2022 will see the launch of a specialist sports psychiatry journal under the leadership of the Swiss Society for Sports Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (SSSPP). The editorial board will comprise clinicians and scientists of international renown in the field and networks and societies for sports psychiatry will be approached to support the journal.

Further details of Sports Psychiatry –Journal of Sports and Exercise Psychiatry are available here and the content will be of interest to all ISSP members. Submissions are invited and ISSP members who are currently engaged in research activities or who have recently presented at one of the ISSP scientific symposia might wish to consider submitting their work.

Timetable

July 2021: Launch of the journal website; https://www.hogrefe.com

January 2022: First issue with abstracts for the International Conference on Sports Psychiatry ICSP, Jan 14-15, 2022; https://kongress.sgspp.ch/2022/en/

 https://sgspp.ch/cmf/de/news/sports-psychiatryjournal-of-sport-and-exercise-psychiatry/

An IOC Mental Health in Elite Athletes Toolkit has been launched to assist in implementing initiatives for the protection and promotion of mental health and well-being among elite athletes. 

The Toolkit has been developed for use by sports organisations, clubs, teams and governing bodies, athletes’ entourage members, healthcare professionals and other sport stakeholders. It provides an overview of mental health symptoms and disorders in elite athletes, and the roles and responsibilities of key groups in creating psychologically safe athletic environments, as well as additional IOC resources, information, and educational programmes. 

The Toolkit is a joint initiative by the IOC Medical and Scientific Commission and the IOC Athletes’ and Athletes’ Entourage commissions with guidance from IOC mental health groups including ISSP members Alan Currie, David McDuff and Claudia Reardon. 

Launch details here.

Full document available here.

The ISSP spring scientific symposium was hosted by our good friends at Zoom on Saturday May 1^st (early Sunday morning of May 2nd for our Australian colleagues).

The first hour was devoted to psychiatric aspects of concussion and mild traumatic brain injury. In a session entitled ‘Concussion: what should the sport psychiatrist know?’, Professor Jamshid Ghajar reported on recent advances in the description and definition of concussion and its sequelae. He was followed by Professor Jeffrey Bazarian who gave an update on diagnostic testing and the session concluded with Professor Silvana Riggio’s review of neuro-behavioural sequelae.

The second hour was occupied by 5 short presentations from ISSP members around the world. Topics covered in this symposium included loneliness in elite athletes, using exercise during recovery from an eating disorder, some reflections on sports psychiatry practise, data on mental health in student athletes through the pandemic, and a review of sports participation and its role in cultural integration through the ages. A booklet of all the abstracts is available to members here.

Elite athletes suffer many mental health symptoms and disorders at rates equivalent to or exceeding those of the general population. COVID-19 has created new strains on elite athletes, thus potentially increasing their vulnerability to mental health symptoms. This manuscript serves as a narrative review of the impact of the pandemic on management of those symptoms in elite athletes and ensuing recommendations to guide that management.

FInd the full article here: 2020 mental health management of athletes during covid.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFrsfyn2bRw&authuser=0

http://www.worldrowing.com/news/how-cope-with-training-alone

By Drs. Carla Edwards, MD @Edwards10Carla and Jane Thornton @JaneSThornton

https://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/2020/03/25/athlete-mental-health-and-mental-illness-in-the-era-of-covid-19-shifting-focus-a-new-reality/

ISSP Board Member Dr. Ira Glick will be featured in ESPN's new 20-hour film entitled Basketball: A Love Story. The press release is available here and see the trailer here.

You can read Ironman's policy for athletes here.

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