Mental health correlates with physical health for athletes

Jasmine Casimir // Assistant Sports Director

When a student athlete’s health is talked about, most will think of the person’s physical condition, and their mental condition will likely be viewed as secondary.

However, a person’s physical and mental health cannot be separated as they go hand in hand when determining what effect an injury will have on one’s athletic performance. One affects the other.

Mental health issues include psychological and emotional problems such as eating disorders and depression. These issues within mental health can also affect the performance of an athlete as training and the competition level may be put on hold until the student-athlete is properly treated.

FIU provides services at the student health center such as the FIU Counseling and Psychological Services Center for student athletes to have a place where they can speak with a counselor about a mental health issue.

“As with all registered students, student athletes can benefit from services that CAPS provides,” George Shepeard, a psychologist with CAPS told student media. “While some issues that student athletes deal with include performance related issues, psychological and emotional issues can also affect student athletes as they may with non-student athletes.”

The demands of being a student-athlete include being a full-time student as well as being an athlete, so they can approach CAPS with issues such as relationship issues, anxiety, depression, time management and stress management concerns.

One of the top injuries for student athletes are concussions, and it can affect them physically and emotionally. Recent concussions reported by FIU student athletes includes former football players Wilkenson Myrtil and Dennis Turner who were both struck by opposing teams last season.

“Concussions are a significant medical issue that are usually handled by the athletic training department and the sports medicine physicians,” Shepeard said. “Counseling can be helpful for people that experience a concussion to help them deal with the emotional impact of the injury.”

In the student athlete handbook, CAPS are referred to them if they are suffering with a mental health issue, but there are a variety of services available to utilize such as the student athlete academic center, study skill development at the student success center, disability resources center services if applicable, as well as the medical services at the student health center.

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