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Depression in Sport

(7 posts)
  • Started 13 years ago by Wilmington's Cow
  • Latest reply from I were right about that saddle

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  1. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    The news of Gary Speed's death at the weekend is one which likely won't be shocking to non-football fans. But as one of those fans, and a Newcastle fan where Gary Speed spent an excellent 5 years or so of his career, it really was a very very sad piece of news to hear.

    I remember reading before about depression in sport, and how prevalent it is. Those who don't understand it as the illness it is find it all too easy to write it off pondering how on earth they can be depressed with everything they have. But I do wonder if those in sport are more susceptible due to the 'obsessive' nature that I think you need to make it to the top, and the fact that in any sport the career is likely quite short.

    Cycling has its own examples. Tommy Simpson wasn't immune (at least from having read a biography of him it was suggested); and of course Graeme Obree tried to take his own life (and this was no simple 'cry for help', it was a million-to-one shot that he was found before he died).

    Is there something in that psyche that makes it more likely to come to the surface? Or is it just that when it happens in sport it's more widely reported?

    (I have family members and friends who have suffered and it always astounds me that people seem to think it's just a case of someone needing to cheer himself/herself up)

    Posted 13 years ago #

  2. chdot
    Admin

    Cycling and mental health thread

    Posted 13 years ago #

  3. chdot
    Admin

    "
    Nicola Peckett: Gary Speed in group most at risk from suicide

    Published on Monday 28 November 2011 00:00

    The group most likely to take their life through suicide is men in their 30s, 40s and 50s. That is quite different to what most people think, as they tend to believe younger men are more at risk.

    Three out of four people who die by suicide in the UK are men, and those from poorer backgrounds have the highest risk. But suicide can also affect people from more affluent backgrounds, who appear to be successful in their work and home lives. We believe the reasons for the higher rates are that men tend to find it harder to talk about their feelings and express what might be going on in their lives and seek help.

    The next stage of the Samaritans’ Men on the Ropes campaign will look at what attributes are at work that mean these men are more likely to fall victim to suicide. Usually there are mental health problems that have not been diagnosed – 90 per cent of people who take their own life have a mental health problem and 60 per cent of that is depression. The key is to recognise and diagnose people so they can get help before it is too late.

    • Nicola Peckett is head of communications at the Samaritans.

    "

    http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/opinion/cartoon/nicola_peckett_gary_speed_in_group_most_at_risk_from_suicide_1_1987605

    Posted 13 years ago #

  4. Min
    Member

    "But I do wonder if those in sport are more susceptible due to the 'obsessive' nature that I think you need to make it to the top, and the fact that in any sport the career is likely quite short."

    Yes I think it is. I have some articles somewhere at home. I think it is more to do with the perfectionist nature of successful athletes then obession as such. There is also evidence to show that athletes who also work full time and have families are generally happier since it divides the attention. So you might have hit the wall in the last race but you have just had a pay rise, that sort of thing. So professional athletes have less of a chance of something else compensating for problems in performance.

    "(I have family members and friends who have suffered and it always astounds me that people seem to think it's just a case of someone needing to cheer himself/herself up)"

    Ah yes, the old "snap out of it" gambit. AKA "others are worse off then you". I know it well.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  5. SRD
    Moderator

    we've had various threads on this these. this story links depression and issues of equity/diversity (there were other thread that did that too_

    http://www.thebicyclestory.com/2015/01/oboi-reed/

    Posted 10 years ago #

  6. gembo
    Member

    All sorts of health board and government initiatives to get people exercising partly to tackle obesity but also to focus on positive mental health. There was a study in glasgow in mid eighties where the students who went to the GP were sent to the stevie building for exercise input rather than given counselling or drugs that may have been the basis for much of the current thinking?

    Further, rates of depression in elite sports people will not necessarily exceed rates of depression in wider population. However, the public perception would probably be that the elite sports people should be happier than the rest of us? This is a classic example of folk psychology and is not only erroneous but also an added pressure on such elite sports people who are in the police eye.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  7. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Let's not forget that mental 'illness' can also be seen as an alternative mental state, with effects that can be both negative and positive. This, for instance, could never be the work of a neurotypical mind;

    http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0149V1962

    Success in sport requires obsessive training and resistance to (possibly even appetite for) pain and discomfort. Depression can lead to the social isolation and tolerance for the intolerable that makes a punishing training schedule a practical possibility.

    Posted 10 years ago #

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