Mental health in elite and youth athletes: emerging strategies and evidence-based trends: a narrative review

The significance of mental health in athletes is acknowledged and valued. This review explores psychosocial triggers, evolving screening approaches, digital mood-tracking tools, and embedded mental health professionals in performance programs. Numerous studies have shown that the occurrence of depressive symptoms and anxiety is common among high performance athletes. Recent systematic reviews confirm anxiety, depression, and distress rates of 20–35%, especially around injury, deselection, or career change. In this article, we aim to focus on psychiatric issues faced by athletes and propose strategies that would help in improving mental health. Several reasons that affect the mental health of this population have been highlighted. The lack of proper mental health support, no access to sports psychologists in the training programs need urgent attention. A key point is that team support and self-confidence can also help buffer the negative effects of perfectionism on anxiety and performance.