On Tuesday 30 May 2017 I took part in a much needed panel discussion on depression in professional sports at the HPC in Pretoria this evening. Depression in professional sports is often overlooked and hides behind the expectation of performance and the identity of sportsmen as creatures untouchable.
We had a productive discussion with professional sports, a sports physician, warriors cricket coach, life coach and publisher and me as the clinical psychologist. The discussion looked at the men behind the sport, taking a picture of the whole person and the core difficulty that many sportsmen deal with.
The focus for the evening was mainly around #southafricansoccer, Delron Buckley’s new book #delronbuckleymylife, where he talks of his personal experience with depression and suicidality (coming out the other side). The talk also touched on #southafricancricket and the similarities (and differences) between the experiences of athletes in these sports.
It seems #SouthAfricansport is in need of enhancing the #mentalhhealth support given to professional sportsmen across sporting codes and across age groups.
Thank you @delronbuckley @myansubrayan @stantonfredericks @shaunbartlett @drlervasenpillay @marcvanheerden @malibongwe and @sadag for opening the discussion and increasing awareness on an important topic #depression #depressioninmen#depressioninprofessionalsports #delronbuckleymylife
