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Mental Health for Athletes: Famous Athletes Who Sought Mental Mental Help

Mental Health for Athletes: Famous Athletes Who Sought Mental Mental Help

Mental Health for Athletes: Famous Athletes Who Sought Mental Mental Help

Athletes, too, struggle with mental challenges throughout their careers. From the pressure to perform and the risk of injuries to the need to maintain composure during competitions, these factors can impact their mental well-being. Here we look at mental health for athletes with a focus on famous athletes who have spoken about their mental health struggles.

Mental Health for Athletes

Simone Biles

Simone Biles is the best gymnast of all time. However, at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Bile had to cancel five of her targeted six competitions unexpectedly due to anxiety and pressure. Despite working out in the morning, she felt that she wasn’t in the right mental state to participate and had to let her teammates compete as she focused on herself. The girls went ahead to win a silver medal without Simone Biles.

She returned to the games in the 2024 Paris Olympics and was celebrated by her fans and celebrities around the world. She says this could not be possible if not for the help she received from her therapists and psychotherapists.

Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps is a champion Olympic swimmer who is not shy to speak about his mental health struggles. In a 2022 interview when explaining the events following his drunk driving arrest in 2014, Phelps admitted that was the lowest point in his life, saying he felt the best option was to end his life.

Michal felt he had caused enough trouble to other people and himself and that’s when he decided to seek help. He checked into a treatment center and thereafter continued to see a therapist. Phelps admits that therapy helped him unburden himself and helped him gain self-acceptance.

Like other famous athletes, Phelps had to become vulnerable to gain back his mental clarity and regain control of his life. He says that therapy is what gave him another opportunity to live.

Imani Boyette

Boyette is a famous American Basketball player who has been vocal about mental health wellness all her life. Imani was raped when she was 10 years old, which marked the start of her depression. She first attempted suicide when she was 10 and has had two more suicide attempts since then. In an interview with CBS Sports Network, Imani Boyette admitted that there’s no worse feeling than attempting suicide and not succeeding.

Despite that, she continues to use every opportunity she gets to encourage people struggling with mental problems not to give up and seek help. She wants everyone who is having suicidal thoughts to know that they are important and they deserve to be alive.

The story of Boyette represents many other people who feel like the world has closed their eyes and ears not to see or hear their suffering. It’s a story that many people don’t want to believe but one that is too common.

Her decision to become vulnerable and talk about what she went through gives other people going through the same the courage to seek help instead of suffering in silence. Boyette is the spokesman of Sparks of Hope, a non-profit organization in Oregon, where she helps raise awareness on mental health, especially for marginalized groups.

Mental Health for Athletes

Dak Prescott

Dak Prescott has talked about the emotional torture he experienced after his mother died from colon cancer in 2013, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and his brother’s death by suicide in 2020.

In an interview in 2020, he said that he started experiencing anxiety and other emotions he had never felt before. He adds that before his brother’s death, he experienced depression and could not sleep at all.

After his brother’s death, Prescott decided to seek help and support from those around him. He says that our struggles are going to be too much for one person or even two people but not for a community. This is his way of admitting that we need to seek help anytime we face adversity or mental health struggles, instead of keeping it to ourselves.

Graeme Obree

Graeme is a Scottish racing cyclist who broke the world hour record twice: in 1993 and 1994. Graeme Obree has been vocal about his struggle with bipolar disorder and three suicide attempts. In his autobiography: Flying Scotsman, Graeme Obree provides details on how he battled mental problems in his professional career.

He says that he went through 10 years of therapy to get out of depression and find his way to stay positive and live a healthy life. He encourages anyone with depression to seek mental support by connecting with therapists and psychologists.

Gracie Gold

As a 2014 Olympic team bronze medalist and a two-time U.S. ladies figure skating champion, Gracie had been open about her mental health struggles. For example, she announced in 2017 that she wouldn’t participate in skating for a while to seek professional help.

She stated that although her passion for skating remained, she had decided to seek professional help after recent struggles on and off the ice. She continued that she will use her time off to reflect on her skating performance, which will help her become stronger.

Gold was battling anxiety, depression, and an eating disorder, which she sought help for in 2017. She competed in the U.S. National in January 2020 and showed excellent performance at the 2021 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. She released her memoir in 2024 where she talks about her experiences with mental health issues, an eating disorder, and a near sexual assault from a fellow skater.

Mental Health for Athletes: No One is Immune to Depression

If you only focus on an athlete’s impressive performance, you might think they live a perfect life without any low moments. But this is not always the case. Behind their performance, athletes face personal challenges that lead to anxiety, stress, depression, and other mental health disorders.

The solution is to seek mental help before your mental struggles take a toll on you and take control of your life. At LGBTQ and All, we can help find the best therapist or psychotherapist to help you navigate your mental struggles. Visit our directory today and connect with a mental professional that best matches your needs.

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