Is Mental Health Valued Less than Physical Health in Athletes?
As the Tampa Bay Bucs won their playoff game this weekend against Philadelphia Eagles, a former member of the Bucs team was missing, Antonio Brown. If you happened to be on social media earlier this month on the night that Antonio Brown ran off the field bare-chested, flashing a peace sign, in the middle of a game, you know that Brown was immediately the subject of jokes and memes mocking his behavior and deriding his mental health. He was also met with virulent ire by fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, furious that the four-time All-Pro wide receiver left mid-play that could have jeopardized the outcome of the game.
There was hardly a lick of concern about this aberrant behavior. No worry, at least not until later, for the player’s well-being. Just jeers and anger. After all, sports fandom overall has made it quite clear that the vast majority of them wish that their favorite athletes would just “shut up and play” (see also Colin Kaepernick for entirely other reasons). Brown was making a spectacle of himself, making himself and his strange behavior impossible to ignore. He was immediately let go by the Bucs.
Sports takes its toll; we know sports punishes athletes’ bodies, but more and more we’re realizing that sports take a toll on athletes’ minds as well. Sometimes these tolls go hand in hand; sometimes they do not.
Recently an autopsy revealed that former NFL player of 20 years, Phillip Adams, suffered from Stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy. On April 7, 2021, Adams killed physician Robert Lesslie; his wife, Barbara; two of their grandchildren, 9-year-old Adah Lesslie and 5-year-old Noah Lesslie; and two HVAC technicians working at the Lesslie home, James Lewis and Robert Shook, both 38. Police later found Adams with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
According to the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine (AMSSM), Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and other neurodegenerative diseases have been described in former athletes with a history of concussion or repetitive head impact exposure, typically accompanied by behavioural change. Though the cause and effect are not completely understood, there are concerns that repetitive head injuries and trauma can contribute in CTE.
Dr. Ann McKee, who performed the biopsy told ESPN, "There were inklings that he was developing clear behavioral and cognitive issues... I don't think he snapped. It appeared to be a cumulative progressive impairment. He was getting increasingly paranoid, he was having increasing difficulties with his memory, and he was very likely having more and more impulsive behaviors. ... It may not have been recognized, but I doubt that this was entirely out of the blue.'
A recent journal article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine listed many of the impacts that high achievement in sports can have on an athlete’s mental health, including:
· Hazing
· Bullying
· Transition from sport
· Self-medication in response to injury/illness
· Eating Disorders/Disordered Eating
· Depression and Suicide
· Anxiety and Stress
· Overtraining
The journal piece opens with this anecdote and questions, “After [elite tennis player] Naomi Osaka declined press conferences at the 2021 French Open due to concern that it would negatively impact her mental health, she was fined and threatened with expulsion. She withdrew, and questions arose about the impact of media relations and the mental health of elite athletes. The incident also raised questions regarding the contractual obligations of athletes regarding press conferences. Would she have been fined for missing a press conference due to a physical illness? Is mental health valued less than physical health?”
Osaka was fined for taking care of her mental health. But Novak Djokovic has seen no such fine for his lying and manipulation in advance of the Australian Open. Will he see such fines for putting his physical health and others at risk of COVID?
Leading American gymnast Simone Biles faced similar backlash when she decided to forgo participating in team competition at the Tokyo Olympics. Her decision and motives were questioned extensively, with some going as far as questioning her patriotism and commitment to her country.
Last summer, conservative commentator, Charlie Kirk, who claimed Biles was "weak" and a "shame to the country," talked about Biles' decision to withdraw for mental health reasons on his "The Charlie Kirk Show" podcast. "We are raising a generation of weak people like Simone Biles," he said on the podcast.
British conservative Piers Morgan, who wrote an op-ed piece for the Daily Mail, calling Biles a letdown to her country, teammates and fans. "Sorry, Simone Biles, but there's nothing heroic or brave about quitting because you're not having 'fun,'" Morgan wrote.
Morgan quotes her in the article as she speaks very honestly about her mental struggles, and even this statement he mocks, “I don't trust myself as much anymore,” Biles said. “Maybe it's getting older. There were a couple of days when everybody tweets you and you feel the weight of the world. We're not just athletes, we're people at the end of the day and sometimes you just have to step back.”
Just like it appears Brown has stepped back. Brown suffered an ankle injury the night he left the field and didn’t tell anyone about it; he’s having surgery on January 18. Since then, he’s released some music and appeared in ads by a clothing brand that sponsors him. Even before he lost his job with the Bucs, he was meeting with motivational speaker Tony Robbins at the behest of his quarterback, Tom Brady.
Biles was “weak” for protecting her mental health. Osaka was fined for protecting hers. Brown was mocked for acting out his own mental health issues. Adams killed others and himself after 20 years of sports injuries possibly degraded his mental health. There are pads and mats and helmets to protect your body in sports—some may work better than others—but no such consideration is paid to protecting and honoring the minds of the players.
The “shut up and play” attitude—play through injury, whether that’s mental or physical—is so pervasive in sports fandom and sports in general. We should consider whether our elite athletes should be talking more about their mental health and suffering less going forward. It has the potential to save careers or in some drastic cases, even lives.
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