Athletes Need Help With Eating Disorders, Says Psychiatrist

Eating disorders are a major problem for sportsmen and women, and are being overlooked, a psychiatrist has warned.

Dr Alan Currie, a consultant psychiatrist and honorary clinical lecturer for the Assertive Outreach Team, Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Trust, who is also a former athlete, was speaking at the International Congress of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Brighton.

He said athletes' attention to diet and weight can put them at risk of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. But these conditions are difficult to spot because sports people tend to be lean and, as with others who have eating disorders, they will try to disguise the problem. Even when an eating disorder is identified, sports people can find it hard to access help from mental health services - a stark contrast to the support they receive should they experience a physical injury, Dr Currie said.

"If an athlete hurts a ligament there's a whole team of people on hand to help them, but if they have a mental health problem like an eating disorder they can be on their own," Dr Currie said.

He cited research showing that the overall prevalence of eating disorders among sportsmen is 8 per cent - 16 times the prevalence rate among non-athletic males. The overall prevalence of eating disorders among sportswomen is 20 per cent - double that of female non-athletes.

Dr Currie called for umbrella sports organisations and individual sports governing bodies to be aware that athletes are particularly vulnerable to eating disorders and need help to access psychiatric services.

"The world of sport needs healthy athletes. If we understand how the sports environment can contribute to putting athletes at risk of eating disorders, then we can manage those risks more effectively and let them know there are people to help them," Dr Currie said.

He added: "It would be great if the 2012 Olympics was about a better understanding of not only the physical, but also the mental health needs of athletes. After all, there is no health without mental health."
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Impact of a Bad Job on Mental Health as Harmful as No Job at All

Because being in work is associated with better mental health than unemployment, government policies have tended to focus on the risks posed by joblessness, without necessarily considering the impact the quality of a job may have, say the authors.

They base their findings on seven waves of data from more than 7000 people of working age, drawn from a representative national household survey conducted every year in Australia (HILDA).

Respondents' mental health was assessed using a validated inventory (MHI). And they were asked about their employment status.

If in work, the "psychosocial" quality of their job was graded according to measures relating to demands and complexity; level of control; and perceived job security. Respondents were also asked if they felt they received a fair wage for the work they did.

Not unexpectedly, those who were unemployed had poorer mental health, overall, than those in work, the results showed.

There is some evidence to show that employment is associated with better physical and mental health, and the mental health of those out of work tends to improve when they find a job, say the authors.

But after taking account of a range of factors with the potential to influence the results, such as educational attainment and marital status, the mental health of those who were jobless was comparable to, or often better than, that of people in work, but in poor quality jobs.

Those in the poorest quality jobs experienced the sharpest decline in mental health over time. There was a direct linear association between the number of unfavourable working conditions experienced and mental health, with each additional adverse condition lowering the mental health score.
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