What strategies can overcome cultural influencers and barriers to elite athletes seeking treatment for mental health symptoms and disorders?
Coaches are critical in promoting a culture that encourages elite athletes to seek treatment for mental health disorders by overcoming cultural barriers and stigma.
There is a need for various actors to provide more effective strategies to overcome the stigma that surrounds mental illness, increase mental health literacy in the athlete/coach community, and address athlete-specific barriers to seeking treatment for mental illness. In this systematic review, we identified strategies that, if implemented, can overcome the cultural factors that may otherwise limit athletes seeking treatment. Coaches are critical for promoting a culture within elite athletes' environments that encourages athletes to seek treatment.
Castaldelli-Maia et al. (Wed,) studied this question.