I love to talk about Olympic Weightlifting. I really don’t like to talk about my mental health. I am always up for analyzing, diagnosing and correcting weaknesses in my Snatch, Clean and/or Jerk. I am very rarely willing to be open about the havoc my co-morbid diagnosis of ADHD and depression can cause. Even so, I have resolved to talk more openly about my condition and I’m going to start by talking about it in relation to weightlifting.
 
When I write for this esteemed publication I usually try to share my experiences and the conclusions I’ve drawn from them to help others enrich their own coaching and lifting. This article will be similar. However, please bear in mind that I am only sharing the unique picture from the inside of my very own head. Everyone is different and even people with my conditions won’t experience them in the same way. As a point of interest, I would estimate that around 30 percent of the people I have encountered as a coach have experienced some kind of mental health related difficulty first hand within the period of time I’ve known them.
 
So what’s wrong with me? I have Attention Deficit Hyper-Activity Disorder (ADHD). This broadly means that I am less able to efficiently process the stimuli we all encounter in our day-to-day lives. On top of this I often struggle to cope with the intensity with which I feel emotions and can become easily overwhelmed by everyday events and pressures. In terms of sports activities, it can be difficult for me to sustain a long-term commitment to any one discipline. The chaotic manner in which my ADHD brain works is in part responsible for the periods of severe depression I have suffered. Depression for me manifests as prolonged periods (months at a time) where I have little or no drive to accomplish anything, non-existent self-esteem and a morbid streak that tests the patience of those who love me most.
 
I wont pretend for even a moment that weightlifting has been some kind of magic cure and that the challenges of my mental health issues have disappeared since I self-prescribed a weekly dose of barbell. However, training does have beneficial and tangible effects on my well-being. For example, the ‘Attention Deficit’ component of ADHD means that I can rarely commit my focus to a single thing for more than two or three minutes at a time (Imagine having the frustration of losing your place and rereading a page over, and over and over again, all day long). This inattention becomes chronic if I am doing something simple and unchallenging. As you know, Olympic Weightlifting is neither simple nor unchallenging. Furthermore, the curious flipside of inattention is ‘hyperfocus.’ With the right stimuli, I am tenacious. When I want to tweak something or get a new PR, then I will be the first to arrive at the gym and the last to leave, and I will think of nothing else. Sometimes an hour with the barbell is the first and only time in a day I’ve focused non-stop on anything all day and this does help me to feel less of a failure.
 
You don’t need a doctorate in psychology to work out that finding a healthy outlet for the ‘hyperactivity’ that comes with ADHD is an eminently sensible plan. I have a seemingly endless energy resource. Even when I can barely keep my eyes open, I can be tempted into the most demanding physical activity with very little persuasion. Because my mind is always working and I am rarely still, I can find it difficult to get off to sleep at night. I have found that a couple of hours of weightlifting (to burn off that excess energy) a few times a week presents the best route to a ‘normal’ sleep pattern for me.
 
While my ADHD has benefits when I apply it to weightlifting (unending energy, seemingly super human focus) my depression is positively obstructive. During periods of depression, I find it desperately hard to find the motivation to train; ironically this is when I need my sport the most. It is common knowledge nowadays that exercise encourages the release of stress busting hormones such as serotonin and endorphins. Some of the chemicals released during exercise have even been shown to be deficient in ADHD sufferers, so presumably exercise can only help! When I am low, I need as much help as I can get and have learned to seek a ‘happiness boost’ at the gym. The effects are temporary but they do offer some much needed respite; respite can be literally life saving for people trapped in an inner emotional turmoil.  
 
Holistically, speaking the benefits of being part of a gym community should not be under estimated in relation to securing a speedy recovery from periods of depression. When my self-esteem goes through the floor, I instinctively withdraw from company at a time when I need to feel people care for me most. The friendly peer pressure and my professional responsibility as a coach have been critical factors in getting me to the gym during some pretty dark periods. As I’ve pointed out in previous articles, you make strong bonds with those training partners after all you go through together and that means you have a responsibility for each other’s success in the sport; often this feeling of responsibility extends beyond the wall of the gym.
 
I could write so much more on this subject. There are so many seemingly small moments in which weightlifting has made a difference between disaster and success for me. My experience is unique and not unique; right now someone at your gym will be struggling with mental health issues (it might be you) and they will be as complex and life changing as mine. Whatever the status of your mental health, I would urge you to be open to talking about these issues in the gym environment. Athletes with emotional or psychological challenges need support just as much as those with physical injuries. Struggling emotionally has just as great an impact on your athletic performance as a torn muscle, so if you need support please don’t be afraid to ask for it.
 
If I could leave you with one piece of advice, it would be this: If your gut is telling you that a training partner might need a call and some encouragement to get them into the gym, then make the call. They will be better off for it. And if it’s you who needs some help, then ask for it. People will be more understanding than you’d think, and you’ll be better off for it.