Amid mental health crisis in young people, student-athletes need more attention

The recent suicides of six NCAA student-athletes highlight the need for increased attention to the mental health of young people who participate in team sports. Katie Meyer, Jayden Hill, Arlana Miller, Sarah Shulze, Robert Martin, and Lauren Bernett were each successful, talented athletes at their respective universities, with each choosing to end their lives. Interviews with the families of several of these young adults suggest that the healthy appearances of each of these athletes belied the fact that each was under enormous pressure that ultimately proved unbeatable.

The worsening crisis in mental health among adolescents and young adults is not particular to those involved in sports. Emergency room visits for mental health concerns, including suicide attempts, rose sharply among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading the American Academy of Pediatrics to declare a State of Emergency regarding child and adolescent mental health in October 2021. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults, with nearly 1 in 5 teens reporting having considered suicide within the past year.

At the high school and college levels (and increasingly for children in middle school), athletes often experience tremendous and public pressure to perform perfectly to please coaches, parents, and to position themselves to advance and succeed to the next level. Families commonly spend thousands of dollars to ensure that children are able to pursue the highest echelons of training for their respective sports. It is potentially tough on a young person to feel they’ve let a parent down after a family commits time and money toward the player’s development. They may worry that making a mistake or missing a shot risks losing a parent’s love. Additionally, to keep one’s place on the team often means that the young person is tasked with performing well enough to remain in their program, at their school, among their peers.

Perhaps more than anything, the young athlete often builds their identity around their sport. According to licensed psychologist Kevin Chapman, “If the way I perform in sport is equated to who I am as a person, then negative performances will contribute to a vicious cycle of negative emotions and negative reactions to these emotions, often resulting in the perception that I am inadequate.” When a player’s performance suffers in their own eyes or in the eyes of the public (including social media followers), their body changes, or they’re simply not meeting their own standards for competitive excellence, the young person’s perfectionist identity may potentially rupture in an instant. Indeed, one common thread among those who have attempted suicide, including several of those NCAA athletes mentioned previously, is that the decision to end their lives may have come quickly and impulsively. Louisville psychologist Felicia Smith described “Whereas the driving factors behind suicide are typically multi-determined and rarely the result on a sole motivator, common among them are feelings of hopelessness and desperation. Arlana Miller, a 19-year-old cheerleader at Southern University and A&M College, wrote before her recent suicide about her long history with depression, despair, and suicidal thoughts in an Instagram post that is now circulating online, encouraging others to ‘get help always.’ Suicide is a preventable public health problem, and mental health treatment and education to raise awareness and reduce stigma are essential to ensure that support is available for all young people in distress.

While many individuals do not disclose their struggles with mental health, psychologist Tanya Stackhammer described the need to observe changes in behavior and daily functioning which may signal when a problem arises. “Physical changes in appearance or hygiene, social withdrawal, increase in substance use, notable increases or decreases in need for sleep, lowered grades, poor work performance, or an increase in risky, reckless, or self-harm behaviors, and athletes may exhibit withdrawal, avoidance, or isolation from team activities, seem uncharacteristically disengaged from their sport, or exhibit a change in work/training performance. There are some clear behaviors that indicate an individual is ‘making a plan’ which include putting their affairs in order and acquiring the means to die by suicide. The general warning signs of suicidality can include changes in mood such as extreme depression, burnout, or a sudden lift in spirits after a severe depressive episode. When a young person describes hopelessness, having nothing to live for, or voices difficulty picturing their future, these can be signs of severe depression and possible suicidal thinking. In athletes, this may appear as not seeing a plan for themselves after they finish their sport, and can be exacerbated by an injury or involuntary end to their playing career.

Coaches may feel that the topic of mental health is off-limits or too detached from their role in helping the player to win games, while parents may worry that bringing up the topic of suicide may make a young person more likely to consider the unthinkable. It’s helpful to know that talking about depression and suicide does not make people more suicidal. Additionally, mental health and performance improve when pressure is acknowledged and addressed with support.

To gauge how teens and young adults are managing the balance of sports and all life’s other demands, it’s helpful to use open-ended questions to allow the individual to express their own thoughts versus answering ‘yes or no’ questions. For example, “Tell me about the pressure that you’re feeling.” This gives the opportunity for the player to feel safe verbalizing their feelings without worrying that they will get in trouble or lose playing time. Opening a conversation about a student-athlete’s well-being once warning signs are observed can be as simple as saying “I’ve noticed you seem distressed lately. I am concerned about you and I care about how you’re doing.” Another way of ascertaining how safe the adolescent or young adult is would be to ask how willing the individual would be to seek help in the future from a coach, family member, friend, or counselor should they ever experience depression or suicidal thoughts. This gives an opportunity to figure out a safety plan, and to establish for the person that the door is open if they need support in the future.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. To adequately address the mental health crisis among our student-athletes, every parent, coach, and loved one should be ready to open and continue the conversation about competitive pressure, depression, and suicide, to plan for safety, and to communicate to the young person that their value to the world far exceeds their playing statistics. There is much more life to live after the game.

Rachel Buehner, Ph.D. is past president of the Kentucky Psychological Association.

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, seek help immediately by calling the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255.

The Kentucky Psychological Association will present a free webinar “Addressing the Suicide Crisis Among Student-Athletes: A Playbook for Families and Coaches” on June 17, 2022 from 11:00am-12:00pm EDT. Please visit www.kpa.org for more information.

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