What do you know about Student Athletes?
-Number of Student Athletes are SFSU: 240 students
-Mental Health disorders most common among student athletes: anxiety disorder, eating disorders, depression, substance use, panic disorder
-Female student athletes are 2x more likely to develop symptoms of depression, anxiety and eating disorder. (British Health of Sports Medicine)
-Student athletes are more likely to experience psychological issues severe enough to warrant counseling than their nonathletic counter parts. (Watson & Kissinger)
Being a full time student (which student athletes are legally bound to be enrolled as a full time student by the NCAA) most likely having a job, being away from home, plus having practices every day, two games a week, plus traveling at least have of your season, study hall, and trying to maintain above a 2.5 GPA are the struggles student athletes have to face every day.
Doing my own research and interviews, out of the ten San Francisco State athletes I interviewed, eight said they struggle with extra stress, pressure, or mental health issues and don’t feel that San Francisco State provided enough services for their student athletes mental health. With an 80% of the student athletes currently enrolled at SFSU, that means roughly 192 student athletes out of 240 are struggling with their mental health. My date has revealed that anxiety and depression are the most common mental health struggles that student athletes at SFSU deal with, sometimes resulting in developing an eating disorder.
San Francisco State University needs to pay more attention to their student athletes mental health and bring more awareness to it. The stigma behind mental health in athletics is breaking, and more and more student athletes are coming forward about their own struggles. It is SFSU's responsibility and duty to create a safe environment, whether that may be hiring sports psychologists or counselors primary for student athletes, for athletes to speak about their mental health.
For more information about mental health services, please visit;
Health Promotion and Wellness; Mental Health | Health Promotion & Wellnesswellness.sfsu.edu › mental-health
NCAA on mental health awareness; http://www.ncaa.org/sport-science-institute/mental-health
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
Location: Student Services Building Room 205 (available over zoom or phone during coronavirus)
Hours: 9am-4pm; closed noon-1
Phone: 415-338-2208
