The sports addiction a much more present topic than previously thought. This is also due to a study by the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, which concluded that about 4.5 percent of endurance athletes suffer from sports addiction. This is a social problem that is often associated with beauty ideals or even performance enhancement. Running and endurance sports are particularly affected.
What is sports addiction?
Increasingly extreme demands on athletes, such as various tri- or marathons, result in many sufferers overexerting themselves, resorting to unfair means and thus slipping into sports addiction. Warning signals of the body are disregarded, the own limits are regularly overcome. In the following, this problem will be explained in more detail. A definition and the prevalence in the population is followed by a differentiation between primary and secondary sports addiction as well as other forms of addiction associated with sports. The fine line between healthy training and addictive behavior will also be mentioned in this text, before the various treatment options are outlined. A conclusion concludes this essay in summary. Definition
An addictive disorder exists when a person’s behavior is characterized by an uncontrollable craving for a particular substance or activity. Among other things, this can be alcohol, nicotine, drugs or even sports.
Primary versus secondary sports addiction
Often people do not even realize that they are slipping into an addiction. Many amateur athletes feel bad when they skip a training session. However, if psychosomatic symptoms are added to the mix, there is a high risk that sport has become addictive. The fine line between health, the pressure to succeed and the demands placed on athletes, and performance enhancement in the case of primary sports addiction or subjectively perceived beauty and a resulting addiction, in the case of secondary sports addiction, are omnipresent. This was also the finding of a study conducted by the University of Erlangen, which focused mainly on the occurrence, but also on the susceptible groups of people and gender differences. The results of the study can be read here.
Susceptible groupings
The study evaluated the statements of 1026 athletes who participated in various endurance competitions. The average age of the respondents was 41.12 years, and an average of 4.47 training sessions were reported per week. Of these respondents, 4.5 percent were at risk for sports addiction and 83 percent exhibited some symptoms of sports addiction. Only 12.4 percent of the participants were completely at risk of sports addiction. However, this value can by no means be projected to the entire population, since in this case only endurance athletes were surveyed. In terms of groupings, triathletes are particularly at risk, as are those groups of people who have an extremely high level of training. Furthermore, the younger athletes are more often affected by sports addiction, as they showed significantly higher susceptibility than the other groups.
Gender difference
No difference between the sexes was found in the study. The situation is different when differentiating between primary and secondary sports addiction, because it is precisely in the case of the latter that the number of women is much higher than that of men.
Different options and goals of therapies
Basic principles
Central to the treatment of sports addiction is the therapy of the compulsive behavior. In addition, treatment of the basic social problems is also essential because, as mentioned above, compensation for everyday problems plays an important role in the development of sports addiction. Sport serves as an escape in the case of excessive family or professional problems and can thus culminate in addiction. Therefore, therapy is only successful if the underlying conditions are also taken into account during treatment.
Forms of therapy
Much of the literature recommends “cognitive-behavioral therapy.” This is commonly used in the treatment of addictive disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Its effectiveness was tested in a study by psychology professor Aaron T. Beck.Biographical-analytical approaches are also being used more and more frequently, as they are related to childhood or adolescent learning experiences that need to be addressed in the course of therapy.
Therapy goals
The goals of therapy refer to the realization that something needs to change. This insight is also called motivation to change and is extremely important, since especially in the case of sports and exercise addiction, there is often no admission about one’s illness. If this insight is present, then a complete abandonment of sports should be avoided. Rather, the long-term goal is a change in exercise behavior so that it is in harmony with social activities, i.e. playing sports together, and physical well-being. However, unconditional performance enhancement and borderline experiences should be avoided in this context. Other activities are also to be encouraged, so that sporting activity is not necessarily the main focus. The overriding goal is to achieve a positive body image. Furthermore, the body should not only be used as a means to reward oneself, but also to satisfy the need for rest and relaxation.
Conclusion
Although sports addiction is still relatively uncommon in Germany, the disease is a serious problem, especially in conjunction with eating disorders. This will not change in the future. Although the study by the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg was unable to demonstrate a difference between men and women, women are more often associated with secondary sports addiction. “In our society, it’s part of men exercising their bodies. Moreover, for many, eating disorders are only a women’s disease.” Carolin Martinovic affirms this in this article in the Abendzeitung München. This can lead to the fact that sports addiction in men is not even recognized. In connection with an eating disorder, this tendency can also be confirmed, because of those who suffer from the disease, only one in ten is male. But it is precisely because of this social frivolity that sports addiction is in danger of simply not being recognized and must therefore be brought more into the public eye. Particularly in the area of endurance sports, there is a latent risk of slipping into this disease, as a large proportion of those surveyed admitted to some symptoms themselves. One more reason not to trivialize this addictive disease, but to intervene as soon as the symptoms are apparent.