Steve Gurney and the D word
Depression, it is a dirty word. Nine-time Coast to Coast winner and multisport legend Steve Gurney has gone down that pathway, come out and gone back down it again. He isn’t ashamed about this fact, but says too many athletes are afraid to open up because of the stigma around that word.
Gurney has publicly struggled with his mental health because after the massive high of an event and career, the come down can be brutal. He is currently going through what he calls ‘‘another bout’’, but he is learning how to recognise the signs of depression and then address it.
‘‘With injury and being too old I can’t compete at the same level I was competing at, so that’s massively depressing, suicidally depressing at some stages and I’ve had help with this.’’
Since retiring from serious competition the 54-year-old has left Christchurch for Queenstown, taken up motivational speaking and dabbles in multisport. While this all fills in time, it does not fill void that his love for competition once filled. He believes this is a common issue many athletes are left with when they ‘‘hang up the boots’’, because they all have that competitive streak that doesn’t just go away the minute you retire or run out of form.
‘‘I don’t think you can change your personality. As a driven person it’s your personality type. Often the first born or things that have happened in your life as a kid, drives you to be competitive. So when things go wrong, or when your career gets interrupted then life suddenly gets really tough because we are competitive by nature and I don’t think you can change your nature. What we can do is understand.
‘‘There are a lot of athletes who used to be professionals or high level competing athletes who have had injury or had to retire and are now struggling because that purpose that they had has now evaporated. I know it’s especially happening in sport but also other professions and walks of life, too.’’
Gurney along with other Kiwi sporting greats have provided years of entertainment and inspiration to upcoming athletes and sports fans. But these same athletes are somewhat forgotten when they retire from professional sport and some even feel a sense of trauma when they are left with what can seem like nothing.
‘‘It is like they are discarded in to the used basket, you know.’’
When Gurney retired after winning his ninth Coast to Coast event he wasn’t sure what to do with his life, leaving him with huge amounts of anxiety and a head space often so bad he thought about taking his own life.
While Gurney made a conscious decision to leave sport when the time was right, many athletes have to fold their careers because of injury or poor form, and sometimes because of a mental health struggle. He says there needs to be an open avenue for these athletes to talk about their mental health issues both during and post career.
‘‘There’s nothing really, no organisations, help or courses. I see a gaping hole there with these sorts of people who are now lost. They can be helped.’’
An athlete’s performance is not only driven by their physical fitness, but a lot has to do with their mental health. If an athlete’s belief or self confidence is low, it is likely to show on game day.
The quick answer of anti depressants does not sit will with Gurney nor with former sports
players as they have spent a career resisting the temptation of drugs.
‘‘We have fought really hard to stay clean in our sport. Drugs are kind of a dirty word to us. I’d rather figure out what’s going on
in my brain.’’
He says mental health struggles are a lifelong battle and there is no easy fix. Since realising he battled with his own mind, Gurney has learned how to recognise triggers and address them before they become too large to cope with.
‘‘Recognition is the first thing and being aware of that.Then you can choose a response.
‘‘Instead of being all upset and pissed off you can say ‘there goes that competitive streak again’ and think ‘OK, what’s a better response’? That’s the hardest thing for some people, to be able to recognise it.’’
One of Gurney’s biggest concerns about depression is the word ‘depression’. He believes Kiwis, especially males, treat having depression as a failure and others sometimes treat depression an excuse for their life’s failures.
‘‘I think depression has been thought of as a dirty word and something you don’t really want to talk about. There is a stigma and it’s only just coming out in to the open now, but there is resistance.
‘‘Everyone is on the scale. Traditionally we have placed people in a box. ‘Okay, so you are in the depressed box’ we say, and that’s like you have got a fault. But it is human nature, we are all on the spectrum between happiness and depressed and we are all somewhere on that line.
‘‘Society is still a long way from normalising it, but I really commend those high achievers who come out and are helping to normalise it.’’