James Heimer
Jaden Gault, the highest-rated recruit in the University of Wisconsin’s class of 2014, didn’t play a single down for the Badgers last fall.
Instead, after the offensive tackle from Monona Grove High led the Silver Eagles to a 2013 state champion ship, graduated early and enrolled at UW, he began suffering from anxiety — the result of new pressures that go along with being a top recruit at a Big Ten school. He spent his freshman year away from the team while being treated for depression.
“I was like a zombie,” Gault told the Wisconsin State Journal last summer, when he announced he would redshirt his 2014 season. “I was getting kind of hopeless. I didn’t feel like doing anything or being there at all. I just wanted to check out. I wanted to just be done with life. Being in that kind of stage, you really have no other options in your head at that time.” (The UW athletic department did not respond to requests regarding Gault’s current status, although he is listed on the Badgers’ 2015 spring roster.)
Gault is far from alone. The American College Health Association reports that, in 2013, nearly one-third of all undergraduates surveyed claimed they were “so depressed it was difficult to function,” and 7.4 % admitted to seriously considering suicide.
Now, new concerns focus on high school student-athletes. Representatives from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, the Youth Sports Safety Alliance, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, the American Psychological Association and other organizations recently developed and issued guidelines to help parents, coaches, athletic trainers and administrators identify and assist high school student-athletes with mental health problems.
The guidelines, officially titled “Recommendations for Developing a Plan to Recognize and Refer Student Athletes with Psychological Concerns at the Secondary School Level,” state that the types, severity and percentages of mental illnesses are increasing in young adults between the ages of 18 and 25, and officials say those issues may develop during adolescence.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association hasn’t publicly weighed in on the guidelines yet, although the group’s sports medical advisory committee discussed them in early May.
Student-athletes are particularly susceptible to depression, according to Timothy Neal, a certified athletic trainer and former assistant athletic director for sports medicine at Syracuse University, who now runs his own consulting firm and oversaw the creation of the guidelines for the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. (That association also has developed recommendations for everything from managing concussions and heat illness to lightning safety and evaluating dietary supplements.)
“Sometimes, athletes’ worst moments aren’t when they’re physically injured,” Neal says.
Almost 7.8 million kids participate in high school athletics — many of whom define themselves by their sports performances. Depression triggers in student-athletes often include struggling performance, a chronic career-ending injury, relationship challenges, academic pressures, or bullying or hazing, Neal says.
Other significant contributing factors can include eating disorders (especially in sports in which body image is critical, such as gymnastics) and substance abuse.
“The key factors in helping a student-athlete with psychological concerns are education, early recognition, effective mental health referral and addressing potential risks within the secondary school system,” Neal says. “Putting these steps in place can help the athlete excel at sport, have appropriate support to manage psychological challenges and continue to thrive in life and school.”
According to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in 2013 an estimated 2.6 million kids between the ages of 12 and 17 reported at least one major depressive episode, traditionally defined by a consistent loss of interest in daily activities for two weeks or longer. The percentage of episodes among females (16.2 %) was about three times higher than males (5.3 %).
Claudia Reardon, a psychiatrist who sits on the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association’s sports medical advisory committee, stresses that there is no evidence to suggest that mental health issues exist at a higher level in high school and college athletes than they do among the general student population. Reardon, an assistant professor in the psychiatry department at UW-Madison, adds that alcohol plays a much greater factor in teenage and young adult depression than drugs.
“It seems like every condition is on the rise. Does that mean there are more cases, or just more awareness?” Reardon asks, suggesting it might be a combination of both. “Maybe it’s more common now because of increasingly early specialization in individual sports. I think that does set up some athletes for burnout and depression.”
While many of the recommendations from the National Athletic Training Association are intended for school personnel, Reardon thinks that parents, guardians and friends also need to be on the lookout for depression symptoms. Educating student-athletes about stress management strategies and services available, such as a professional psychological evaluation, can help improve their ability to function.
In fact, Reardon suggests psychological evaluations be a greater part of a student-athlete’s pre-participation medical exam. “No one is immune from mental illness, no matter how strong, tough and confident someone appears on the outside,” she says. “We do a disservice to athletes when we assume that external toughness also implies internal toughness.”
