Professional Athletes and Mental IllnessProfessional athletes are among the most prestiged, looked up to, and strongest people in society. For a long time, athletes have not spoken out about their mental illnesses. In fact, the prevalence of mental health issues among professional athletes is unclear. In the past few years many top athletes, have made their mental illnesses public. Michael Phelps is a retired U.S. national swimmer who only just recently made his depression public, “For the longest time, I thought asking for help was a sign of weakness because that’s kind of what society teaches us. That’s especially true from an athlete’s perspective. If we ask for help, then we’re not this big macho athlete that people can look up to. Well, you know what? If someone wants to call me weak for asking for help, that’s their problem. Because I’m saving my own life.” This fear was and is somewhat still common amoung athletes. Michael Phelps won 23 Olympic gold medals. To even qualify for the Olympics, not to mention win a gold medal, takes tremendous amounts of mental discipline, toughness and strength. And he still needed to ask for help.
|