ABSTRACT
Mental disorders are prevalent worldwide, often causing significant distress and impairment across various life domains. Furthermore, they may lead to psychosocial disabilities exacerbated by stigma, discrimination, and social exclusion that hinder full societal participation and frequently result in human rights violations denying access to education, work, high-quality health, and reproductive rights. Therefore, a comprehensive and coordinated response to mental health requires a biopsychosocial approach and the integration of holistic promotion, prevention, support, care, and rehabilitation. Effective interventions need to be recovery-focused and should include social interventions. This editorial discusses the social interventions that can be utilized to address psychosocial disabilities in individuals with severe mental disorders. There is a need for developing innovative strategies, tools, and digital solutions, the provision of psychoeducation and caregiver support, along with conducting recovery-oriented research and provider training. Furthermore, the focus should be more on strengths instead of pathology and on cultivating a mental health-promoting environment. This requires inclusive policies, increased advocacy to decrease stigma and promote human rights, redirecting funds to community-based services from long-stay mental hospitals, and a multisectoral collaboration between different sectors such as employment, education, health, housing, social, and judicial sectors to provide support across different life stages, facilitate access to human rights, and attain equal opportunities to help individuals with severe mental disorders reach their full potential and live a meaningful life.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Although several studies have shown that the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown has had negative impacts on mental health and eating behaviors among the general population and athletes, few studies have examined the long-term effects on elite and sub-elite athletes. The present study aimed to investigate the long-term impact of COVID-19 lockdown on mental health and eating behaviors in elite versus sub-elite athletes two years into the pandemic. A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted between March and April 2022, involving athletes from 14 countries, using a convenient non-probabilistic and snowball sampling method. A total of 1420 athletes (24.5 ± 7.9 years old, 569 elites, 35% women, and 851 sub-elites, 45% women) completed an online survey-based questionnaire. The questionnaire included a sociodemographic survey, information about the COVID-19 pandemic, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 Items (DASS-21) for mental health assessment, and the Rapid Eating Assessment for Participants (REAP-S) for assessing eating behavior. RESULTS: The results showed that compared to sub-elite athletes, elite athletes had lower scores on the DASS-21 (p = .001) and its subscales of depression (p = .003), anxiety (p = .007), and stress (p < .001), as well as a lower REAP-S score indicating lower diet quality (p = .013). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, two years into the pandemic, elite athletes were likelier to have better mental health profiles than sub-elite athletes but surprisingly had lower diet quality.
