In the months after he left professional football, Christopher Mitchell’s mental health deteriorated. 

A spinal injury had forced the ex-Falkirk FC, Bradford City, and Scotland Under 21 international to retire in January 2016 at the age of 27.

He became introverted and anxious, his sleeping patterns unravelled, his eating became erratic. 

He told his sister that he was having suicidal thoughts. His relatives took him to the doctor, who prescribed medication. But in May 2016, he took his own life at a railway line close to the family house in Stirling.

His father, Philip Mitchell, recalled trying to make sense of it all in the weeks that followed. 

“And we were finding out from players that, although there were support services in place in Scottish football, the players weren’t seeking the help available to them, or they just didn’t know [about it],” he told Al Jazeera.

In 2017, Philip and his family launched the Chris Mitchell Foundation, which aims to challenge the stigma associated with mental health in Scottish professional football, and works for mental health to be integrated into physical health and fitness training programmes.

It is part of a growing number of initiatives aimed at tackling football’s mental health crisis.

A 2015 study by FIFPro, the worldwide representative organisation for professional footballers, found that former and current professional footballers are more likely to suffer from mental health problems than the general population.

Footballers often face overwhelming pressure to succeed; a psychological impact from injuries; and loss of identity on retirement or release, among many other challenges. 

A macho culture in football has traditionally taught players to suppress difficult emotions and has stigmatised talking about depression and anxiety as “weakness”. 

But in recent years, several current and former players have spoken publicly about their struggles with mental health (including Marvin Sordell, Chris Kirkland, and Aaron Lennon, among others.) 

For some mental health advocates, it suggests the “code of silence” has broken in football. 

But others question whether attitudes are changing and ask how the conversation can be taken forward.

[Read the rest of the article published by Al Jazeera English here]