In Episode 1 of Mind Over Medals, India's first individual Olympic gold medallist, Abhinav Bindra, talks about why mental health of athletes is an issue close to his heart, the mental pressures of being a high-performance athlete, the multiple red flags in an athlete’s journey, the need for Indian athletes to understand the concept of dual careers, the need for entourages around athletes to be more perceptive to mental struggles and much more. Listen in.
If you or anyone you know is feeling suicidal or having suicidal thoughts, help is available through mental health helplines. You can call all on 9152987821 or Aasra at 9820466726. You can also find both these numbers in our show notes at the bottom.
The IOC'S Mental Health Working Group has also developed a Mental Health Recognition Tool called SMHRT-1 to help athletes or their entourage members recognise mental health symptoms or disorders among athletes. Please note that the tool is just to recognise symptoms. Entourage members shouldn't attempt to diagnose athletes’ mental health without the appropriate training needed to do so. The link for this tool is also linked in the show notes.
https://olympics.com/athlete365/app/uploads/2021/06/BJSM-SMHRT-1-Athlete365-2020-102411.pdf
