Mental Health Archives - Page 3 of 7 - BelievePerform - The UK's leading Sports Psychology Website

Mental Health

Can you identify a perfectionist?

Have you ever been told that you are a perfectionist? Or have you ever felt that you a perfectionist? When everything needs to be “just right”? There is a difference...

Mental Health

Athletic identity and career termination

Despite the various benefits associated with competing in elite level sport, playing the game that they love will always remain the primary concern for the majority of athletes. Therefore, an...

Physiology

Drug use in athletics: How can we trust the sport?

We've reached the end of another successful European Athletics Championships, this year held in a warm and rainy Zurich, Switzerland. Many athletes have competed for Great Britain across a range...

Mental Health

Should sports coaches receive more education regarding recognising and treating eating disorders in athletes?

Eating disorders and disordered eating behaviour are serious mental conditions “that manifest themselves in a variety of eating and weight-related signs and symptoms” (Thompson & Sherman, 2010, p. 7) and...

Mental Health

Potential costs of an exclusive athletic identity

Athletic identity is defined as the degree to which an individual identifies with the athlete role (Brewer, Van Raalte, & Linder, 1993). Athletes are usually rewarded for complete commitment to...

Mental Health

The role of mindfulness in sport

Imagine yourself walking up to the tee box on the 18th hole of the PGA Championship. You are leading the field, and simply have to make par to win the...

Mental Health

The increased risk and difficult detection of eating disorders among athletes

As a physically active population, athletes are typically viewed by the general public as healthy and strong, and so are not considered to be an at risk group for suffering...

Mental Health

Mental health in the student athlete

“With special populations, especially those who are particularly goal-oriented, particularly high achievers and particularly focused, there is still a sense of stigmatization, a sense of shame…One strategy for reaching out...

Mental Health

Life after sport: Depression in the retired athlete

It is often said that a sports star will die twice, the first time at retirement. For elite athletes who have dedicated their lives to sport, what happens when your...

Mental Health

The sportsman's demon depression

Numerous accounts of high profile sports people suffering from depression have surfaced in recent times. Unfortunately, not all cases have been reported by the victim and recent newspaper reports in...

Mental Health

‘So What's Next?’ – Life After Professional Sport

Retirement – the reality! For many years, sport psychologists have referred to retirement from sport as a ‘transition’. However, Nesti and Littlewood (2010) argue that the term ‘transition’ suggests that...

Mental Health

Obsessive-Compulsive Behaviours: Are athlete's at risk?

How often do we question why an athlete performs the same pre-competition routine, or carries out the same number of reps during training? These may simply be harmless superstitions and...

Mental Health

Overtraining - how to prevent it?

We usually see the bright side of top level sports. Our favorites lifting the trophy or being decorated with an Olympic medal. We cheer for them - and do not...

Mental Health

Effects of sport withdrawal in the treatment of eating disorders in athletes

Many research studies have found how participation in sport can heighten an individual’s probability of developing an eating disorder or disordered eating problems. This is due to not only psychological,...

Mental Health

Getting the high from exercise

It is well documented that exercise enhances overall mental and physical wellbeing with it being prescribed as an intervention in some cases of depression (Berger & Motl, 2000). Glancing over...

Mental Health

Depression in elite sport

Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses worldwide and in recent years the affirmation of depression has increased within the elite athlete population. Despite the alarmingly large amount...

Mental Health

Exercise, brain health, and ageing

Although there might be a general relationship between our age and how efficient our brains are, what seems to matter more than our actual age is how healthy our brain is. So...

Mental Health

Depression and performance enhancing drugs - Are we willing to understand this relationship?

The development of depression during retirement from professional sport has been highlighted by many athletes and most recently by swimming legend Ian Thorpe. James Cracknell has spoken about his tunnel...

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