Can aiming for gold be a mental health hazard?

Experts say those displays of vulnerability could supercharge already ongoing conversations around mental health, some of which started during the pandemic and in the aftermath of George Floyd and anti-Asian and anti-Hispanic hate crimes. These conversations are much needed as the world prepares for what could be an impending mental-health crisis, especially among young people, they said.

How has the pandemic affected mental health generally?

The percentage of adults experiencing anxiety and depression increased during the pandemic, with the largest jump occurring among 18-29 year-olds, according to a recent study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People have struggled with sleep disorders, loss of appetite, lethargy, and loneliness, according to medical experts.

“Over the last 17 months, we have been dealing with this prolonged period of recurring fear and trauma and uncertainty,” said Amy Frieman, Hackensack Meridian Health’s chief wellness officer. “There’s no doubt that Covid is impacting our mental health and well-being, and even our greatest athletes are not immune to that.”

What about for athletes?

Many athletes fall into this vulnerable age group. Athletes of all ages have experienced tremendous loss and adversity, including loss of loved ones and jobs. The prospect of catching Covid has created a lot of anxiety, in part, because of the uncertain long-term effects of infection. Some people experience effects on heart and lung function that can persist for weeks or even months. The lockdowns also affected their ability to train and see family and friends.

How is being at the Games during a pandemic affecting mental health?

Athletes had to come to Tokyo without their families, potentially increasing the risk of focusing on negative thoughts and insecurities, which can erode their confidence at a critical time, said Michelle Craske, director for the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“If you’re alone and you don’t have that counteractive influence of a supportive family or friends, that can actually activate more of that self-worry, concern…[that] feeling you’re not doing your best, and fear of failure,” she said.

She and others said athletes and people in other high-performing industries like financial services, technology and healthcare can excel in one area of their lives while struggling with depression or anxiety.

Why are athletes vulnerable to mental health issues?

Not feeling understood can create a sense of loneliness, experts said. Isolation, in turn, can lead to mental fatigue and deficits in performance.

Winning requires years of unrelenting hard work that can preclude top athletes from experiencing “normal” milestones, like high-school graduations or vacations, and developing relationships beyond the sport, which can augment loneliness, especially after retirement, mental-health experts said.

Markus Rogan, an Austrian swimmer who won two silver medals at the 2004 in Athens, described his Olympic experience as very lonely.

“It’s unbelievably lonely,” Dr. Rogan, who is now a psychotherapist in California. “We have to stop conflating winning medals at the Olympics with being mentally healthy…To say that winning an Olympic medal is mentally healthy is like saying being U.S. president is good for your stress levels.”

What are the mental health effects of loneliness and other stressors?

One in 10 Americans says they feel lonely or isolated most or all of the time, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center study. That number is roughly three times higher among those who are dissatisfied with their family or communities. It’s unclear whether feelings of loneliness stem from social disconnection, or vice versa, according to the study.

Among athletes, the lack of privacy, the constant exhaustion and judgment—self-inflicted and from others—coupled with the intense pressure to win can also wear down an athlete’s mental health and create a sense of isolation, even among teammates, he said.

Athletes are always aiming to improve, meaning that by definition, they are always judging themselves, he and others said.

“I am always striving to be my best and be better than I’ve ever been and it’s not easy when your times are world records in some events. You can’t just keep dropping time every single swim,” said Katie Ledecky, who scored two silver medals this week and a gold in her signature events, the 800 and 1,500 meter freestyles. “That’s the kind of pressure I put on myself.”

What are some strategies that can help athletes (and others) cope?

Developing a strong support system outside the sport is important, as well as nurturing hobbies and mindfulness techniques, psychologists said. That way, their identity is more-multifaceted, psychologists said. Learning to recognize changes in mood, just like they might with physical pain, also helps. Speaking about hurt and trauma is also critical.

“Hiding it actually makes the problem worse,” said UCLA’s Dr. Craske.

Self-reflection helps with processing their experience and finding meaning in their accomplishments, regardless of the outcome, said Ruth Anderson, Cycling Australia’s head for performance psychology and behaviors.

“That’s one of the biggest challenges for athletes: it’s that as you are more successful, the expectations only increase. Everyone assumes that once you achieve a certain level, that it will all be okay,” she said. “But no one is infallible.”

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.