Mental Health in Professional Football
Do you remember Antonio Brown's stunt with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in 2022 in their game against the Jets? When AB abruptly left the field in dramatic fashion, it wasn't just a shocking sports moment—it underscored the critical, often overlooked issue of mental health in American football.
While sport psychology as a field overlaps heavily with mental health counseling, it is not entirely the same. The primary difference between the two is that sport psychology takes a more applied focus, teaching mental skills and interventions aimed at improving competitive performance. Mental health on the other hand revolves around diagnosing and treating underlying mental health conditions. The two are not mutually exclusive either however, sport psychology and mental health counselors are required to work closely together in order to optimize outcomes for our athletes.
With that distinction in mind, lets take a look at the mental health scene in professional American football, an increasing topic of interest within the sports world. In their article, Plessow et al. (2020) discuss the self-reported functioning and mental health diagnoses among former professional football players.
To set the stage, lets take a look at the prevalence within the NFL scene compared to the rest of the country. It has been shown that a career in football is associated with mental health problems, with more prevalence in those who have suffered from concussions (Plessow, 2020). In a study of 2500 former NFL players, depression rates were as high as 11.1% (Plessow et al., 2020). Comparatively, the nationwide prevalence of depression for men 20-39 is 5.5%, for ages 40-59: 5.2%, and for men above 60: 6.1% (Plessow et al., 2020). Depending on the cohort, that is nearly double the prevalence of depression for former NFL players than the average American.
With this information in mind, the authors sought to determine if cognitive symptom reporting was associated with the diagnoses of depression / anxiety. In their article, Plessow et al. (2020) report the following findings:
Former players are more reluctant to report mental health symptoms but will report cognitive symptoms.
A link between cognitive problems and depressive and anxiety symptoms.
40% of players report experiencing a cognitive problem on a daily basis.
Based on this report from Plessow et al. (2020), there is an apparent need to address mental health within current and former football players. There is a call to action to facilitate a sports culture which recognizes and acts on mental health. Additionally, sport psychology practitioners need work closely with mental health professionals to ensure the highest standard of care for our athletes.
TLDR, what does this mean for you? Former professional football players report mental health issues at lower rates, while these problems are more prevalent within their population. As a sport psychology practitioner, it is paramount to maintain confidentiality while being an advocate for your players’ mental well-being.
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Plessow, F., Pascual-Leone, A., McCracken, C. M., Baker, J., Krishnan, S., Baggish, A., Connor, A., Courtney, T. K., Nadler, L. M., Speizer, F. E., Taylor, H. A., Weisskopf, M. G., Zafonte, R. D., & Meehan, W. P., , III (2020). Self-Reported Cognitive Function and Mental Health Diagnoses among Former Professional American-Style Football Players. Journal of neurotrauma, 37(8), 1021–1028. https://doi.org/10.1089/neu.2019.6661