A comprehensive examination of the mental health challenges that elite athletes face in America’s most popular sports.

Athletes that compete at a high level—whether in professional, college, or Olympic sports—face numerous mental health challenges as they strive for perfection and ultimately victory in their sports. And while mental health awareness for athletes is better than it once was, efforts to hide the existence of these mental disorders and challenges remain well-ingrained.

In The Burden of Sports, John Weston Parry examines the mental health and emotional well-being of elite American athletes generally, as well as in relation to spectator sports propaganda, the legal system, politics, and the effects of the Covid pandemic. This book covers mental health conditions that any elite athlete may encounter, from depression and anxiety to substance abuse and concussion-caused brain damage, to the special challenges of female, queer, transgender, and intersex athletes. Featured throughout are narratives of well-known American athletes, including Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Michael Sam, and Tiger Woods.

From individual and team pressures to win and attain sport perfection to the prejudice and ignorance of fans, management, and corporate sponsors about mental health, addressing the mental health of athletes and challenging the public perception of such struggles is long overdue. This is a timely and necessary book for readers that want to see sports change for the better in support of America’s athletes.