Athlete Mental Health: Identity, Stigma, and the Path Forward
Athlete mental health is a conversation that frequents athletic departments in colleges nationwide and professional programs today. However, this was not the case in the past ten years, and certainly not in the past twenty. Additionally, the existence of this conversation does not necessarily mean that the problem is being addressed, or that the stigma is being lessened. As a Division I athlete, I have seen firsthand the effect that athletics have on mental health and the effect that mental health has on athletes. Although many of my experiences seem very normal to me, after speaking with classmates who are not involved with athletics, I’ve learned that many factors of mental health influence athletes that those not involved wouldn’t expect. By combining the experiences and testimonies of athletes in the public eye with those of personal friends, I hope to show a side of the mental health experience that non-athletes would not expect to see.
Interviewees and Research Targets
Isaiah Jewett
Isaiah was on my track and field team during my first year at USC, winning the National Championship in the 800m. He represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. At this Olympics, Isaiah and another runner, Nijel Amos, collided and fell during the final 300m of the race. The runners helped each other up and ran across the line together, becoming a symbol of Olympic brotherhood. Isaiah answered interview questions via email.
Josh Ligas
Josh is currently on my track and field team and runs the 800m and the 1500m. After battling injury and bad luck for 3 years, Josh placed 7th at the 2023 Pac-12 Championships. I spoke to Josh in person and transcribed his responses.
Simone Biles
Simone Biles is the most decorated American gymnast in history and is regarded as one of the best gymnasts of all time. I will be conducting research about her, especially focusing on her withdrawal from the 2020 Summer Olympics due to mental health concerns.
Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps is a former professional swimmer and is the most decorated Olympian of all time. Since retiring from the sport, Phelps has become a spokesperson for the mental health of athletes and started the Michael Phelps Foundation, which focuses on promoting healthier lifestyles for swimmers.
I. Identity
Q: How do you feel the relationship between injuries plays a role in depression amongst athletes? Is there a loss of identity without competing and training?
“There is definitely a direct correlation between injuries and depression depending on how long the injury is, and how you got the injury. It’s more likely that the longer you are out for an injury the more you question if could you do [well in your sport] in the first place. This leads to feeling like you are not capable of doing the sport you once were so good at. It’s hard to not be depressed when you can’t even do what you feel like you are good at. Sometimes when you get a career-ending injury at the top of your game or at a highlight moment, I feel like you lost a part of yourself in seconds and now the world forces you to operate like you were never that athlete. That’s what creates the loss of identity. Taking away the hours spent on your craft and telling you essentially that it was all for nothing.” — Isaiah Jewett
“I have definitely seen injury play a major role in my mental health. When you get injured, you have to change the daily training routine that you have gotten so locked into. This causes you to have to work alone, without your teammates and can leave you feeling left out of the team atmosphere. Also, you have to change your expectations drastically for the rest of the year or season, which can get upsetting. A lot of the time, an athlete’s sport is their entire identity and how they define themselves, so losing the ability to do what you are great at can send you in a bad direction mentally.”- Josh
In 2004, after winning six gold and two bronze medals at the Athens Olympics, Phelps said he felt “post-Olympic depression” for the first time.
“[You] work so hard for four years to get to that point, and then it’s like you’re…at the top of the mountain, you’re like what the hell am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go? Who am I?” he said.
Simone Biles via The New York Times:
“It’s like, OK, get here and be done,” Biles said of her gymnastics career. “You want it to come, but you also don’t want it to end.”
“At the end of the day, I’m such a huge athlete, but who am I? If you take off that mask, you know, who will I be? I’m still trying to find that out.”
II. Cultural Stigma and Toughness
Q: How do you feel the cultural stigma of athletics (always being tough mindset) plays a role in hindering athletes’ willingness to reach out when they need help?
“It’s hard to find the right answer for this because we are the only ones out there on the track, and we hear that we are the problem- more than coaches taking responsibility for something they didn’t prepare us for. To compete at our best we have to have to kind of have that toughness on ourselves to give our best.”- Isaiah Jewett
“Being tough is definitely an important thing in athletics. To make it far and to be successful, you need to have physical and mental toughness. So yeah, vulnerability is seen as a weakness a lot. But this has caused a lot of athletes to the point where they won’t admit that they are struggling until it is so bad that they have to quit. Stopping the stigma of toughness will actually help a lot of athletes compete harder and longer. I know that all athletes feel the mental pressures, so if it is talked about, we will definitely all relate.”- Josh Ligas
Micheal Phelps (via Healthline interview by Cathy Cassata):
“I can speak from an athlete perspective of being a male and an athlete. If I was to speak up during my career, I would feel like it would be a sign of weakness…and we’re giving our competitors that edge, and in sports or basically kind of in battle, it’s like you can’t give your competitors that edge,” he said.
Although he thinks the stigma is still there, he believes the pandemic has helped normalize the conversation.
“I think [the stigma] is dropping a little bit and for me, it’s incredible to see that. It’s incredible to see people talking about their own journey their own way, and sharing their own stories,” Phelps said.
On Simone Biles, via CNN:
“(Biles’ departure) was shocking in that nobody else had ever in gymnastics stood up and said ‘Enough. Right now, this is enough, and I need to take care of myself no matter what everybody wants from me on the biggest stage on the planet.”- Joan Ryan
“Biles faced backlash for her decision on social media, where some users argued her withdrawal was a moment of weakness or abandonment of her team. Others, like Ryan, viewed it as a testament to how the demands of elite gymnastics can wear down even the most talented individuals.”- Savannah Stewart
Q: Do you feel that interviewers and commentators perpetuate negative feelings towards oneself through their questions and comments? Such as “disappointing race today, you’ve been struggling lately…”
“It’s honestly so messed up how they commentate. I made the Olympic team in 2021, but all they could talk about was how disappointed they were that another athlete didn’t make it. It’s disappointing how they don’t even highlight the people who did well, but rather just tear everyone else down.” -Isaiah Jewett
III. Progress
Q: Do you feel like progress is being made to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health struggles in sports?
“There is definitely an effort being made in college athletics, specifically at USC. I’m not sure if this is actually reducing the stigma, but it is definitely putting mental health issues out in the open more. We have a lot of required team meetings with our sports psychologists and are encouraged to meet with them often.”- Josh Ligas
On Simone Biles, via CNN:
“[O]ur top priority has been to transform our culture to one that prioritizes athlete health and wellness in all of our decisions, policies, and actions. There is no question that the sport’s previous culture was harmful to many individuals.” — USA Gymnastics spokesperson Jill Geer
“In October 2022, USA Gymnastics announced a new policy that allows for all National Team members to receive up to eight mental health care visits per year, to be reimbursed up to $125 per visit by USA Gymnastics. The policy has since been reviewed, according to Geer, and USA Gymnastics will now cover more than eight mental health care visits per year for National Team athletes “if there is a surplus of funds projected for the year.” The organization had previously implemented a mental health emergency action plan for all National Team camps and competitions, as well as providing an onsite “psychological services provider” at “nearly all” artistic gymnastics National Team camps.” -Savannah Stewart
On progress, via The New York Times:
“Ten years ago, or even five, an athlete of Simone Biles’s stature might have been reluctant to say that she struggled with pressure, much less to have withdrawn in the middle of an Olympic competition.
“People might have labeled an athlete mentally weak,” Hillary Cauthen, a clinical sports psychologist in Austin, Texas, said on Tuesday, hours after Biles, the greatest gymnast in history, had bowed out of the women’s team event at the Tokyo Games, and one day before she said she would also skip the all-around individual competition.
But a shift in cultural acceptance began to take place in 2015–16, when the N.C.A.A. created a mental health initiative, Cauthen said. Just before the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, the swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever, began to discuss wrestling with depression and suicidal thoughts. Since then, the N.B.A. players DeMar DeRozan and Kevin Love and the figure skater Gracie Gold, among other athletes, have gone public to say they grapple with anxiety and depression.” — Jeré Longman
Works Cited
Cassata, Cathy. “Michael Phelps: ‘My Depression … Is Never Going to Just Disappear.’” Healthline, Healthline Media, 17 May 2022, www.healthline.com/health-news/michael-phelps-my-depression-and-anxiety-is-never-going-to-just-disappear.
Longman, Jeré. “Simone Biles Rejects a Long Tradition of Stoicism in Sports.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 28 July 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/07/28/sports/olympics/simone-biles-mental-health.html.
Macur, Juliet. “Simone Biles and the Weight of Perfection.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 July 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/07/24/sports/olympics/simone-biles-gymnastics.html.
Stewart, Savanna. “Simone Biles Stepped Away from ‘corrosive’ Gymnastics for Mental Health. Now She’s Back.” CNN, Cable News Network, 4 Aug. 2023, www.cnn.com/2023/08/04/sport/simone-biles-gymnastics-return-intl-spt/index.html.
