Mental health

This chapter examines contemporaneous theories, methodologies, and applied interventions specific to mental health in sport. First, contributions in the field are summarized, including mental health awareness programs designed to destigmatize mental health disorders in athletes, screening instruments experimentally developed to identify athletes who are likely to benefit from mental health services, assessment methods that have been psychometrically validated to assist intervention planning, interventions that have been indicated to assist engagement of athletes into mental health interventions, and prevention and intervention programs that have been shown to prevent or decrease the severity of mental health symptomology. Five seminal readings that are specific to advancing mental health in athletes are offered. These readings complement five questions that are presented to stimulate clinical and experimental growth in the mental health of athletes, including the scientific development of cost-effective methods of addressing mental health in sport organizations and disseminating evidence-supported mental health interventions in athletes.