Mental health in elite athletes: International Olympic Committee consensus statement (2019).

Mental health symptoms and disorders are common among elite athletes, may have sport related manifestations within this population and impair performance. Mental health cannot be separated from physical health, as evidenced by mental health symptoms and disorders increasing the risk of physical injury and delaying subsequent recovery. There are no evidence or consensus based guidelines for diagnosis and management of mental health symptoms and disorders in elite athletes. Diagnosis must differentiate character traits particular to elite athletes from psychosocial maladaptations.Management strategies should address all contributors to mental health symptoms and consider biopsychosocial factors relevant to athletes to maximise benefit and minimise harm. Management must involve both treatment of affected individual athletes and optimising environments in which all elite athletes train and compete. To advance a more standardised, evidence based approach to mental health symptoms and disorders in elite athletes, an International Olympic Committee Consensus Work Group critically evaluated the current state of science and provided recommendations.

Suicide in athletes: a review and commentary.

Not only are athletes at risk for psychiatric illness, but they are at risk of suicide. In an effort to learn more about suicide in athletes and those connected to the sports arena, a review of the medical literature from 1960 to 2000 was conducted through Medline, and a review of the periodical literature from 1980 to 2000 was conducted through Infotrac. These reviews revealed 71 cases of athletes who have either contemplated, attempted, or completed suicide. In this article, these cases are analyzed by sport, gender, and age. Through inference, an attempt to establish the etiologic basis for these behaviors is undertaken. Intervention and prevention strategies are discussed, based on the available data.