Mental Health in the Athlete: Modern Perspectives and Novel Challenges for the Sports Medicine Provider

by Eugene Hong, Ashwin L. Rao

Overview

This unique book provides a practical framework for and coverage of a broad range of mental health concerns applicable to the care of athletes, including depression, suicide, mood disorders, substance abuse and risk-taking behaviors. To this end, it presents content relevant to the care of athletes, including doping and the use of performance-enhancing drugs, the mental health impact of concussion, bullying and hazing, the impact of social media and exercise addiction, among other pertinent topics. Current basic and translational research on behavioral health and the relationship of brain to behavior are reviewed, and current treatment approaches, both pharmacological and non-pharmacological (including mindfulness training), are considered.

This practical resource targets the stigma of mental in athletes in order to overcome barriers to care by presenting a definitive perspective of current concepts in the mental health care of athletes, provided by experts in the field and targeting sports medicine providers, mental health providers and primary care physicians involved in the direct care of recreational and competitive athletes at all levels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030447533
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	05/31/2020
Edition description:	1st ed. 2020
Pages:	298
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Eugene Hong MD CAQSM FAAFP FAMSSM, Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Department of Orthopaedics, Chief Physician Executive, MUSC Physicians and MUSC Health, Medical University College of Medicine, Charleston, SC, USA

Ashwin L. Rao, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Program Director, Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

Table of Contents

The Stigma of Mental Illness in Athletics.- Screening for Mental Health Conditions in Athletes.- Depression in Athletes: Incidence, Prevalence, and Comparisons to the Non-Athletic Population.- Suicide in Athletes: Are Athletes at Greater Risk?- Managing Psychiatric Disorders in Athletes.- ADHD in Athletes: Treatment and Considerations for Competition.- Risk-Taking Behaviors in Athletes.- The Psychological Response to Injury.- Substance Abuse and Sport.- Coping with Doping: PEDs in the Athletic Culture.- The Female Athlete Triad and Relative Energy Deficiencies in Athletes.- The Mental Health Manifestations of Concussion.- Bullying and Hazing in Athletic Culture.- The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health.- Mental Health in the Pediatric Athlete.- Exercise Addiction.- The Cellular and Physiological Basis of Behavioral Health: Basic and Translational Research.- An Update on Translational Research: The Brain and Behavior Relationship.- Non-Pharmacologic Approaches to Mental Health in Athletes.- Mindfulness Approaches to Athlete Well-Being.- Administrating Mental Health: Societal, Coaching, and Legislative Approaches to Mental Health.- Sports Psychology Demystified: Performance Versus Clinical Psychology – What’s the Difference and Why Does It Matter?- Exercise as a Prescription for Mental Health.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Tyler C. Duffield, PhD (Oregon Health & Science University)
Description: This is a needed and timely contribution to understanding the overall health of the student athlete. It is a Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory approach to understanding the unique aspects of mental health for the student athlete, the barriers to care, and provision of a reference guide for the sports medicine community when needed.
Purpose: The purpose of this book is to educate the sports medicine community on salient mental health diagnoses, treatment guidelines, and biopsychosocial considerations for the unique context of athlete mental health clinical management. These are admirable objectives, which are appropriately addressed for a historically neglected aspect of athlete health. Although the chapters are brief, they are comprehensive regarding critical factors/aspects specific to student athlete mental health (e.g., the psychological response to injury).
Audience: The book is broadly written for sports medicine practitioners, including physicians, athletic trainers, and associated mental health providers. The chapter brevity, but topic breadth, provides sufficient and approachable topic understanding for the practitioner with no mental health training background.
Features: I deeply appreciated that this text addresses mental health screening as part of routine care, response to injury (primary predictor of athlete depression), concussion, and sleep. Another positive attribute of the text, as aforementioned, is the Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory (EST) approach to athlete mental health, which is distinct from non-athlete peer mental health. However, a related shortcoming is a lack of thorough discussion around the family system contribution to athlete mental health (part of the microsystem in EST), which I commonly need to address in clinical practice. Further, although I am deeply appreciative of a chapter regarding sleep, it likely represents a larger source of variance regarding athlete mental health compared to other covered topics and could be expanded upon in subsequent editions.
Assessment: This text is of notable high quality regarding topic breadth and chapter brevity for a multidisciplinary understanding of student athlete mental health. It will be highly useful as, to my knowledge, there exist no comparable texts for clinician reference on the topic of mental health in the athlete that are not specific to a sports psychology professional.

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