International sports have been rocked in recent years with a number of high-flying athletes, many of them women, dropping out of tournaments or quitting the game due to issues related to emotional or mental health. The most recent is world number one Ashley Barty, 25, who decided to retire from tennis at the height of her prowess.
The reason he gave: his emotional inability to keep up with the strenuous physical and mental exertion required to stay at the top of international sports.
International sports stars no doubt face unique physical and mental pressures. She succeeded Barty’s competitor Naomi Osaka more than a year ago, when she withdrew from a tournament citing emotional despair, and returned to top-flight tennis recently.
It happened to Olympic gold medalist gymnast Simone Biles at the Tokyo Olympics last year. Biles was simply out of sight for a few days during the games. She was emotionally drained, she said. But she again gave an impressive gold medal-winning performance. And she gave up the sport altogether after the games.
What should be particularly highlighted here is the unconditional understanding and support these people received from sports federations, friends and the media.
read more: COVID-19 has put the spotlight on mental health, but India needs more
Unfortunately, one cannot be sure that an Indian sports star caught in a similar situation would have received that kind of support at home. An Olympic medal-winning wrestler was a weak and lonely voice who expressed doubts about whether she would have gotten the same support if she had taken a break, citing emotional reasons.
Depression. exhaustion Anxiety. Stress. emotional exhaustion No new mental health conditions. However, many still do not believe that depression or emotional well-being is a real health problem.
The social stigma associated with the mere mention of the words ‘mental health’ is still a reality in Indian households. Mental health issues do not respect economic or social status and received little attention among the general public until COVID-19 hit. But it seems that the virus and the world it created may have finally pushed the media to realize that mental health is an important issue.
An unprepared system, a society in denial
The effects of the prolonged lockdowns had a severe impact on minds. People struggled to cope with confinement in closed spaces with children suddenly deprived of school and all social contact with their peers, adults who had to adjust to working from home and the elderly, alone even in normal times, even more alone by the pandemic restrictions.
These were just some of the mental health issues that the pandemic has started to highlight. But in the process, what came to light was a severe shortage of counselors and other trained mental health professionals, and of diagnostic and treatment facilities for these people.
One of the main obstacles has always been the reluctance of people, their families and their colleagues to accept that one is facing a mental health problem and needs professional help. The second has been the lack of knowledge of where and how to obtain that help.
A film, Smile Simi, made by Malathi Rai, a Mumbai-based human resources executive, presents the problem in a simple and effective way. The film shows how hard it is for the sufferer when no one understands what is going on in the mind, because it is not visible.
As Malathi Rai told Citizen Matters: “Mental health problems can lurk in the most unlikely places and people. Awareness and Acceptance are the two magic words. Once you cross these two, there is hope for a better life.”
Read more: Starting the conversation about mental health
silver linings
Perhaps COVID-19 had a positive consequence. Getting the media and government health authorities to sit up and take note of what the pandemic was doing to the mental health of the population. Mental health helplines were set up, online counseling sessions were held, even the state got involved, and citizen groups helped with awareness campaigns.
Before the pandemic, NIMHANS invited me to a panel discussion on media and mental health. So, as editor of The Week magazine, I had to admit that any media coverage was largely event based, and few publications and their staff understood the difference between neurological and mental issues. And when the stories were made, the focus was celebrity-oriented to a degree. Like stories of Bollywood stars dealing with stress or depression.
And about “well-being”, which has been in all the media in recent years, even more so after the pandemic.
Citizen Matters’ first stories about mental health date back more than six years. The last two years have seen increased coverage from Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore. With guides and explainers to raise awareness among readers.
COVID didn’t just compound old problems. He also created new ones. One of these was ‘brain fog’, a condition that appeared in some patients many months after they had recovered from the infection. This was perhaps best described by Neha Jaiswal, a Delhi-based content writer:
“My head used to spin like a cartwheel. Worse yet, after a brief activity, both of my hands were beginning to shake. I consulted neurologists, psychologists, doctors. They all told me there wasn’t much they could do. I felt helpless wondering if I would ever feel normal again.”
What Neha went through is now accepted as one of the symptoms of what has been called long covid, where symptoms such as brain fog can persist for months. Fortunately, 12 weeks later, most of Neha’s symptoms had subsided.
Hopefully, reading about what Neha went through will help others who are facing similar issues but are unable or unwilling to talk about it.
We wish all our readers good health. With the warning, stay tuned.
