Psychological Aspects in Elite Athletes

Abstract

Mental health symptoms (self-reported; e.g. distress, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance) describe a state of adverse/abnormal thoughts, feelings and/or behaviour potentially leading to functional (daily life, work, sport) impairments. The prevalence of mental health symptoms in elite athletes is substantial, varying from 5% for burnout and adverse alcohol use to nearly 45% for anxiety/depression. Mental health symptoms are generally multifactorial, occurring as a consequence of the interaction between biological, psychological, social and sport-specific stressors. Especially severe time-loss injuries can be considered as a major stressor for elite athletes: cross-sectional analyses showed that professional footballers who had sustained one or more severe time-loss injuries during their career were two to four times more likely to report mental health symptoms than professional footballers who had not suffered from severe time-loss injuries. A high number of elite athletes mention that mental health symptoms affect their sport performances, especially with regard to concentration, coordination, emotion and reaction time.