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Insightful Article about Depression in the NFL


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Found this article while reading this morning, thought it might bring awareness and discussion.

 

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...i-sportsnew-hed

 

Retired players face gloomy days

Pain can be mental as well as physical after NFL stint ends

 

Don Pierson

Published May 31, 2006

 

 

When retired players convene Thursday in Phoenix for their NFL Players Association meeting, they will find out they are just as likely as anybody else to suffer from mental issues such as depression.

 

"You could say retired football players are at least as likely to be depressed as the general population, or they may be even a touch more likely, but it's not hugely less or hugely more in either direction," said Thomas Schwenk of the Depression Center at the University of Michigan medical school, which conducted a recent survey.

 

To former player Andre Collins, director of retired players for the NFLPA, this is good news.

 

"We just completed the study," Collins said. "I'm not sure where we're going to go with it. For me personally, it was comforting to know--and I want to reiterate--that the risk of this occurring is basically the same as the general population."

 

To former Bears player Bob Kilcullen, who has suffered from depression since before starting his career in the 1950s, it's a long-overdue study that could help hundreds, maybe thousands, like him.

 

"I didn't consider it a big problem in those days," Kilcullen said. "I just dealt with it."

 

To Schwenk, it's a chance for the Michigan Depression Center to address the group and offer the possibility of an interactive educational DVD.

 

"I think most of us have the idea these are elite athletes, [so] they have no right to be depressed, no reason to be depressed," Schwenk said. "We just want to highlight the fact that everybody has a reason to be depressed."

 

Schwenk said he got an unusually high 50 percent response from the 3,400 questionnaires sent to retired NFLPA members. There are about 10,000 more retired NFL players who aren't union members. The surveys were self-reported, so Schwenk cannot verify the results, but he found:

 

"Roughly 20 percent of retired players who have a real high level of misery and dysfunction and life difficulty, and they're kind of dumped out there without a lot of resources. Roughly 15 percent scored in the moderate to severe range in terms of depression symptoms. If we took that group and interviewed them in a more clinical and structured way, probably half to two-thirds of those--maybe 7, 8, 10 percent--would actually be labeled or meet criteria for having a label of clinical depression. That's a touch more than the general population."

 

Two issues make the survey of pro football players unique and may exacerbate issues of mental health, according to the doctor. One is the short career span that accelerates dramatic lifestyle transitions. The other is pain.

 

"These people have a high level of muscular-skeleton injury disability and pain and dysfunction--the whole group, across the board," Schwenk said. "Some are coping better than others. Pain is a huge issue. This is a remarkable group of people who go from one day being an elite athlete to the next day literally disabled."

 

Kilcullen, who played on the 1963 Bears' title team, coped by becoming an artist whose work has received critical acclaim. Schwenk said Kilcullen's art will be displayed at the Depression Center.

 

Said Kilcullen: "I think sometimes it's in the personality of guys who play the game. It's overachievement. I was driven from very early on, and I didn't know why. My hands used to shake in college when I was in art class, and that's not good. I went to psychiatrists to see what was wrong with me, and none could really tell me. I couldn't sleep."

 

Schwenk said the survey elicited an unusual flood of responses.

 

"Phone calls from wives [of] players, [saying], `This is so important. I'm glad you're doing this. How can I get help for my husband?'" Schwenk said.

 

"Then we got a few who said, `I've had a really good life, and I don't feel this is something that applies to me.' You get this real schism between this 20 percent group that is really miserable [with] a high level of dysfunction and the rest of the group that made a lot of money and moved on with life."

 

Three years ago, former quarterback Terry Bradshaw revealed he has been clinically depressed and was promoting the drug Paxil.

 

"I remember sitting there so many times in Pittsburgh, and you know what I was wishing?" Bradshaw said. "I was wishing for my career to hurry up and get over with so I could get out of Dodge."

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Found this article while reading this morning, thought it might bring awareness and discussion.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...i-sportsnew-hed

 

Retired players face gloomy days

Pain can be mental as well as physical after NFL stint ends

 

Don Pierson

Published May 31, 2006

When retired players convene Thursday in Phoenix for their NFL Players Association meeting, they will find out they are just as likely as anybody else to suffer from mental issues such as depression.

 

"You could say retired football players are at least as likely to be depressed as the general population, or they may be even a touch more likely, but it's not hugely less or hugely more in either direction," said Thomas Schwenk of the Depression Center at the University of Michigan medical school, which conducted a recent survey.

 

To former player Andre Collins, director of retired players for the NFLPA, this is good news.

 

"We just completed the study," Collins said. "I'm not sure where we're going to go with it. For me personally, it was comforting to know--and I want to reiterate--that the risk of this occurring is basically the same as the general population."

 

To former Bears player Bob Kilcullen, who has suffered from depression since before starting his career in the 1950s, it's a long-overdue study that could help hundreds, maybe thousands, like him.

 

"I didn't consider it a big problem in those days," Kilcullen said. "I just dealt with it."

 

To Schwenk, it's a chance for the Michigan Depression Center to address the group and offer the possibility of an interactive educational DVD.

 

"I think most of us have the idea these are elite athletes, [so] they have no right to be depressed, no reason to be depressed," Schwenk said. "We just want to highlight the fact that everybody has a reason to be depressed."

 

Schwenk said he got an unusually high 50 percent response from the 3,400 questionnaires sent to retired NFLPA members. There are about 10,000 more retired NFL players who aren't union members. The surveys were self-reported, so Schwenk cannot verify the results, but he found:

 

"Roughly 20 percent of retired players who have a real high level of misery and dysfunction and life difficulty, and they're kind of dumped out there without a lot of resources. Roughly 15 percent scored in the moderate to severe range in terms of depression symptoms. If we took that group and interviewed them in a more clinical and structured way, probably half to two-thirds of those--maybe 7, 8, 10 percent--would actually be labeled or meet criteria for having a label of clinical depression. That's a touch more than the general population."

 

Two issues make the survey of pro football players unique and may exacerbate issues of mental health, according to the doctor. One is the short career span that accelerates dramatic lifestyle transitions. The other is pain.

 

"These people have a high level of muscular-skeleton injury disability and pain and dysfunction--the whole group, across the board," Schwenk said. "Some are coping better than others. Pain is a huge issue. This is a remarkable group of people who go from one day being an elite athlete to the next day literally disabled."

 

Kilcullen, who played on the 1963 Bears' title team, coped by becoming an artist whose work has received critical acclaim. Schwenk said Kilcullen's art will be displayed at the Depression Center.

 

Said Kilcullen: "I think sometimes it's in the personality of guys who play the game. It's overachievement. I was driven from very early on, and I didn't know why. My hands used to shake in college when I was in art class, and that's not good. I went to psychiatrists to see what was wrong with me, and none could really tell me. I couldn't sleep."

 

Schwenk said the survey elicited an unusual flood of responses.

 

"Phone calls from wives [of] players, [saying], `This is so important. I'm glad you're doing this. How can I get help for my husband?'" Schwenk said.

 

"Then we got a few who said, `I've had a really good life, and I don't feel this is something that applies to me.' You get this real schism between this 20 percent group that is really miserable [with] a high level of dysfunction and the rest of the group that made a lot of money and moved on with life."

 

Three years ago, former quarterback Terry Bradshaw revealed he has been clinically depressed and was promoting the drug Paxil.

 

"I remember sitting there so many times in Pittsburgh, and you know what I was wishing?" Bradshaw said. "I was wishing for my career to hurry up and get over with so I could get out of Dodge."

 

1492789[/snapback]

 

 

 

 

Very good article. I can only imagine what these players go through. I only played at the Division III level of college football, and I had an array of minor injuries and a severely seperated shoulder. To this day, my shoulder hurts me and gives out on me at times. I can't even begin to imagine what these NFL Players have to endure throughout their careers and even more-so post-career.

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