Thorpe's 'sports shrink' mentor backs Oz swim great to conquer depression 'demons'

An Australian sports psychologist and a mentor of Ian Thorpe has expressed confidence that the swimming great will conquer his demons and eventually be in a position to help other athletes adjust to post-sport life.

Thorpe is in rehab after being found in a confused state near his parents' home during the week, the result of medication he took to overcome depression and a shoulder injury.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, sports psychologist Deidre Anderson, who has worked with Thorpe throughout his career, said that athletes like him often struggled to find fulfillment and identity once they had left the sporting arena as they engage in the sport often at a very young age, which puts on hold the natural life skill development.

Stating that athletes operate under a very highly-structured, driven and orchestrated environment, Anderson also said that swimming is one of the sports where athletes turn out to be quite introspective by nature, adding that it takes time for them to transition into life without sport, which is even greater the more high-profile the athlete is.

However, Anderson is confident Thorpe will make the transition to post-swimming life although she believes that the process would take time as depression is an illness that is needed to be managed the entire life.

Anderson further said that the physiological make-up of most elite swimmers produce an enormous amount of adrenalin and endorphins that keep a lot of 'that stuff' at bay, adding that if a swimmer is not training at that level and have a predisposition for suffering depression, it can hit him hard again.