SVT Sport has previously met the longtime elite skier Robin Bryntesson, who has suffered from severe burnout and is now fighting back.
But he is far from alone.
In Stockholm, there is the reception Elite Sports and Health, a collaboration between Beroendecentrum Stockholm and the Swedish Sports Confederation, to which elite athletes can turn.
Göran Kenttä is one of the people working on the business.
- The athletes work constantly to push the boundaries, the competition is very tough and they are judged all the time.
Being an elite athlete is a stress all the time, he says.
"Usually go more into each other than we think"
Göran Kenttä is behind a study that shows that every tenth athlete is at risk of being burned out.
- It's like a whole organism where different types of stressors, regardless of whether it is mental or physical stress, end up in the same box.
This means that it is difficult to distinguish these things and it is somewhere the total load you have to deal with in relation to the total recovery.
These usually go more into each other than we think.
The elite sports clinic, which opened in 2015, is located in Stockholm and Malmö, but the ambition is to open more clinics.
- There is a downside with the fantastic drive and the fantastic motivation of those who can sometimes run too great a risk of going a little too hard a little too long.
Finally, the battery is completely empty.
- I would really like us to have a zero vision as it is sad to lose people in the worst case in an entire season and in even worse cases an entire career.
"To perform, you train even harder and take in even more"
The experts have noticed a greater need during the pandemic as the players recharged, prepared and then had their events canceled.
- Or you are on your way there and get a positive test.
People are very nervous about the tests.
Some have not competed at all for a long time and it can be difficult to maintain motivation when you are never allowed to take part in a championship, says chief physician Karin Hyland.
The elite athletes bite each other and try to move on.
- Elite athletes are good at it.
To perform, you train even harder and take in even more, which means that you risk digging deeper into the ditch.
People around are usually of the nature that they pay tribute to elite athletes who take in even more when it goes against, says Göran Kenttä.
CLIP: Doctor Göran Kenttä: "Being an elite athlete is a stress all the time" (February 17, 2022)
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Doctor Göran Kenttä: "Being an elite athlete is a stress all the time"