Competitive sports are an integral part of our society and culture. Physical stress and injuries are systematically treated by sports medicine. In contrast, little attention is paid to mental stress and disorders. Due to the lack of a medical discipline for mental health in competitive sports, mental stressors and disorders of athletes are recognized late and treated inadequately. Accordingly, there is a lack of systematic preventive care for mental health among sports clubs and federations and among the athletes themselves.

 

The German Society for Sports Psychiatry and Psychotherapy sees it as its task to develop sports psychiatry as a medical discipline for mental health in competitive sports and to strengthen education, prevention and treatment of mental disorders in this field. As a contact for athletes, sports clubs and sports associations, we support the intensive cooperation with sports physicians, physiotherapists, sports psychologists and mental coaches, because mental health in competitive sports can only be maintained and restored in an interdisciplinary and integrative overall concept.

 

We want to align our work with the needs of athletes, sports clubs and professional groups involved in competitive sports. When caring for individual athletes, we try to consider both mental preparation for competition and mental health. In the context of consulting sports clubs and sports associations, we try to make our contribution to the maintenance of mental health in competitive sports as part of the overall medical care team. We also offer regular advanced training in the field of sports psychiatry, for sports psychologists, mental coaches, sports physicians, physiotherapists, player advisors and sports parents working in the field of sports.