THE HOW:
Studies have suggested that athletes undergoing an ACL injury tend to experience higher rates of depression, a anxiety/fear of re-injury, decreased sports satisfaction, and higher academic test failure rate and lower GPA (Luks, MD). There is a significant portion of recovery that stems on the emotional recovery.
Athletes find identification with their bodies. When this source of identity is fractured with injury, perceptions of self worth are also put on the chopping block.
Until someone has experienced the physical and psychological horror of prolonged physical pain and the associated feelings of endless hopelessness, it's not easy to understand, much less empathize, with how easily one can become depressed. Scientists have found a link between physical pain and depression, with pain producing depression and depression worsening physical pain.
The use of opiates, common after surgery, can also worsen the possibilities of depression. The dependence on these pills, while providing short-term benefits, make the pain worse over the long term. The weaning off these medications can also become particularly strenuous on the body, increasing levels of anxiety in the patient with the anticipation of pain levels.
Athletes find identification with their bodies. When this source of identity is fractured with injury, perceptions of self worth are also put on the chopping block.
Until someone has experienced the physical and psychological horror of prolonged physical pain and the associated feelings of endless hopelessness, it's not easy to understand, much less empathize, with how easily one can become depressed. Scientists have found a link between physical pain and depression, with pain producing depression and depression worsening physical pain.
The use of opiates, common after surgery, can also worsen the possibilities of depression. The dependence on these pills, while providing short-term benefits, make the pain worse over the long term. The weaning off these medications can also become particularly strenuous on the body, increasing levels of anxiety in the patient with the anticipation of pain levels.