College students go through many new life changes in under a year. They experience multiple stressors, such as new academic courses, new ways of living, and intense financial commitments. In addition to the burdens that collegiate students face, collegiate student-athletes are given the same burdens that normal college students have, but they must also improve in their sporting field while balancing their schoolwork simultaneously. There has been a sharp increase in the number of mental health disorders amongst college students because of the rapid changes that they are experiencing. The student athlete population shares the same problem because of the added weight that is required of them to carry (Edwards, B., & Froehle, A., 2023). Student-athletes …show more content…
et al., 2020). Student athletes experience immense amounts of stress that can affect their physical health, which in turn affects their mental health. It is a continuous cycle. Coaches and trainers should be aware of their athletes’ mental health and aid them. Mental Disorders Among Collegiate Student-Athletes Since student athletes often struggle with their mental health, mental disorders are bound to follow. According to Sood, S., & Puri, D. (2023), the mental health of athletes is increasingly given importance, whereas student-athletes experience twice as many mental health problems as athletes. This evidence goes on to show that student-athletes experience colossal amounts of stress that can destroy their lives now and long term. The pressure that student athletes face can go far beyond just their mental health. A common mental disorder that athletes can experience is body dysmorphia and body-related image problems. There are many different instances for this case, such as a wrestling or football coach asking a player to gain weight, or a track coach asking a runner to lose weight in order to win an …show more content…
Mental health is a very important concept in any athlete's life, yet it is often overlooked. The stigma can be damaging to athletes who already struggle with mental health issues (BSN SPORTS, 2024). Many people overlook the fact that athletes struggle with their mental health because of stereotypes. Many athletes do not want to seek help for their mental health because of the fear of being judged or looked down upon, so they will choose to live with the mental struggles instead of facing them. Proposed Resolutions There are many different ways that a student athlete can better their mental health. An athlete can seek therapy or do many different exercises that do not require much of their time to do. Those exercises can include getting more sleep during the night, eating healthier, yoga, and getting a healthy amount of movement everyday. These simple tasks that can be easily implemented into a schedule can significantly benefit an athlete’s mental health (The Jed Foundation, 2024). Effective psychology practitioners should be used when helping a student-athlete with their mental health by using skills such as emphasizing motivation, feelings, attitudes, and leadership (Oramas, J.,
Dr. Pietro Tonino stated that “College athletes are putting themselves at risk for health problems that could persist long after they graduate.” (sciencedaily.com). The college athletes today risk their health when they step onto the court or field for their college, and get little in return. According to sciencedaly.com, there was a study published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine. Researches at Indiana University organized an analysis of two groups of people. One crowd was made up of middle-aged college graduates who played division one sports. The supplemented group comprised of middle-aged college graduates who did not participate in sports. The study showed they were in much poorer physical condition, and agonized from a number of things including depression, fatigue, and sleep disturbances. The non-athletes portrayed much less signs of wear and tear.
Everyone has experienced some type of stress in their life. Whether it has been from work, school, or troubles at home, stress is stress. If anyone had played sports in high school, you know the challenge of balancing school and sports. Imagine that stress, then multiply it exponentially. Everyone knows that college is a much more rigorous version of high school. The only reason some athletes made it to college is due to scholarships for their performance on the field. If they don’t perform well on the field, that scholarship might get cut. This makes practicing the athletes main priority. However, college athletes have to concentrate on their grades so they don’t drop out of college. These athletes know they may not make it to the pro’s, so they know they have to have a back up plan. This back up plan is called a college degree. So college athletes have to concentrate both on sports and classes. Sounds kind of challenging. This is why I believe student athletes should be allowed to miss classes occasionally due to their sport. Athletes are under much more stress, are required to attend practices and classes, and complete their homework. This is simply impossible to do, at least for a human. I believe that this is an important topic because it affects all college athletes.
1 in 4 people will be affected by mental health issues at some point in their lives. Depression affects 20-25% of Americans ages 18+ in a given year (CDC.) Student athletes are students who go to school but participate in athletics at the same time. Student athletes are at a higher risk due to having different stress factors that normal students don't have to go through during their college or high school athletic careers. Major events would be the death of Madison Holleran.
However, what this argument does not take into account is that athletes have an abundance of pressure put on them that most non-athletes don’t ever experience. Hence, the saying, “go hard or go home”. A recent study emphasizes this fact as McClatchy notes, ”The researchers monitored mood levels of 465 collegiate athletes over three years and found 6.3 percent of the athletes met the criteria for clinically significant depression and 24 percent were considered ‘clinically relevant’ “ (2016). Studies like these prove that athletes are not blind to the idea of depression, but rather experience this disorder themselves. Anxiety has a huge role in depression. As sportsperson, there is constant effort to become an awe-inspiring player. As the stakes of the game raise, so does the anxiety. Some want a scholarship, some want to show off what they offer to a team that got a scholarship, and some are professionals. Regardless of whether it's grade school sport or a professional sport, failing at personal goals one set is down right depressing. Kearns and Hwang state that, ”While it’s not clear whether the source of challenges to a student-athlete's mental well-being is the same as those non-athletes, collegiate athletes are known to encounter unique stressor that the general population doesn’t have to deal with, such as the demands, relationships with coaches and missed scheduled classes” (2014). Pressure is something everyone experiences. However, athletes experience some of the same pressure that of non-athletes and then some. Being on a sports team is demanding to time and the idea of being “superior”. In athletics, coaches are everything. For example, If a coach likes how a person attributes as a team player, then that person will get a chance to shine. However, if the coach is not very fond of one, then the chances of opportunities are not very
All college students sitting in classrooms today face challenges that can impede their success. A challenging course schedule, competing demand for the student’s time, and college readiness are all factors that can hinder a student’s performance in the classroom. Moreover, these challenges also have the ability to impact the student’s overall student development. While most students share a common set of stressors, there are certain groups on campus that face pressures and challenges that are not shared by the majority of their peers. Student athletes are such a group. Joshua Watson (2005) noted the positive benefits of participating in intercollegiate activities, but also noted that such participation can lead to issues of “maladjustment, emotional illness, and psychological distress” (p. 442).
College is a time for young people to develop and grow not only in their education, but social aspects as well. One of the biggest social scenes found around college campuses are athletic events, but where would these college sports be without their dedicated athletes? Student athletes get a lot of praise for their achievements on the field, but tend to disregard the work they accomplish in the classroom. Living in a college environment as a student athlete has a great deal of advantages as well as disadvantages that affect education and anti-intellectualism.
The age of overwhelming strength and stamina governing sports is over, and the age of the mentally tough athlete has arrived. Athletes are no longer the superficial jocks and robots programmed to accomplish one goal, victory. Modern athletes ranging from the high school to professional levels are faced with many pressures and temptations, normally outside the realm of their sport. These pressures can inhibit an athlete’s performance substantially; therefore, the pressures need to be dealt with by psychologists. The effectiveness of sports psychology is demonstrated through the fields many theories, applications, and variety of techniques and procedures.
Due to the nature of sport, athletes will always be faced with the possibility of becoming injured. Empirical research has demonstrated that injury has a psychological impact on athletes (Quinn & Fallon, 1999). Indeed, sports practitioners often witness negative psychological impacts such as depression and in extreme cases suicidal tendencies in the injured athlete (Jevon & Johnston, 2003). Injuries have a dramatic impact upon an athlete’s life (Deutsch, 1985), Crossman (1997) interviewed athletic trainers and established that 47% of respondents believed that every injured athlete suffered psychological trauma. Walker, Thatcher and Lavallee (2007), explain there is a need to advance current knowledge of the way injured athletes psychologically respond, with deeper understanding it would be possible to aid rehabilitation professionals and help the athlete cope better psychologically. Psychological issues have an important role in the athletes ability to recover from injury (Arvinen-Barrow, Penny, Hemmings, & Corr, 2010), understanding how an athlete responds will have multiple practical implications. Ford and Gordon (1997) suggest that if an athlete experiences negative emotions then it will lead to non-complinace of the rehabilitation process. In order to understand athletes psychological responses to injury several frameworks have been suggested. These include the: integrated model of response to sports injury and rehabilitation (Wiese-Bjornstal, Smith, Shaffer, & Morrey, 1998), the Bio-Psychosocial model of sport injury rehabilitation (Brewer, Andersen, & Van Raalte, 2002), the staged-based grief response models (Kubler-Ross, 1969) and the stage model of the return to sport (Taylor & Taylor, 1997).
A. A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Anxiety in Athletes. April 2002. Athletics Insight: Online Journal of Sports Psychology. 29 May 2002 http://www.athleticsight.com.vol1iss2/Psychoanalytic_Anxiety.htm Stress Management: Behavioral Psychotherapy for Performance Enhancement.
Playing a sport whether its basketball, soccer, football or any other of your interest can be thrilling, and accelerating. Not only can it be fun yet physical exercise is good for the mind, body, and spirit. Therefore, as an athlete one must keep in mind that playing any sport, injury is part of life and inevitable. Research has proven from time to time that severe injuries in sports can trigger psychological mental health issues, affecting them in their athletic performance.
...ompetition environment. There is increasing recognition by the sports community that supporting athlete mental health is a vital aspect of competitive performance, and is as integral to success as the athlete’s physical abilities. The profession of sports psychology provides a very meaningful contribution to help facilitate athlete wellbeing and maximize the psychological skills required to compete at the highest level of competition.
A young anonymous college freshman tells a story of the depression she faced throughout her first semester of college, through the transition and her roommate issues. Not only did it occur during her first semester, but through her second as well. Unfortunately, the depression overtook her life to the point of her desire to commit suicide. Luckily, she changed her mind in the last second and saved herself (Reachout.com). This young student is not just one of few depressed college students, but she is one of many. Colleges must take more responsibility of mental health issues, like depression, by researching the causes and effects while discovering beneficial treatments that promote the students’ overall well being.
Several researches have revealed that physical exercise has relieved many people from symptoms of anxiety and depression. During physical activity and exercise, the body produces a type of chemical called “serotonin”, a chemical that aids while dealing with anxiety, stress and depression. Studies also have shown that people who participate in sports results in higher self- esteem and a more positive self- image. Many studies made conclusions that adolescents and students who take part in sports and physical activities tend to have positive and higher self esteem than students who do not play sports and often tend to result better in academic performances at school.
Vince Lombardi, one of the most successful football coaches of all time, said, “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of will.” Although Lombardi was primarily speaking about success on the turf, he was also speaking about success in life. Aside from being a phenomenal leader on the field, Lombardi was a leader in all aspects of life and stands as a role model for many young student athletes. When student athletes apply this extraordinary will to their academics alongside athletics, the stellar character of these young adults is revealed. Unfortunately for these athletes, many people, especially educators, blame athletics for struggles within the classroom. A common controversy amongst parents, educators, coaches, and athletes is if education is severely affected by athletic participation. When the results of classroom performance aren’t proficient or greater, it is easy to blame sports because of their time consuming nature. This topic carries a lot of weight for kids ranging from middle school to graduate students because, for many, involvement in athletics is a crucial part of developing important life skills that cannot be attained through a classroom setting, and may be the student’s only method of social outreach. Sports serve as a sanctuary, an escape, a passion, and so much more to each individual involved. Athletics have the potential to negatively impact education, if you allow them to yet research shows just as many cases of sports having positive affects on education as cases of sports being detrimental towards education. The truth of the matter is that your education is your responsibility, and sports cannot be blamed for a lack of succes...
In the article, “Athletes and Coaches Report Mental Health is Slightly More Important Than Physical Health in Overall Performance; Both Agree That More Communication is Needed to Address Mental Health Concerns.”, the Minds in Motion Depression Awarenes Campaign conducted a survey and found that the athletes and coaches believed that “mental health shares an equal, and/or slightly greater role than physical health, in defining peak athletic