Viewpoint: Pro athletes need to do more to end stigma of mental illness
By Daniel Vazzoler
Bell Let’s Talk Day was a success again this year, raising more than $6.5 million for mental health initiatives in Canada.
While that’s all well and good, spending only one day a year to talk about mental health doesn’t really help get rid of the stigma associated with mental illness. As was tweeted out a countless number of times on Jan. 25, we all know someone affected by mental illness. Yet there is a portion of the population that continues to associate it with things like being weak or different.
The foundation itself does a good job of promoting mental health initiatives, but we, as a society, need to ensure their efforts aren’t in vain by continuing the discussion beyond Bell Let’s Talk Day.
Some people who have to deal with depression and mental illnesses, however, are individuals viewed by society as the strongest people among us: athletes.
In 2015, an article on The Sportser website reported as many as 25 per cent of professional athletes experience major depression.
For the general population, about eight per cent of adults will experience that mental illness, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Let’s think about that for a second. A NHL team has 20 players dressed every game, 40 players when we include both clubs. That means 10 players on the ice in every NHL game could be suffering from some degree of depression, and none of the tens of thousands of fans watching the action, nor league officials, knows anything about it.
Athletes are aware of the public perception of mental illness for the other 364 days a year — when no one wants to talk about it — so why should they feel comfortable broaching the subject?
They should open up about their struggles because of their platform and amplified voice that others suffering in silence don’t have.
The world’s sports stars could do much more to help end the stigma around depression and mental illness.
In 2008, Daniel Alfredsson became the face of the You Know Who I Am campaign, speaking about his sister Cecelia and her generalized anxiety disorder. His participation with this was part of the reason he was handed the key to the city in 2015.
Having athletes talking about the mental illnesses of others can help, but what could have the biggest impact is athletes talking about their own battle with maintaining mental health.
Former NHLer Patrick O’Sullivan published a book where he details the physical, emotional and verbal attacks he went through from a father bent on turning him into a pro hockey player.
On Let’s Talk Day, O’Sullivan tweeted, “Mental illness took my childhood & in the end my career. The last 3 years have been the best of my life because I found help.”
To this day, O’Sullivan has said he suffers from the same kind of post-traumatic stress disorder military veterans often face. He continues to try to help people who have suffered the sort of abuse he did.
For Olympians, the risk of depression can be coupled with financial worries.
Professional athletes rarely have to worry about money once they finish their careers. That typically isn’t the case for Olympic athletes who are in constant search of sponsorships and funding to allow them to continue their pursuit of sporting success.
Clara Hughes won six Olympic medals over her six appearances in the Summer and Winter Games as a cyclist and speed skater. Like many Olympians, however, she said she felt her happiness fade away just months after the closing ceremonies.
These examples need to be a mere starting point when we look back on this in the future. More of those 25 per cent of athletes known to be suffering from mental illness need to take the ball and run with it to push the discourse forward.
It was a good thing on Jan. 25 to talk about mental health issues. But more athletes need to make an effort to diminish the stigma surrounding mental illness — they shouldn’t wait until another year passes to join the conversation.