A narrative review highlights that mental health management for elite athletes during COVID-19 requires flexible adaptation of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy while maintaining quality care principles.
This narrative review provides recommendations for adapting mental health care, including psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy, for elite athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elite athletes suffer many mental health symptoms and disorders at rates equivalent to or exceeding those of the general population. COVID-19 has created new strains on elite athletes, thus potentially increasing their vulnerability to mental health symptoms. This manuscript serves as a narrative review of the impact of the pandemic on management of those symptoms in elite athletes and ensuing recommendations to guide that management. It specifically addresses psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy and higher levels of care. Within the realm of psychotherapy, crisis counselling might be indicated. Individual, couple/family and group psychotherapy modalities all may be helpful during the pandemic, with novel content and means of delivery. Regarding pharmacotherapy for mental health symptoms and disorders, some important aspects of management have changed during the pandemic, particularly for certain classes of medication including stimulants, medications for bipolar and psychotic disorders, antidepressants and medications for substance use disorders. Providers must consider when in-person management (eg, for physical examination, laboratory testing) or higher levels of care (eg, for crisis stabilisation) is necessary, despite potential risk of viral exposure during the pandemic. Management ultimately should continue to follow general principles of quality health care with some flexibility. Finally, the current pandemic provides an important opportunity for research on new methods of providing mental health care for athletes, and consideration for whether these new methods should extend beyond the pandemic.
Reardon et al. (Wed,) conducted a review in Mental health symptoms and disorders in elite athletes during COVID-19. Mental health management (psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, higher levels of care) was evaluated. A narrative review highlights that mental health management for elite athletes during COVID-19 requires flexible adaptation of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy while maintaining quality care principles.