The pandemic has been a difficult time for everyone, but one group of people who are experiencing increased symptoms of depression are athletes. Since March 2020, most sports were completely cancelled. Now that the fall is starting up with a new sports season, some sports are able to return. But a lot of sports remain cancelled or postponed. Athletes find a lot of purpose, motivation, and validation from competing in their sport. Due to COVID-19, this may be the first time in many years that an athlete does not have their sport to train for and feels empty.
Anchor Therapy is a counseling center in Hoboken, NJ with psychotherapists specialized in helping children, teens, adults, and couples with anxiety, depression, relationship issues, trauma, and life transitions. Anchor Therapy is accepting new clients and is now providing telehealth (video/phone) sessions to residents of New Jersey and New York.
Professional athletes already face a high risk of experiencing mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Athletes spend most of their career and free time training for their sport. They work on perfecting their skills over and over. There is usually an end goal to win a competition such as playoffs or even the Olympics. The 2020 summer Olympics has been postponed an entire year, which has caused a lot of heartache for training Olympians. There are also a lot of high school juniors and seniors who planned to be scouted for their sport for college or pro level after they graduate. Since sports have been halted, a lot of athletes have been experiencing an increase in depression.
A huge part of training as an athlete is the positive attention you receive when you are succeeding in your sport. You may be on a sports team in which your team depends on you and idealizes you. Your school peers may know your name. The world may know your name. Once sports were put on pause, so was the attention. A lot of athletes found themselves lost since they were no longer able to train in the way that they once were. Even if they are able to train on their own, they are still without their team. And they are definitely without the positive reinforcement from others that comes from succeeding in a sport. It may be hard to keep up with the lifestyle that you once had as a playing athlete. You may find your social media followers diminishing over time as the off season continues to get longer. These are some factors that may make an athlete feel unfulfilled.
It is common for an athlete who is feeling down, depressed, and/or anxious to turn to substance use to cope with these feelings. Substances usually feel like a good quick fix to turn to. Substances can help mask your feelings. However, in the long term, substances will actually increase your depression and anxious symptoms. You will then need more and more substances in order to continue to mask your growing symptoms. This will then lead to dependence on these substances which can cause major problems in your life.
DEPRESSION SYMPTOMS TO LOOK OUT FOR AS AN ATHLETE:
You’re having a hard time getting out of bed and/or you’re not as active as you usually are:
When you are training daily, you have a purpose and reason to get out of bed. You had a clear goal ahead of you and you wanted to be the best. But with COVID-19, we are encouraged to stay at home and keep distanced from others. It is likely that where you trained for your sport closed and you may not be able to meet with your team and/or coach. Your daily training schedule is no longer existent. You feel much less motivated to be active on your own.
You are experiencing a lack of motivation and emptiness:
When you were not physically training for your sport, you were usually mentally training. It is likely that you would also see different specialists such as a physical therapist, a sports psychologist, etc. to help you stay in top shape physically and mentally. Now that those services and support have gone away, you may feel emptiness.
Without your purpose as an athlete, you may be questioning your identity as a whole with your sense of purpose gone. You are no longer motivated to do anything since there is no longer a goal to reach. You are unsure of how to spend your days and you may feel worthless or hopeless.
Increased substance abuse:
This is very common for athletes to turn to substance abuse as discussed above. Be mindful of how much substances you are using. Note when you need help and seek it before it gets worse.
What you can do if you are feeling depressed as an athlete:
Stop being so hard on yourself. A lot of people are experiencing an increase in depressive symptoms due to COVID-19. As an athlete, you are not only dealing with the same hardships as everyone else but you also have an added stressor of your purpose being taken away from you. During this time, you need to find another way to keep your motivated daily. You want to find some hobbies or activities that you can do during this difficult time that are healthy.
One great thing you can do in your expanded free time is to gift yourself with counseling sessions. Counseling can be extremely helpful for athletes to be in top mental shape for their sport. But it can also be a way to get support through the roller coaster ride that comes along with being an athlete. Therapy can be a space that you discuss your hopes and dreams for the future and how to get there. Career therapy can help you find your purpose again. It can also be a way to have a professional support you through an extremely difficult time, which is proving to be with COVID-19.
If you are interested in receiving some support through COVID-19 as an athlete, we have trained professional counselors who can help you. Fill out the form below to get started today.
Courtney Glashow, LCSW
is a licensed psychotherapist practicing in Hoboken, New Jersey. She specializes in helping teens and adults with anxiety, depression, and life transitions through counseling. Courtney can help NY or NJ residents through telehealth (video/phone) therapy sessions as well.
