Should The NCAA Do Something About Mental Health?

     In recent years there has been a significant increase in college student-athletes reporting mental health issues. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the rates of mental exhaustion, anxiety, and depression have more than doubled compared to the pre-pandemic rates. Over 30% of female and male athletes have disclosed facing mental health problems. Of that percentage, only 10% of those people receive the help they desperately need. This uprising issue has resulted in 33% of collegiate athletes quitting their sport every year due to mental exhaustion. In the span of just two months in 2022,  five athletes committed suicide from the mental health problems they were facing.

     Why and how is this problem escalating so quickly, is the question many are asking. Student-athletes are feeling the intense pressure to perform not only athletically but academically as well. The NCAA has a rule that if your sport is not in season a coach can't spend more than 20 hours a week on athletically related activities. Although the NCAA recently did a survey and 70% of athletes said they spent as much time on sports in the offseason as they did during their season. This is a problem because this is one of the reasons many athletes are feeling burnout within their sport. This burnout feeling might seem small, but it can lead to a much bigger problem. With such a huge time commitment required by these athletes, coaches need to worry about their social and emotional status outside of the sport. The NCAA has tried to require a sports physiologist that is available for all athletes at all colleges among all three divisions. This is a requirement that is still a work in progress, but is it enough?

 

https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/ncaa-tackling-mental-health/

https://www.psycom.net/student-mental-health/college-athletes-how-to-help

Is required a sports psychologist at every college enough?

If not, what else could be offered for these athletes?

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    • I agree with you, I think the NCAA should do something about mental health. To be able to play a sport in college you not only have to be physically strong, but mentally strong as well and one psychologist per college isn't enough.

  • I think people should be able to get more help than just one sports psychologist at every college they should have more than just one there should be a team of psychologists one is not enough to help people's mental health.

    • I agree with you, I think there should be more than one sports psychologist at every college. The number of psychologists offered can be determined by the number of athletes or the size of that college.  

  • No, I do not believe that one required sports psychologist at every college is enough. There should definitely be more than just 1, depending on the size of the college. Another thing they could do is try to minimize how much the athletes are working to take the stress off them.

    • I agree with you, I personally don't think that one therapist is enough for all college athletes. And I think coaches should reduce the amount of time these athletes are practicing for. 

  • One required psychologist is definetly not enough. Especially for larger teams, there should be at least 3. This ensures that everyone has access to a mental health expert. Mental health isn't something to be taken lightly. "In the span of just two months in 2022,  five athletes committed suicide from the mental health problems they were facing." This means the NCAA is doing something wrong.

    • I agree with you, I think that one psychologist per college is definitely not enough for all of the athletes. I think the number of psychologists per college should depend on the size of the college. 

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