Danny Rose’s story suggests that we should take extra care of athletes | Barney Ronay

Depression can afflict sportsmen and women more than the average person despite the healthy sheen they present so often

When a well-known sports person speaks publicly about their struggles with depression it is a reflex response to talk about how a show of vulnerability from a profession synonymous with strength will help remove the stigma for fellow sufferers. This is, of course, entirely right. Undiagnosed depression is a killer. Diagnosed it can be soothed and managed and placed in remission.

And yet it is tempting to hope this stigma is not as widely felt as it once was. Young people in particular – despite being informed with tedious regularity how fragile they are – do not appear to see the depression or melancholia as something to be ashamed or diminished by.

Continue reading...