In light of the recent Rio 2016 Olympic Games, former members of the US Womens' Swim Team are speaking out about the prevalence of disordered eating and body image issues among female athletics. More specifically, they speak to competitive swimming, where often individuals push themselves to extremes and experience gruelling training in their quest for top performance, meanwhile they spend almost every day in a bathing suit and develop a muscular built physique which may not be in line with a young woman's views of what femininity and beauty should look like. 

"“Binging and purging was my, I guess, outlet,” said Hyman, 37. “Part of it was my own insecurities; part of it was my own control, the sense of being in control or something I could control. It wasn’t strictly just a body image issue or strictly just, ‘I’m trying to perform better.’ As an athlete I think there were other emotional challenges that I manifested into my eating disorder as a way of coping. It wasn’t something that I was necessarily secretive about. My coaches were aware, my parents were aware, and I wasn’t shy about it. One of the things I’d always prided myself on was discipline...
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Jennifer Carter, Ohio State University Sports Medicine Center’s director of sport psychology, agrees there are specific risk factors for eating disorders in female athletes, such as a belief that thinness equates to better performance (whereas in male athletes more muscularity equates to better performance), revealing uniforms and, sometimes, a type of perfectionist personality."

For the full article, click here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/rio-2016/2016/08/03/us-womens-swim-team-body-image-eating-disorders-and-supporting-each-other/88048534/

Catch up on all the news related to mental health and psychiatry from last week!

Recently, former NFL quarterback Erik Kramer reportedly shot himself in a suicide attempt, adding to a growing list of NFL alum who have been impacted by depression and have either contemplated or attempted suicide.

As the article, "Depression Prevalent in Ex-Players"  explores, depression among these elite athletes is growing exceedingly common. Using personal stories from well-known players like Dwight Hollier, Eddie George, Junior Seau and Eddie "Boo" Williams, we come to see that retiring from the sport of professional football is immensely emotionally and mentally challenging for those who have devoted their lives to it. Whether it be related to a loss of identity and a drastic shift in their reality after saying goodbye to the sport, or a consequence of a condition called CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) from repeated blows to the head, more and more football players are seeking help off the field.

"The depression Williams experienced after leaving the game is painfully common. Some of it stems from struggles with a loss of income, or diminished adulation, or the sudden isolation of no longer being part of a team and the camaraderie it brings. Even players who make a successful transition to the "real world" experience withdrawal pangs.

Asked how many retirees suffer from depression, former Packers offensive lineman Aaron Taylor says: "It'd be easier to start with which ones do NOT have depression. Observationally, it's a significant percentage. It varies by degree, obviously, but everyone struggles."

For decades, depression was only discussed in the shadows. Speaking about it publicly was viewed as a sign of weakness. But today, a light is being cast on it by retirees, their families, the league and the NFL Players Association because of life-threatening consequences -- a point that has been magnified with recent revelations linking depression with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain condition caused by repeated blows to the head."

In an interview in October with Jian Ghomeshi, former NHL goalie Clint Malarchuk opens up about his struggles with depression, OCD, PTSD, and alcoholism, and shares how hockey was his escape from mental illness‬.

In the interview (link to video here), Malarchuk also discusses his new memoir "The Crazy Game" which he hopes will help fight against the stigma of mental illness and encourage more people to talk about mental health ...

Recommended For:
Hockey fans and those interested in mental health

Have you been following the FIFA World Cup?  If so, here's something worth considering as you cheer on your team and watch these high-intensity soccer matches: the mental health struggles of our sports idols, especially those in soccer or football as it's better known as in some parts of the world.

Below is a must watch documentary called "Football's Suicide Secret" in which former player and chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association Clarke Carlisle not only opens up about his own attempt at suicide and experience with depression following an injury during his career, but also powerfully demonstrates and exposes how mental health struggles are not uncommon within the sport.

"Since the tragic suicide of Gary Speed in 2011, football has had to face up to a stigma in the game - mental illness. But is there still a taboo in the sport? Footballer and chairman of the PFA Clarke Carlisle investigates depression and even suicide in British football and speaks to young players, managers and Gary Speed's family to find out why footballers are suffering in silence" (bbc.co.uk).

As Carlisle explains in an article to increase awareness of mental illness in soccer, "when a player retires, his chances of getting clinical depression go up 40 percent. Other common triggers are injury, being transferred, the inability to separate home and work life. Yet I must also point out that there is often no logical trigger because depression is an indiscriminate illness."

As the article goes on to say, "to the outsider, the world of the footballer is one of adoration and vast riches, but for every leading star there are several more journeymen being barracked from the terraces.”

You can read the article about Clarke Carlisle and his quest to end the taboo of mental health in football here:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1699274-pfa-chairman-clarke-carlisle-in-quest-to-end-taboo-of-mental-health-in-football?utm_campaign=tsiphone&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=teamstream

Put your knowledge and skills to the test with the case of a 16 year old male who presents with anger issues, including increased irritability and aggression, as well as trouble concentrating and learning in school leading to a decline in grades. He reports that he has been depressed for a few months, that his grandfather with whom he was close recently died, and that he cannot play football anymore because of a history of concussion.

Can you determine the cause of his symptoms or come up with a treatment plan?

"Angry, Inattentive, and Sidelined" by Ravi Shankar and Lauren Swager (Current Psychiatry)

As a follow-up to previous posts on both mental health issues in university, as well as ‪depression and ‪anxiety in ‪sports such as major junior hockey leagues, the eye-opening article, "When College Athletes Face Depression", takes a look at mental health issues among athletes in college‬.

In this article, the author shares two stories of college athletes from the US and their experiences in dealing with severe mental illnesses that either stemmed from or were exacerbated by their sport. They discuss some of the contributing factors to‪ mental illness in college athletics and barriers to identification and care including, coaching staff not being educated about emotional and mental health, the significant impact of injuries, high pressures and immense stakes to perform well, and the lack of mental health professionals on staff in university athletic departments. The article also shares opinions from experts who argue for change and suggest ways to approach and better this issue, such as enhanced screening in pre-season, and increased education and awareness of all who are involved in training, guiding, and supporting these athletes.