In this blog post, we will examine the psychological reasons why athletes fall prey to the temptation of drugs and explore realistic solutions to prevent it.
Humans are creatures of desire. Individuals strive for a better life, and countries dream of higher status in the international community. However, human desires are not only triggered by such abstract and everyday aspects, but also emerge in very unique ways. Those who have a certain degree of stability in their lives fall into the desire for activities that allow them to express their self-esteem beyond the basic necessities of life. They want to have something unique that will earn them recognition from others.
A representative form of such emotions is the “superhero.” Everyone knows Batman and Spider-Man. People watch these movies to feel a sense of excitement and vicarious satisfaction that they cannot experience in their daily lives. However, because we know that superheroes cannot exist in reality, we are satisfied with the visualization of our desires, and we are left with a clean aftertaste. But what if this were possible? Many people would want to become the heroes in the movies. The streets on the way to work would be filled with colorful heroes preparing for crime, and many people would crave such power even if it meant risking their lives to obtain it. We can be grateful that this has not yet become a reality.
However, there is one movie that makes me think that such a thing might happen in reality, at least in part. In the movie “Limitless,” the incompetent main character takes a new drug that activates his brain and achieves things that seem like a dream. Learning a new language every day is just the beginning, and when you see him predicting the stock market and making money, it’s no wonder that the drug is called a “new drug” rather than a “new medicine.” It’s a much more realistic story than a superhero flying through the sky, and the process of gaining abilities is much simpler than being bitten by a crazy spider.
After the movie was released, there were endless inquiries about whether such a drug was actually being developed. The movie clearly showed that stopping the drug would result in death, but even that couldn’t stop people’s desires. The problem is that the side effects of such drugs are directly related to life and can extend to the point of violating human dignity.
The field that comes closest to this problem in reality is sports. Everyone has heard of doping tests. These are tests to detect illegal drug use by athletes in sporting events such as the Olympics. The term originally came from the practice of administering drugs to racehorses to help them run faster. Every year, many athletes are caught using illegal drugs, and recently, Lance Armstrong, the world-famous champion of the Tour de France and a cancer survivor, was found to have taken drugs through a doping test, causing a huge shock. The reason why drug use by celebrities is such a big issue is that it can make many people who have worked hard feel a sense of relative deprivation and betrayal, and in severe cases, it can even lead to copycat crimes.
However, an even bigger problem is the fact that such behavior can be coerced. In the past, East Germany won many medals at the Olympics, but these results were achieved at the expense of the athletes who won the medals. Heidi Krieger, who became famous after appearing on the TV program “Surprise,” was a talented female shot putter in East Germany, but she was continuously given anabolic steroids, a type of male hormone, under the guise of vitamins. In the end, Heidi Krieger won a gold medal, but due to excessive male hormones, she retired at the age of 24 in 1990 and underwent sex reassignment surgery due to the side effects of the drugs.
The above cases are examples of people who were forced to take drugs by others against their will, which is undoubtedly a terrible act that completely disregards human dignity. The problem is that such things are still happening in 2024. In fact, one of the reasons Lance Armstrong became embroiled in controversy was because it was revealed that he had forced his teammates to take drugs.
Some people may question whether regulated drugs are really dangerous, so let’s take a brief look at the types of drugs that are regulated and their side effects. Prohibited drugs are divided into substances prohibited at all times, substances prohibited during competitions, and substances prohibited in specific sports. First, substances that are prohibited at all times include anabolic agents, hormones and related substances, beta-2 agonists, hormone antagonists and modifiers, diuretics, and masking agents. Second, substances that are prohibited during competition include stimulants, narcotics, cannabinoids, and corticosteroids. Finally, substances that are prohibited in specific sports include alcohol and beta-blockers.
The side effects of these drugs are numerous, including liver damage, myocardial infarction, sexual changes, decreased sexual function, muscle and skeletal damage, increased aggression, and brain damage. In addition, looking at cases of death related to banned substances, between 2003 and 2005 alone, more than 10 athletes between the ages of 16 and 35 died of heart attacks. In South Korea, an independent organization dedicated to doping, KADA (Korea Anti-Doping Agency), was established in 2006 to conduct systematic doping tests. However, according to research, despite these risks, the rate of doping violations is increasing every year. Ironically, the more doping prevention education and publicity are emphasized and implemented, the more cases of doping are detected.
According to statistics provided by the Korea Sports Science Institute, the number of cases increased every year, with 37 cases in 2020, 42 cases in 2021, 45 cases in 2022, and 50 cases in 2023. Ultimately, it can be seen that athletes continue to use drugs despite the risk of losing their lives and the increasingly systematic doping tests.
So what exactly makes them so dependent on drugs? Not all athletes who use drugs were tempted by them from the beginning. However, I think that many athletes who were unable to overcome the inevitable slumps that come with being an athlete easily fell into the temptation of drugs. There are various reasons for falling into a slump. No matter how much they practice, their skills may not improve at a certain point, or they may always perform well in practice but have a habit of making mistakes in actual competition. These athletes lose confidence in their practice and skills and become dependent on drugs.
So what is the best way to save them from drugs? I think a psychological approach is the best way. A slump itself can be considered a mental illness, so if athletes learn how to find psychological stability, they will naturally be able to shake off the temptation of drugs. First, we need to restore the athletes’ confidence in themselves. This process should not be attempted through simple encouragement or advice, but rather by instilling confidence in the athletes through scientific evidence.
Alvaro Pascual-León (professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School) conducted research on remote brain exploration using a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation. He wanted to find out what changes occur in the brain when skills are improved through practice. When participants were asked to play the piano repeatedly for a week, the part of the brain responsible for the movement of each finger grew significantly. The subjects were then divided into two groups, with one group stopping practice and the other continuing for an additional four weeks. Surprisingly, the brains of both groups returned to normal in just one week. This is the result of the brain’s efficient processing ability, which causes the brain to undergo long-term structural changes when continuous practice is performed. The numerous nerve bundles created in the early stages are effectively integrated into the brain’s basic circuits, making them more efficient. However, people who hone their professional skills day and night undergo further expansion of their brain structure in order to accommodate all of their finely tuned neural connections. People who have reached this level can be said to have incorporated all of their skills into their basic movements.
It may sound boring when written down, but if we show these stories to athletes along with tangible research results, many of them will be able to relieve their anxiety about their efforts. Although not yet fully activated, the field of sports psychology does exist, and in fact, the professional baseball team Hanwha Eagles has officially hired a mental trainer this year to help the team break out of its slump. If this perspective is expanded and a systematic structure is established to professionally take responsibility for the psychology of athletes in all fields, rather than being limited to certain sports, it is expected to play a major role in preventing drug use.
In addition to the psychology of athletes, there may also be problems with the perspective of our society toward athletes. The fundamental meaning of sports is not simply to beat others and come in first. It is to train the mind and body through exercise and to achieve better results through friendly competition. It is not right to always expect athletes to come in first and put pressure on them. If a mature culture of cheering for each athlete to achieve results commensurate with their efforts and enjoying sports itself takes root, athletes will be able to enjoy competition and have a sense of perspective.
Doping is not a problem that can be simply blamed on athletes. It can be said that the desire of adults to use athletes as tools for their own desires and interests is even greater than that of the athletes themselves.
It has been 18 years since the Anti-Doping Committee was established in South Korea. It is time to develop structural and institutional solutions, rather than simply blaming doping on the desires of athletes.
