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Jacob C. Berg

Athletics teaches a great deal of self-strength and perseverance amongst athletes.

Sometimes these ideologies can become clouded through years of vigorous training regimes that

cause a great deal of stress. Over the course of an athletes’ life, they will adapt and create coping

mechanisms that will help deal with the high levels of stress that can be attributed to their

respective sport. The use of the Cognitive Activation Theory of Stress can lead to greater

management of the increased levels of stress. Stress manifests in many forms, depression and

anxiety are two that are very prevalent among athletes, these are two of the forms that just

scratch the surface of the parts of the brain that are effected during high stress times.

Throughout the course of training, there are major stressors that arise. This can be from

life stressors, but most often in athletes it is from the sport in which they compete in. There are

two primary forms of stressors that are present in the lives of athletes at all levels. The first one

being stressors that are present in the sport itself this is surrounding the sports teams, or the

organization that they are representing. The private lives of athletes are also contributors to the

stressors that lie within the system and bring about some possible negative connotations towards

the athletes’ performance (Nixdorf et al., 2015). Stress can also be looked at in the form of

perceived stress, this is the self-appraised stress that comes from within the athlete based on

outside factors. Perceived stress is one of the best indicators of the time of psychological burnout

for the athlete, which will mean that they are unable to continue the sport (Gustafsson et al.,

2012). Chronic stress creates the potential for the athlete to experience a burnout throughout their

career. This can be attributed to the perceived stress that the athlete is battling each and every

day.
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The multi-facet list that contributes to the perceived stress is complex, yet important to

understanding this phenomenon. The idea of a four stage theory has been presented by

researchers to explain the burnout of an athlete. Stage one, is the situational demands that are

perceived from the athlete, this will include performance demands, conflicts between training

and personal schedule, overload training, expectations, and lastly pressures from others (Chyi et

al., 2018). Stage two begins with the cognitive appraisal, at this point in time the athletes are to

take in the outside stimuli and subjugate it to interpretation. This is focused in mostly on the

finite balance of demands, personal resources, and potential consequences (Chyi et al., 2018).

Moving into the third stage of this process, which gives rise to the responses to the chronic

stress. This includes anxiety, depression, tension, insomnia and illness. This is followed closely

by the last phase, athlete burnout (Chyi et al., 2018).

An equally important factor related to stress, is the risk of injury to the athlete. Most often

people believe that the psychological factors do not play a role in the risk of physical injury to

the athlete. This is false, the risk of injury for the athlete goes up in accordance with the level of

stress (Galambos et al., 2005). This is due to the fact that during these times of increased stress,

the athlete is not fully focused on the task at hand, thus creating a distraction that can lead to

physical harm. The reoccurring injuries that are apparent in every sport, bring to light the

psychological factors that are associated with having to deal with said injuries. This goes back to

the idea of the four stage theory and highlights the potential consequences of the injuries

(Galambos et al., 2005). Reoccurring injuries in this setting can be labeled as a path of athletic

burnout. Thus creating a sort of bypass of the first two steps in the four stage theory and skipping

to the near end of the athletic career of the said athlete. Attempting to understand the multiple

facets of the psychological stress that is caused over the period of time that a person partakes in
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the career of a particular sport is extremely important. Although most often non-athletes will

suggest that physical health is the most important. They tend to lack the intuitive nature to look

into the subcategory of stress and focus on the effects of depression, anxiety, and its importance

in the athlete.

Depression can make or break and athlete, this tends to solidify how the central

processing is done within the human being. Anxiety also should not be overlooked as a barrier

between the athlete and success. These two factors are major contributors to an athlete and how

they are able to manage them. The main difference between depression in athletes and anxiety, is

that there are two forms of anxiety (Weber et al., 2018). There is positive anxiety and negative

anxiety, and positive anxiety tends to heighten the performance level of the athlete regardless of

sport (Weber et al., 2018). Negative anxiety is most commonly looked at as the preceding factor

to depression. These dependents are also taking in the factor for age, time in season, and other

defining factors that can change throughout the lifespan of the athlete. The largest factor present

within the younger elite athletes is that early levels of high anxiety, in a sense, predict depression

later on (Weber et al., 2018).

With the most of the recent research being done on college level athletes, this will

provide the widest database for the statistics to showcase the prevalence of depression within

athletics. From the studies done upon college level athletes, and the correlation to depression, it

can be broken into both males and females to categorize the data collected. Over a sample size of

two hundred and fifty-seven Division I athletes, both male and female, the females reported an

overall higher rate of depression compared to their male counterparts (Wolanin et al., 2015). It

was also recorded that female athletes reported higher levels of anxiety alongside of depression
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and included not having a support system in place for them. In another sample of Division I

college football players, 33% could be classified as depressed based off of the CES-D. This is the

depression scale put in place by the Epidemiologic Studies Center (Wolanin et al., 2015). The

effects of depression are severe not only by itself, but also coupled with injury it creates a void

that could take months to recover from. There were multiple points highlighted that include the

idea that depression is most prevalent during declines in performance standards, injury, and in

the end of the athletic career (Wolanin et al., 2015). The main reasoning behind the research of

depression, anxiety and its link to athletics is to attempt to identify the factors that lead to

suicide.

Suicide affects a large part of the entirety of the worlds’ population. Researchers have

begun to narrow the spotlight onto the growing number of suicides within athletics. In a case

study done by Dr. Al Baum in 2005, out of the 71 cases of athletes who either attempted,

contemplated, or completed suicide, 66 were completed. This means that 92% of the cases that

he found were completed suicides of athletes who were experiencing episodes of heightened

depression and anxiety, resulting in these mass cases of suicide that continue to rise each year

(Wolanin et al., 2015). The most important factor in attempting to quell the number of suicides

each year is to look at the preceding factors that highlight the possibility of an attempt of the

taking of their own life. As of 2015, there was a push for more research into the specific detail of

the risk factors for suicidal behavior. Researchers are understanding that just focusing on the

depression and the anxiety alone is not providing a concrete enough trail to identify those who

are at a higher risk for an attempt at suicide (Wolanin et al, 2015). One way in which athletes are

able to attempt to handle the stressors that are thrown at them every day, is to utilize the CATS

model.
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The Cognitive Activation Theory of Stress was created to attempt to understand the ways

in which humans combat the stress that is put into their systems and how they flush that out. The

CATS is most importantly a conceptual framework for the understanding of how the elite

athletes cope with all of the stressors that are present in their everyday lives. The main idea

behind CATS started with animals and their stress response to a life-threatening event. Sustained

heightened responses in correlation with stress related to life-threatening events can lead to a

changing of the ways in which the brain itself works. Being able to apply this ideology to elite

athletes and using various strategies in order to combat the stressors and also the negative

connotations that come with heightened stressors is extremely important (Eriksen et al., 2005).

When the body comes in contact with a stressor such as an important sporting event that

increases the level of stress on the brain, there are multiple strategies that can be used to decrease

the adverse effects it has on the neurological system and the psyche of the athlete. Although this

is important within the Lazarus use of coping strategies, the CATS method is aimed more at the

expectancy of the result (Eriksen et al., 2005). The way in which the stress levels are looking to

be handled, thus decreasing the stress, is all based off of whether or not the athlete has a positive

response outcome expectancy. Increasing number of research has shown that there is not one

know it all strategy to coping with the stress that links it to success. With the idea of CATS in

mind, the athlete should focus on creating a positive outcome expectancy that will decrease the

level of stress in the end result (Eriksen et al., 2005).

Athletics has been around for hundreds of years; throughout the years the demands have

risen. Not only in the demand for success, but also the workload demand has increased. This has

resulted in a higher level of stress associated with the workload behind the scenes of all levels of

athletes. Being able to identify early on, the stressors leading up to anxiety and depression, future
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athletes will be able to better cope with the stress that comes with it. Application of the Cognitive

Activation Theory of Stress goes hand in hand with the coping mechanisms that should be

developed throughout the lifespan of the athlete. Not only focusing on the coping mechanism,

but also attempting to lead towards a more positive result outcome will improve the ways in

which future athletes handle the stressors that come with the workload.
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Works Cited

Davoren, A. K., & Hwang, S. (2017, July 11). Mind, Body and Sport: Depression and anxiety prevalence in

student-athletes. Retrieved from http://www.ncaa.org/sport-science-institute/mind-body-and-

sport-depression-and-anxiety-prevalence-student-athletes.

Elliot, P. (2018, November 14). Combating Depression and Anxiety in Sports. Retrieved from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mental-game/201811/combating-depression-and-

anxiety-in-sports.

Eriksen, H. R., Murison, R., Pensgaard, A. M., & Ursin, H. (2005). Cognitive activation theory of stress

(CATS): From fish brains to the Olympics. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 30(10), 933–938. doi:

10.1016/j.psyneuen.2005.04.013

Galambos, S. A. (2005). Psychological predictors of injury among elite athletes * COMMENTARY. British

Journal of Sports Medicine, 39(6), 351–354. doi: 10.1136/bjsm.2005.018440

Gustafsson, H., Sagar, S. S., & Stenling, A. (2016). Fear of failure, psychological stress, and burnout

among adolescent athletes competing in high level sport. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine &

Science in Sports, 27(12), 2091–2102. doi: 10.1111/sms.12797

Gustafsson, H., & Skoog, T. (2012). The mediational role of perceived stress in the relation between

optimism and burnout in competitive athletes. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 25(2), 183–199. doi:

10.1080/10615806.2011.594045

Nixdorf, I., Frank, R., & Beckmann, J. (2015). An Explorative Study on Major Stressors and Its Connection

to Depression and Chronic Stress among German Elite Athletes. Advances in Physical

Education, 05(04), 255–262. doi: 10.4236/ape.2015.54030

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Ursin, H., & Eriksen, H. R. (2010). Cognitive activation theory of stress (CATS). Neuroscience &

Biobehavioral Reviews, 34(6), 877–881. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.03.001

Weber, S., Puta, C., Lesinski, M., Gabriel, B., Steidten, T., Bär, K. J., … Gabriel, H. (2018). Symptoms of

Anxiety and Depression in Young Athletes Using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression

Scale. Frontiers in physiology, 9, 182. doi:10.3389/fphys.2018.00182

Wolanin, A., Gross, M., & Hong, E. (2015). Depression in Athletes. Current Sports Medicine

Reports, 14(1), 56–60. doi: 10.1249/jsr.0000000000000123