We are witnessing a sea change regarding mental health in sports
media. led in part by professional athletes such as Michael Phelps,
Kevin Love, Naomi Osaka, and Simone Biles, who are sharing their
own experiences with mental illness, bucking stereotypes in which
people experiencing mental health issues are condemned to
unfulfilling lives. From quarterbacks to pitchers, power forwards
to Olympic swimmers, athletes are increasingly using the mass
media-including social media-to share their experiences with
depression, anxiety, and other disorders. Head Game: Mental Health
in Sports Media uses interviews with key athletes, leading
journalists and sportscasters, and organizational and league
leaders to show how media has been used-and could be used in the
future-to advance greater understanding of mental health.
Professional athletes describe their own experiences with mental
illness, including the challenges and opportunities they
encountered in the locker room, field of play, and mass media. The
athletes, who represent a spectrum of professional sports, describe
their decisions to disclose as well as their recommendations for
current and future generations of athletes. Head Game highlights
the crucial importance of such disclosures in challenging the
context of professional sport where athletes are trained to be
"tough" from a young age and any mental illness could translate
into reduced playing time and even harassment. "Head Game
represents the first book of its kind to tackle one of today's most
pressing public health crises, one that has been forced into the
shadows for far too long, through the lens of sport. Billings and
Parrott explore the key media moments in this movement, the
storytellers who shaped them, the institutional response from
leagues and teams, and the first-hand accounts of elite athletes
who have struggled to bring mental health awareness to the
forefront-all of which has come to shape how we talk about mental
health today. This timely, well-researched and expansive volume
offers a powerful compilation of perspectives from prominent
athletes like Olympians Michael Phelps and Gracie Gold, to the
NFL's Brandon Bostick, to the NHL's Corey Hirsch. In combating the
silence, stigma, stereotypes and prejudice that have often plagued
discussions of mental health, Head Game tracks the modern movement
for mental health advocacy within the world of sport and beyond. I
highly recommend this book to anyone teaching courses in
communication, sport and society, as students will undoubtedly find
the material engaging and relatable, as well as to any reader
interested in mental health portrayals in the media. I suspect
everyone who reads Head Game will find a story within it that they
can connect to." -Leigh Moscowitz, Professor in the School of
Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina
"For too long the discourse of 'mental toughness' has dominated
sports culture, from the way we coach and train athletes to how
athletes are covered in the media. Through interviews with
elite/professional athletes who have publicly disclosed mental
health issues, the sports journalists who cover their stories, and
sports organizations' own efforts to address mental health, Head
Game dissects how dangerous this discourse has been, and creates
much-needed awareness on an issue that has been stigmatized in our
culture. Head Game humanizes athletes, reminding readers that gold
medals, championships, million-dollar salaries, corporate
endorsements, or super star celebrity do not immunize athletes
against mental health struggles. Sadly, what is at stake is a
matter of life or death. Head Game is required reading for all
athletes, coaches, journalists, sports fans, or anyone who cares
about the mental health and well-being of athletes." -Cheryl Cooky,
Professor of American Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality
Studies, Purdue University
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