Dr Alan Currie is a UK-based clinical psychiatrist who specialises in sport. He’s a member of both the IOC’s mental health working group and of the mental health working group launched by the IBU and BIU earlier this year.

In our latest Summer of Mental Health podcast, we speak to Dr Currie about mental health in sport: what kind of concerns are presented; what is the range of symptoms and conditions; and what help is available for athletes and support staff with mental health concerns.

Dr Currie’s interest in mental health in sport predated his psychiatric training, and was a result of his own experience of competing as a 1500m runner “very much on the fringes of high-performance sport,” to use his own words, in the early 1980s,

“There was an oddness around some of the things that athletes were experiencing,” he explains. “People weren’t really looking into athletes that were becoming quite miserable and unhappy in their sport. Eating problems were a concern, so I had an awareness that there were things happening in the mental health space in sport, even before I trained to become a psychiatrist.”

Dr Currie goes on to discuss the differences (and similarities) between mental health issues experienced by athletes and the general population, who should take responsibility for good mental health in sport (answer: everyone, including athletes themselves) and what role the IBU/BIU Mental Health Working Group is playing in biathlon.

He finishes with some great advice for athletes and their entourages who are experiencing mental health difficulties.

To listen to the interview, click here.