Singapore’s national athletes experience high levels of poor mental health: Study

PERFORMANCE ANXIETY

Observers emphasised that raising awareness, providing education and implementing resilience programmes are crucial.

“Within the sport psychology team, we run workshops, we do individual consults,” said Dr Harry Lim, a senior sports psychologist from Sport Singapore. 

“So, for instance, (we are) running mental health literacy workshops for athletes (and also) coaches. Because they are an important part of this environment, and they can also do their part to help support our athletes.”

Both experts and athletes identified performance anxiety — driven by internal and external pressures — as the most common psychological challenge.

Even for some of Singapore’s most successful athletes, the weight of expectations can be overwhelming — at times leading to sleepless nights.

Former national swimmer Tao Li said that while athletes may put in a great deal of effort, they might not perform at their best on the day of competition. 

Yet some people tend to take that single moment and blow it out of proportion, she added. 

“That kind of pressure, if you’re not able to withstand it, you might fall into severe depression,” she said. 

Singapore pistol shooter Teh Xiu Hong narrowly missed out on the finals at the Paris Olympics last year by just two points.

She struggled to focus afterwards, but having the right mental support made all the difference.

“Having a support group is really very important, because that is really what got me through the dark times for the most part of 2024,” she said. 

“If not for them, I don’t think I’ll be able to recover so fast.”

Teh said it was important to have another perspective, as athletes can often get stuck in a single mindset which can become very negative. She shared that talking to others helped her shift that perspective.

“We will always want to perform at major competitions, so that’s definitely one of the biggest stressors,” said Teh. 

“The thing is we do not have full control of the results. Sometimes we can do our best but our best may not be enough.”

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