Life After the NFL

What price do you pay to be a professional football player?

Initially we thought it was the price of creaky, lingering musculoskeletal injuries suffered during old age.

But it's so much more.

We are witnessing one former player after another committing suicide. The reports about Junior Seau are just the latest. Players are suffering from dementia, neurodegenerative disorders, post-concussive syndrome, mental health disorders and substance abuse disorders. Many current players and former players are suffering from head and body trauma from their playing days in the NFL. And many also suffer from the mental health symptoms associated with those blows in addition to the emotional stressors of not being prepared to deal with life after giving up the game.

Many people aren't aware that concussions and head trauma make you more vulnerable to dementia, brain disorders and mental health disorders during and after the blow to the head.

The professional icons we put on a pedestal during their playing days are paying the price later.

I have worked with many former NFL players and some are really suffering; symptoms such as memory loss, recurrent headaches, bouts of confusion, dizziness, rage, uncontrolled anger, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse and problems with impulse control... the list goes on and on. And we're not just talking about current players, we're talking about men who haven't played the game for years or even decades.

The Junior Seau tragedy is so very sad. But I'm afraid it won't be the last. Until something is done to protect a player's brain from trauma (that means rule changes and suspensions), many won't be equipped to handle life after they leave the game. And a mental health evaluation should be mandatory when leaving the game to see who may need mental health, neurological treatment or further medical care.

I love the NFL but..

"Game over" should not mean "Life Over." Let's protect the players.

Dr Reef Karim
Psychiatrist, Relationship Expert
Director: The Control Center
@DrReef
Thecontrolcenter.com
Doctorreef.com

 

Follow Reef Karim, D.O. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drreef

Comments

[tomgee111]

09:44 AM on 05/07/2012

After 4 years of high school football, there was a letdown period as just another college freshman. Can imagine 25 years treated as a prima donna how the let down would be magnified.

[laidback lib]

10:54 PM on 05/06/2012

It's fairly clear with the evidence even now with chronic traumatic encephalopathy and it's link to American football. Football in America has to change due to it's violence and outcomes on its participants. It should change to a minimal contact-impact competition-possibly like flag football. In that way we can also expand the participants to many more females and alternative young athletes who have be buffered from the game because of it's brutality. Then it will truly become the fair and true "Americas sport".

[AliveInNYC]

07:43 PM on 05/05/2012

Dr. Karim,

With all due respect, this is an extremely irresponsible article. Unless you had personally examined Junior Seau and know for a fact that he suffered permanent brain injury, you shouldn't be commenting.

He could have taken his own life for any number of reasons.

[ruffdeezy]

12:34 AM on 05/05/2012

Liberal plan = ban football

[AliveInNYC]

07:41 PM on 05/05/2012

why is this a liberal/conservative issue?

I'm a liberal and a passionate football fan

[lpcrsotp]

11:57 PM on 05/04/2012

Players have known for many years that concussions cause permanent damage. Some players got out of the game before the damage was extreem, such as Troy Aikman, while others continued with the kind of play they knew would cause consussions. Yes, better head gear is warranted. However, the players too bear a good deal of responsibility as they are well aware of what kind of hit causes such damage. The players remind me of the uranium miners in the fifties and sixties who were making fortunes working in mines. Federal regulations set limits on the number of years they could work in uranium mines, but the money was so good that they found ways to move to other mines, sometimes use other names to keep bringing in the money. However, when they developed cancer or died from the radiation, they or their families filed flawsuits, rather than accepting the blame for their own choices.

[dadoorsron]

10:10 PM on 05/04/2012

The NIMH says there are 34,598 deaths a year from Suicides. I have read that depression is one of the main risk factors of Suicide. I never played pro football but, I played college football. I Played football from the age of 10 thur the age of 20. After my last game, it didn't effect me at all. Until, my mental alarm clock went off in the off season and it was time to get ready for another football season. What did I have to work for? Nothing. No one cared how much I weighed, if my numbers where good and if i was getting enough cardio in. No one called to check up on me.I had nowhere to be. What was interesting is the day training camp opened I was ready to play. For the next two seasons I was ready to play! I would get down because, I wasn't out there anymore. Now I can't imagine what pros feel like when the bell rings on their career. 30 years old and retired! On average it takes 3 1/2 years for former players to go bankrupted or divorced. So, can life be more of a factor then getting your bell rung a few times in your career? I know their is serious issues with head injuries but, don't speculate when you have no facts.