Ep.10 Richard Tahtinen: Mental health issues in athletes

The Health Scientist Podcast

Richard is currently researching mental health issues in athletes as a PhD candidate at Liverpool John Moores University. Richard´s research is currently focusing on symptoms of depression and anxiety in athletes. He is specifically interested in how athletes differ in their responses to distress and how these differences relate to mental health issues over time. With his research Richard hopes to increase the awareness of the potential risk factors related to mental health issues in athletes and how we can better prevent and tackle these issues within the context of sports.

Richard's Research Gate Profile

Richard's Instagram

Richard's Email

In this episode we cover:

• The prevalence of mental health issues in sport
• The role sport plays in protecting our mental health
• Why might mental health issues arise in athletes
• How the off-season and injury periods can affect mental health
• The added stresses experienced by female athletes
• Why men's reluctance to talk about mental health may cloud the research
• The role of coaching experiences in childhood on adult mental health
• What to look out for in athletes potentially experiencing issues
• Practical skills for coaches to foster a better coaching environment

Richard was born in Sweden, grew up in Finland and is half Icelandic – hence he can be seen as a hybrid Northman. His sporting background is in ice hockey, in which he competed in Finland until the age of 21. After his athletic career, he moved to Sweden to pursue a degree in coaching and sport management at Linnaeus university. It was also in Sweden where Richard began his ice hockey coaching career. After coaching youth and junior level ice hockey in Sweden he ventured to Iceland, where he has coached several club teams as well as the men´s and women´s national teams. While continuing to be involved in the ice hockey scene in Iceland, Richard made a decision to pursue an career as a Psychologist and an academic. In 2017 he was granted a full PhD scholarship at Liverpool John Moores University – and subsequently moved with his wife Rósa and their twins, Emilía and Húgó to Liverpool to pursue his research interests.