships to cultivate, cars to maintain, floors to sweep, meals to prepare, parents to visit or care for, and so on. And…they are also training for major athletic events, the challenges of which very few people can even begin to wrap their minds around.
So, what gives? How do triathletes and other extreme athletes meet all of the day-to-day needs of life and manifest the mental, emotional, and mental strength required by their sport? Are there some common mental health issues that they face?
My curiosity about this has led me into an ongoing exploration of the mental health challenges of elite and extreme athleticism. In this post, I will focus on a handful of common challenges you or an athlete you know may struggle with: lack of time, isolation / depression, identity restriction, and anxiety / panic.
-No time. As a result of their athletic endeavors, elite athletes tend to be time-poor when it comes to dealing with the ordinary demands and stresses of being a person in the modern world. British triathlete and sports journalist, Tim Heming, puts it this way: “[trialthetes have] a default setting to shrug away waves of melancholy with pig-headed stoicism, until one day work becomes too much, or a relationship breaks down, or life simply overwhelms” (220trialthete.com). When life presents a big challenge that falls outside of the rigors of training and competing, athletes may lack the time to slow down, assess, and address it.
–Isolation is other risk of elite athleticism. While many athletes train together with a partner or team, a great deal of what the training they do and the inner expectations they face are deeply personal and tend to be wrestled with in isolation. Social isolation is directly related to the development of depression. Pain, injury, exhaustion, and training set-backs can exacerbate depression symptoms.
–Identity issues are touched upon by triathlete Chris Silver, in his article “Triathlete and Mental Health.” He writes, “The elite-sport environment can result in ‘identity-foreclosure’ leaving athletes few other avenues through which to shape and reflect personality. High athletic identity has been linked to psychological distress when this function of identity is removed, and to overtraining and athlete burnout” (chrissilverthriathlete.com)
–Anxiety is a core aspect of serious athletic competition and making it work in your favor–harnessing it–is often seen as a key psychological skill set. At times, however, athletes experience limits on their ability to master anxiety, and it can overtake the mind and the physiology. Perfectionism may play a role in this. Swedish sports researcher, Nathalie Kiovula writes, “individuals who are characterized by frequent cognitions about the attainment of ideal, perfectionistic standards, have been shown to be likely to experience heightened levels of anxiety, due to discrepancies between ideal and current self/situation.” For top athletes, discerning between their best self and a “perfect” version of self can be tricky.
The purpose of this post is to share information and invite readers to consider the mental health needs of elite athletes. Please feel free to contact me if you are facing similar challenges and would like professional support.