The Mental Health of Elite Athletes: A Narrative Systematic Review
- PMID: 26896951
- PMCID: PMC4996886
- DOI: 10.1007/s40279-016-0492-2
The Mental Health of Elite Athletes: A Narrative Systematic Review
Abstract
Background: The physical impacts of elite sport participation have been well documented; however, there is comparatively less research on the mental health and psychological wellbeing of elite athletes.
Objective: This review appraises the evidence base regarding the mental health and wellbeing of elite-level athletes, including the incidence and/or nature of mental ill-health and substance use.
Methods: A systematic search of the PubMed, EMBASE, SPORTDiscus, PsycINFO, Cochrane and Google Scholar databases, up to and including May 2015, was conducted.
Results: The search yielded a total of 2279 records. Following double screening, 60 studies were included. The findings suggested that elite athletes experience a broadly comparable risk of high-prevalence mental disorders (i.e. anxiety, depression) relative to the general population. Evidence regarding other mental health domains (i.e. eating disorders, substance use, stress and coping) is less consistent. These results are prefaced, however, by the outcome of the quality assessment of the included studies, which demonstrated that relatively few studies (25 %) were well reported or methodologically rigorous. Furthermore, there is a lack of intervention-based research on this topic.
Conclusion: The evidence base regarding the mental health and wellbeing of elite athletes is limited by a paucity of high-quality, systematic studies. Nonetheless, the research demonstrates that this population is vulnerable to a range of mental health problems (including substance misuse), which may be related to both sporting factors (e.g. injury, overtraining and burnout) and non-sporting factors. More high-quality epidemiological and intervention studies are needed to inform optimal strategies to identify and respond to player mental health needs.
Conflict of interest statement
Compliance with Ethical StandardsFundingSimon Rice is supported by an Early Career Fellowship provided by the Society for Mental Health Research. This paper was, in part, made possible from funding from several sporting bodies, all of whom requested anonymity.Conflict of interestSimon Rice, Rosemary Purcell, Stefanie De Silva, Daveena Mawren, Patrick McGorry and Alexandra Parker declare that they have no conflicts of interest that are relevant to the content of this review.
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Comment in
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Taking the knee, mental health, and racism in sport.Lancet Psychiatry. 2021 Oct;8(10):861-862. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00300-X. Lancet Psychiatry. 2021. PMID: 34537096 No abstract available.
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