This week former teammate of Lebron James, Delonte West was seen being brutally beaten on a highway. Afterward west spoke to police. The video has sparked outrage and concern over the mental health of West and pro sports role in it.
Testosterone and mental health
Athletes and mental health issues seem almost to go hand and hand. Furthermore, many athletes deal with these mental health issues daily. However, these aggressive or depressive issues are not isolated to just one sport.
From Chris Beniot, the WWE wrestling star that killed himself and his family. Too Javon Belcher, the NFL player who killed himself and his fiancee.
These issues have warning signs and symptoms. Either the NFL( Junior Seau, NBA, WWE (Chris Beniot), MLB (John Rhienecker), NHL (Rick Rypien), missed them or chose to ignore.
Last week Netflix released a documentary on the former tight end of the New England Patriots Aaron Hernandez. The documentary could quite possibly be a case study on the creation of a serial killer. Hernandez took his life while incarcerated for murder.
The Reality of The End of Success
Many factors go into the failure of mental health. The contributing factors range from emotional to physical abuse. Furthermore, other factors are drug use. Steroid use, as in the case of WWE wrestler Chris Benoit. Roid rage can make people very aggressive.
If the sports community is a community, then the conversation about athletics and mental health needs to be discussed. We must see what these men and women do to reach the levels they have.
4Ultimately having to realize that they cannot sustain such intensity at such a high level. The highest feeling of success to the final feeling of retirement. Every moment publicly scrutinized during and in Delonte West’s case after their career. Most people couldn’t handle such a change. Many athletes have struggled with being active to becoming non-active.4
Do you feel sports has a responsibility to provide long term mental and physical healthcare for the athletes they profit from? Let us know in the comments.
