Sport and the Great Depression

This essay was first published in a Czech psychology journal.

Hence, the necessary opening line…

Michael Yardy is a professional cricketer. Over the past few years, like many others, he has worked hard at domestic level, toiling away on the English county circuit.

Yardy paid his dues and put in the hard yards, eventually getting his chance at international level. More recently, Yardy had cemented himself as a reliable utility player in the England limited overs squad, culminating in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

However, on the eve of the prestigious quarter-final, and having put in some reasonable performances, Yardy abruptly left the England team hotel in Colombo and was on the first flight home.

The official reason? Depression.

It came a shock to everybody in the squad, as their usually bubbly and personable teammate had left without so much of a goodbye, let alone a hint of psychological trauma. This was the same man who had been the team’s rock for the previous six months away from home – save for a few weeks – and had been a confidante for many of his teammates.

In sport, depression remains a relatively taboo subject, even though the stakes can become tremendous.

According to the World Health Organisation:

“Depression is a common mental disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration. These problems can become chronic or recurrent and lead to substantial impairments in an individual’s ability to take care of his or her everyday responsibilities.”

For a key player to have effectively abandoned his team during the sport’s biggest flagship tournament, the cricket world was forced to stand up and take notice. Aged 30, this was probably Yardy’s last chance at international success – whichever way you looked at it, there was no way of ignoring the gravity of the situation.

The cricketing community was generally sympathetic of Yardy’s situation, although there was one misguided and widely publicised soundbite from respected pundit Geoff Boycott, who said:

“He must have been reading my comments about his bowling – it must have upset him,” Boycott told the BBC, adding: “Obviously it was too much for him at this level.”

Unwittingly, Boycott revealed the sad truth of the situation: depression is an illness that is very difficult to empathise with. After all, he’s a sportsman, getting paid to do what he loves, at the biggest tournament on the planet, and seeing all the weird and wonderful sights of the world. On paper, many would say that Yardy laid claim to one of the best jobs in the world, so what happened?

Patients with depression often complain that nobody can understand their situation, and as is the case with numerous psychological disorders, true empathy is hard to come by. Especially in sport, there is still a stigma that these athletes are supposed to be ‘alpha males’, and as a result, psychological issues are seen as taboo.

For the professional sportsman, the associated pressure of depression is magnified. Cricketers can spend time away from home for a months at a time, without the comfort of family or friends, and constantly moving around to new, unfamiliar environments. With a media entourage, sportsmen are never afforded the luxury of privacy, and so often have to put up a facade of contentment.

In spite of this, cricket has recently seen several players battling sudden bouts of quasi-depression, with Australia’s Shaun Tait and Damien Martyn both going AWOL at similarly surprising times. However, the case of Marcus Trescothick will instantly resonate with cricket fans – one of England’s finest ever batsmen, he bared all in his 2008 book ‘Coming Back To Me’, where he frankly explained the behind-the-scenes lows that fans were previously not privy to.

Trescothick was initially reluctant to use the term ‘depression’, instead preferring to cover it up, mentioning both a ‘stress-related illness’ and a ‘viral illness’. This later served as ammo to the concept of ‘The D-Word’ being a taboo subject. However, in the twilight of his career, Trescothick’s frankness is now an inspiration to sportsmen suffering from psychological disorders.

As a result, the cricketing world – that myopic dinosaur Boycott excepted – was a lot more sympathetic towards Yardy’s situation, and there could be no question of posturing whether Yardy was ‘tough enough’ for international cricket, as the press hyenas had done so a few years back with Trescothick.

The travails of these cricketers have served to shed light on depression in sport, as well as raise eyebrows within the general public. If such a tight-knit unit couldn’t spot a depressed teammate, how do I know whether my husband/wife/mother/father is suffering?

Yardy’s case is testimony to the fact that nobody is invulnerable from depression, and that it is an indiscriminate, silent stalker.

It remains a modern-day tragedy that psychological illnesses are not treated with the same respect afforded to physical injuries, and in fact, are still often talked about in a derisory fashion. The impact of the wider public’s impression of mental health is an awful lot more important than is currently acknowledged. Moreover, while the public remains uninformed and willingly detached, the vicious social cycle associated with depression will continue to be perpetuated.

Therefore, it is clear that the treatment of depression needs to be seen from a broader, more social point of view. From a physician’s perspective, it is of prime importance to remember that depression is multi-factorial. Depression often manifests a self-propagating feedback loop, whose effects would be attenuated manifold if the perceptions of the people around them were to change. Treatment of depression will soon reach a point of stagnation, and it is obvious that a sea change in long-term public perception is necessary, if treatment of patients is to become optimal. Health ministries across the world must soon realise that removing the stigma of depression should be a priority in the long-term management of this illness.

However, with more public figures willing to open up about depression, the condition’s stigma is softening. It is inevitable that in years to come, these people will deservedly be seen as pioneers, for being brave enough to open up about their innermost demons.

It is only a matter of time, but soon, victims of depression will no longer have to worry about suffering in silence.

Written by the editor of Alternative Cricket, who also moonlights as a medical student.