Long before the term ‘sports psychiatry’ was first introduced nearly 40 years ago,1 2 clinicians and academics recognised the critical role of mental and brain health in sports. For example, Jokl and Guttmann explored neurological and psychiatric studies in boxers as far back as 1932.3 More recently, with efforts spanning the last 30 years, the International Society for Sports Psychiatry (ISSP) has driven development of this field of medicine and psychiatry in the world of competitive and elite sports.4

However, the aim of sports psychiatry is not only to bring more psychiatric expertise into the care of athletes but also to bring more sport and exercise into psychiatry5 (figure 1). This multinational editorial aims to create awareness of the role of exercise medicine in psychiatric disease and advance the integration of sports psychiatry into the care of athletes by sports medicine professionals globally.

The evolution of sports psychiatry.

The definition and skill set of the sports psychiatrist is outlined in the recently published First International Consensus Statement on Sports Psychiatry.5 Sports psychiatrists complete medical and psychiatric training before specialising in sports psychiatry. The Role of a Sport Psychiatrist on the Sports Medicine Team, Circa 2021 by Stull and Glick et al comprehensively sets out the wide range of roles, relationships and impact that a sports psychiatrist has within a sports medicine setting.6 These included awareness of gender-specific treatment, drug and alcohol disorders, racial discrimination and trauma, treating athletes, coaches and their support personnel. Finally, Glick and Reardon et al emphasised the importance of early detection of mental distress in their paper titled Sports Psychiatry: An Update and the Emerging Role of the Sports Psychiatrist on the Sports Medicine Team.7 They highlight that early and appropriate intervention by a sports psychiatrist may potentially prevent …