PTSD is typically thought of in relation to veterans of recent wars and victims of abuse, and psychedelics have been researched in the last decades to help with these groups manage and even recover from PTSD.
In addition to these notable groups, PTSD is thought to be more prevalent in elite athletes than in the general population. This is thought to be due to trauma incurred in sports participation through direct physical injury, athletes witnessing traumatic events or experiencing abusive dynamics within sports teams or with coaches.
Elite athletes may not receive appropriate recognition of their mental health issues because of their tendency to mask symptoms or injury, particularly of PTSD and other trauma-related disorders.
Researchers at the University of Melbourne argue that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy should be investigated as a novel treatment option for addressing mental health issues in elite athletes.
Recently Sports Illustrated reported professional athletes from the NBA and NFL are seeking treatment for their mental health from psychedelics. Kenny Stills, a wide receiver in the NFL, was the first NFL player to speak out about using psychedelics to treat his depression.
Specifically, he sought after ketamine therapy. Ketamine is an aneasthetic with hallucinogenic effects, which is legal for medicinal use in the US, and therefore could not jeopardize his standing in the NFL. He went to a clinic run by Field Trip Health, for an in-person Ketamine-Assisted psychotherapy programme where he could take the medication under the supervision of a licensed therapist.
“What ketamine does is it kind of takes away these extra levels of anxiety and the different processes that are happening in the brain so that we can really be our true self,” Stills says.
Field Trip Health reports that they typically see patients’ depression or anxiety scores go from severe to mild and sustained for 120 days on average after treatment.
The stance of professional sports organisations to determine if psychedelics are allowed varies. The World Anti-Doping Agency, which governs Olympics policy, has banned MDMA from competition but does not mention other psychedelics.
The NBA prohibits ketamine, LSD and MDMA in its ‘drugs of abuse’ category. Similarly, the MLB also prohibits those in addition to ayahuasca, psilocybin and mescaline.
The UFC, on the other hand, is considerably more progressive and has done research into psychedelic use and the idea of possibly setting up athletes in clinical trials with reputable research institutions.
This article was first published in Nina’s Notes on 26 October 2022 and is republished on Psychedelic Health with permission.
