THE olympic runner-up and one of the greatest athletes of world surfing, Tatiana Weston-Webbin late March, his decision to take a break from this year’s world circuit to focus on his emotional health.
After identifying, in accompaniment with your psychologist, signs indicative of emotional and physical wear that could progress to a diagnosis of burnoutthe athlete decided to prioritize her well-being and take an important step towards personal and professional balance.
The surfer has been competing for over 10 years in the world circuit uninterruptedly, as well as having had two Olympic cycles and a World Cup final in 2024.
“Talking about mental health in sport is a theme that I believe is important to all of us. I want to be honest with everyone who accompanies me and cheering for me by recognizing that showing vulnerability does not make us less strong, on the contrary, it makes us more human and connected, and enables us to achieve our best potential in and out of competitions. The break is not an end, but a fresh start.”
During the break, Tatiana will continue to work with her multidisciplinary team to focus on her recovery and balance, as well as having time to be with her family and husband. The surfer also intends to devote time to inspire other people to take care of themselves.
The Brazilian was not the first athlete to announce a break at the height of his career to take care of mental health. Just to name other examples, in 2020, the American gymnast Simone Biles It also reported a break in activities for the same reason. In 2021, it was the turn of the Japanese tennis player Naomi Osakawhich also temporarily stopped playing professionally for your mental health.
Essential for good performance
According to experts, mental health is a crucial factor for the performance and longevity of the career of high performance athletes. The more careful emotional well-being, the lower the risks of removal, fall in performance and psychological suffering. An emotional balance favors not only better results, but also a healthier and sustainable trajectory in sport.
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Many athletes start in sport for pleasure, but over time, activity becomes intense pressure. The internal collection, associated with the expectations of technicians, family and fans, transforms what often started as a leisure or hobby In the athlete’s childhood in constant stress when improving his performance over time.
“That sport that was often a pleasure becomes an object of intense stress and suffering by external pressure and internal charge because it always has to deliver an increasingly better result. But in sports we don’t always have a positive result and it is important to deal with the frustration of losing,” says Gabriel Okuda, psychiatry at German Hospital Oswaldo Cruz. This is why the importance of developing strategies to deal with these adversities.
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Burnout in Athletes
THE burnout It is one of the most serious consequences of this scenario. Classified by ICD-11 as a physical and emotional exhaustion linked to work, it manifests itself by symptoms such as:
- extreme tiredness,
- social distancing,
- insomnia,
- loss of performance,
- demotivation.
In athletes, it can be perceived bydrop in income, lack of focus and difficulty maintaining the training routine. Technicians and health professionals are key pieces to identify these signs early.
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According to experts, prevention is to create a healthier environment for the athlete, with balance between training and personal life, continuous psychological support and a support network that includes family, friends and multidisciplinary teams.
It is also important to ensure that the athlete feels belonging and valued in his space, with time for rest, leisure and affective relationships – fleeing the constant cycle of performance by performance.
In addition, educating athletes from early on mental health, self -knowledge and warning signs can be decisive. The more they learn to recognize and communicate their emotions, the greater the chances of avoiding more serious paintings.
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“Psychological follow -up will help in this process of self -knowledge, which gives the individual more chances to evaluate the signs that are bringing some discomfort and being able to work in a preventive way so that it does not reach the state of burnout“, Points out Fernanda Faggiani, professor at the School of Health Sciences and Life of PUCRS.
Collective care
As stressed by the experts, individual dedication is not enough to take care of the athletes’ mental health, it takes collective care. Fernanda participated in the translation and validation to Portuguese of a tool to track symptoms of mental disorders in athletes developed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The instrument called “Sports Mental Health Assessment Tool – 1 ″ promises to be an essential ally for monitoring athletes’ mental health throughout the Olympic cycle, allowing early interventions and better performance, as well as preventing aggravation.
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SMHAT-1 evaluates symptoms of depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, eating disorders and misuse of substances, allowing health professionals to identify risks and intervene properly.
The adaptation for the Portuguese language was led by the PUCRS Research Research Group (GPEO) and aimed to adjust the tool to the culture and reality of Brazilian athletes, promoting more accurate and reliable answers.
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According to Professor Fernanda Faggiani, in addition to the application of the tool, it is necessary to maintain psychological follow -up in the daily training, in competitions and moments of interventions. Thus, it is possible to evaluate how stressful agents are interfering or not in the athletes’ lives.
“When this instrument indicates that it has signs of wear or commitment to mental health, psychologists can soon make an intervention,” he explains.
How is SMHAT-1 applied?
For mental evaluation, the athlete starts answering a questionnaire about personal information, such as the type of sport and level of competition he participates. It is then directed to the tool itself, which is divided into 7 scales.
The first is a screening that seeks to evaluate stress in general. Depending on the athlete’s score, he will continue to respond to the other points, which will evaluate the existence of anxiety, depression, sleep disorder, food disorder and misuse of alcohol and drugs. The application is performed online, facilitating data processing for analysis of a psychologist.
This scientific validation can open doors to other research and developments in the area of sports psychology, as the mental health field is very vast.
“The differences between sports, modalities and other factors enable various analyzes, taking into account the uniqueness of each context. This more individualized and humanized look for the areas allows more effective actions,” says Fernanda.
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The teacher also says that they followed the implementation of the instrument in the Brazilian team by COB during the latest Olympic games, working on the data collection. However, Fernanda clarifies that they cannot yet share the results, which have sensitive data and are under the care of the COB psychology team.
“We continue researching and seeking to understand more about the use of this instrument and how we can better use the data we already have,” he concludes.