Boxer’s Personal Demons: Discussing Mental Health Challenges in the Sport
For decades, people didn’t think that mental health issues were real. However, in the past few years, the stigmas attached to boxing have been reduced, and people have become accepting of them.
Still, it didn’t seem like an issue a boxer would have. Of course, a boxer could have a broken jaw or a misplaced shoulder but mental health issues? Nah!
The truth is that sports pressure can be extreme, and it makes even the toughest fighter succumb to the ground. For this reason, it’s essential that we understand that boxers have their own demons, and expecting them to be happy every night that they show up in a fighting ring isn’t the right way. This is the reason we have curated this article to focus on the mental health challenges of a boxer!
Concussion & Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Effects
Every boxer has to endure multiple blows to his/her head multiple times during a fight, which can lead to traumatic brain injuries as well as concussions. These issues happen when a boxer’s brain undergoes an impactful punch, which means it moves within the skull. The most common symptoms of a concussion include nausea, headache, memory issues, confusion, and focus issues.
The audience doesn’t always understand this, but concussion has long-term effects, which can impact boxer’s performance. For instance, it can lead to CTE, which is a degenerative brain condition that’s associated with head injuries. In fact, this condition is common in retired boxers. Both these conditions can result in anxiety, depression, memory loss, cognitive decline, and aggression.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
The never-ending training sessions and boxing matches can be traumatic for boxers. That’s because they have to witness injuries, knockouts, and rigorous blows. This can result in PTSD. Boxers who have PTSD often struggle with nightmares and recurring flashbacks of distressing situations. In addition to this, they start avoiding situations that remind them of bad fights, such as staying away from new fights.
Some of them have also struggled with emotional numbness, sleeping issues, and irritability. It’s evident that boxing matches have a high-pressure environment, which results in different risks. The boxers develop the fear of getting injured and feel pressured to perform. All these symptoms can impact their quality of life as well as their training and boxing performance.
Depression & Anxiety
Boxers are exposed to different factors and situations that can result in anxiety and depression. That’s because they undergo extreme pressure to perform their best, resulting in a fear of losing. In addition, there are financial concerns that put them under stress. Even more, boxing can be extremely competitive, which can impact mental well-being.
On the other hand, they struggle through multiple injuries, which leads to anxiety, sadness, and hopelessness. Many people don’t see this side of boxer’s life, but they have extremely strict training schedules and weight management regulations, which puts them under constant uncertainty and stress. All these factors can impact their motivation and mood.
Substance Abuse
Substance abuse is one of the most common issues boxers struggle with. That’s because the sport is extremely demanding and puts immense pressure on them. For this reason, they end up consuming drugs and alcohol. This is called substance abuse, which they use to ease their stress and numb the emotional stress. In simpler words, they consume drugs to ease their mind and escape from reality.
However, unauthorized and excessive consumption of drugs and alcohol can lead to psychological issues and impair their mental health. It can cause damage to their physical health and impair their decision-making abilities. For this reason, it’s essential that boxers and their substance abuse issues are resolved on time because they can also increase the intensity of mental health issues.
Body Image & Eating Disorders
The boxers have to maintain a specific weight to become eligible for different weight divisions. This puts them under a lot of pressure to achieve the most suitable weight and body shape. In addition, they have to go for intense weight-reducing and cutting exercises, including calorie restriction and dehydration (it’s important for maintaining weight).
All these goals related to specific body shape and weight can cause body image issues. In addition, it results in eating disorders. Some of the common conditions include bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. All these conditions have serious psychological as well as physical outcomes, such as low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety.
Performance Anxiety
Boxing has high stakes, and everyone is being watched by thousands of people in the crowd and judges. All these factors result in performance anxiety. As a result, they start doubting themselves and experience extreme nervousness. In addition, they develop a fear of failure before and during fights, which negatively impacts their ability to get into the ring or put up a fight.
Constant performance anxiety can impact their confidence, ability to put up a good fight, and confidence. As a result, it slows down their training progress, leading to bad decisions in the ring. For this reason, it’s essential that boxers develop healthy coping strategies and get in touch with sports psychologists, so they can address their trigger points and release their anxiety.
Retirement and Identity Loss
A boxer who has won multiple championships and has defeated multiple boxers in their career becomes depressed when they become a nobody. While some boxers get opportunities in sports channels, many of them have to retire and become stay-at-home people. Since boxing is their life, losing this integral part of life can be challenging for them.
So, transiting from intense training to ordinary life isn’t very easy for them, leading to mental health issues. They start feeling lost and have a sense of emptiness. In addition, they feel like they don’t have a purpose anymore and lose the competitive routine that they once couldn’t. All these factors make them lose their self-worth.
In simpler words, boxing isn’t about winning the weight championships only. Boxers go through intense physical and mental health challenges, which is why it’s important to lend support and help them through sports counseling!
