Nuances in key constructs need attention in research on mental health and psychiatric disorders in sports medicine

Abstract

The occurrence of psychiatric disorders among treatment-seeking Swedish elite athletes and high-performance coaches was recently reported in BMJ Open Sports & Exercise Medicine.2 While acknowledging the importance of this research, the article exemplifies the need of a more careful conceptualisation of mental health and psychiatric disorders among athletes and coaches. Researchers must be cautious about methodological challenges, such as definitions of mental health constructs, symptom severity cut-off levels and functional impairment, to avoid misrepresenting the incidence and prevalence of mental health disorders at different levels. Insufficient attention to such nuances may overestimate problems related to psychiatric disorders or underestimate milder and non-clinical mental health issues requiring support efforts other than psychiatric care.