Former Soccer Players Show Higher Anxiety and Depression Rates

New research on former professional soccer players is adding to a growing body of evidence that repetitive head impacts in contact sports may affect mental health well before old age sets in. This finding has implications for how dual diagnosis treatment providers think about risk factors for competitive sports that often push athletes to up their game.

The study looked at 142 former professional players, 126 men and 16 women, ranging in age from 30 to 60. Former players had greater chances of reporting anxiety, depression, and problems with thinking or decision-making when compared to those who didn’t played contact sports. 

Brain scans also showed lower gray matter, the brain tissue responsible for processing information, in regions tied to memory, decision-making, attention and emotional regulation.

Linking Mental Health with Addictions

“We don’t know if this is something that’s due to playing soccer for a long time and those repetitive head impacts,” noted lead study author Caleigh Lynch. Lynch is from the UK Dementia Research Institute Centre for Care Research and Technology. Conversely, it might be “intrinsically different for people who decide to play soccer professionally and who are good at soccer.”

The connection to dual diagnosis treatment is worth taking seriously even though this study didn’t examine substance use directly. Anxiety, depression and cognitive difficulties are well-documented risk factors for developing a co-occurring substance use disorder, particularly when people turn to alcohol or drugs to manage untreated psychological symptoms. 

Athletes recovering from repetitive head trauma from any contact sport, may be especially vulnerable to substance misuse if their mental health symptoms go unaddressed.

Understanding Dual Diagnosis

Dual diagnosis, also called co-occurring disorders, refers to cases when someone has a mental health condition and a substance use disorder at the same time. Treating one without the other often leads to poorer outcomes, since untreated depression or anxiety drive continued substance use and vice versa. 

Integrated treatment addresses both conditions together, rather than sequentially. Doing so remains the best evidence-based standard of care for co-occurring disorders. Programs can also address any other factors that impact athletes, like dependence on sleeping pills or steroids for muscle mass.

Dr. Thomas Parker, senior study author and a clinical lecturer and consultant neurologist at Imperial College London, noted that studying people in midlife rather than after age 70, when dementia symptoms typically emerge, gives a clearer picture of a person’s trajectory before more serious cognitive decline becomes apparent.

Approaches for Head Injury and Mental Health

Dr. Michael Alosco, codirector of clinical research for the Boston University CTE Center, pointed out that most sports-related brain research has focused on American football. He noted that the core concern isn’t concussions alone but the cumulative effect of repeated head impacts over years, including headers in soccer.

For people experiencing psychiatric symptoms tied to a history of head impacts, clinicians often use behavioral counseling and trauma-focused approaches can address psychological symptoms and substance use that may have developed as a coping mechanism. Appropriate medication management is often paired with therapy in an integrated dual diagnosis program, and these meds can assist with cravings or withdrawals.

Dr. Steven Broglio is director of the University of Michigan Concussion Center and cautioned that these findings apply to elite professional athletes. They don’t necessarily translate to children who play sports. Still, he emphasized that reducing head impact exposure at any level of play and encouraging athletes to seek help for psychological or cognitive symptoms remains important.

Comprehensive Care for All

Athletes and former athletes dealing with anxiety, depression or cognitive changes tied to a history of head impacts don’t need to manage those symptoms alone. They shouldn’t wait until substance use becomes a separate crisis to seek help. Comprehensive treatment that screens for both mental health conditions and substance use gives people a fuller picture of what is driving their symptoms.

That’s where we come in. Feel free to browse our directory to find facilities offering dual diagnosis treatment for depression, anxiety and co-occurring substance use disorders. Also, dial 800-908-4823 (Sponsored) to find a comprehensive mental health and addiction treatment program anywhere in the USA.

Author

Terri Beth Miller, PhD

Author, Award-Winning Post-Secondary Teacher

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Terri Beth received her PhD in English literature from the University of Tennessee Knoxville and is an educator and disability studies scholar. For more than a decade, she has written extensively in the fields of mental health and addiction recovery and fiercely advocates for the destigmatization of mental illness.

Editor

Peter Lee, PhD

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Peter W.Y. Lee is a writer and historian of American history during the Cold War. His primary focus is the relationship between youth and popular culture and its impact on U.S. society during the twentieth century. He has published widely on how the public has used popular culture as a mechanism to address political and social shifts throughout time