“In recent months a shadow has grown inside me that has also changed my way of seeing things”. It is one of the passages of the letter that Cesare Prandelli, former coach of Fiorentina Calcio, sent to the top of the team by submitting his resignation. In the past he had already left the bench of a team for personal reasons (he abandoned that of Roma in 2004 due to a serious illness of his wife) and yesterday he publicly confessed: “I find myself in an absurd discomfort that does not allow me to be what I’m”. And even if at the moment there is only talk of a “nervous breakdown”, the case of Prandelli has reopened the discussion on the issue of competitive stress to which players are subjected, depression and the fragility of athletes. “His was a courageous choice. We have to draw a great lesson from him: he perceived the signs of frustration and helplessness and stopped ”. Francesco Cro, psychiatrist of the Mental Health Department of Viterbo comments on Prandelli’s decision to leave sport. Maybe forever.
Why do you think he talked about this shadow that has grown inside? What does it mean?
“His professional history is that of a man who is very passionate about his work and paradoxically this can be a risk factor. When you are so involved and under pressure in your work it can take over on the one hand the perception that you are not at your best, and on the other hand you do not have full recognition of your efforts. This imbalance gives us the feeling of failure. The term is somewhat out of date, but I think we can speak in this case more of a nervous breakdown than a sort of exhaustion. A sense of perceived frustration with respect to future expectations “.
Prandelli always talks about having been “blind to the first signs that something was no longer exactly in its place within me”. How do we recognize these signs before we collapse?
“Obviously we don’t know what signals the coach is talking about, but in general the signs that something is wrong within us and involves our professional life are above all anger, nervousness, sadness. And the more we like our work, the more we identify with what we do and what we have built, the more this thing inside of us is magnified until we reach the lack of love for that work. It is like a love that disappoints us, that is not returned. And we run away. That world that belonged to us no longer belongs to us. Prandelli stopped in time and was wise: we need to draw a great lesson from his gesture “
Can competitive stress be so devastating?
“The competitive dimension can expose a lot to the risk of chronic stress and depression not only for performance, but because there is the identification of the value of a person from his results. A defeat is not just your sporting defeat, but your personal one. And this is true for everyone, even for athletes, and it also affects those who seem very balanced. “
Could the pandemic have influenced the decision of the former Tuscan coach?
“Today none of us recognize ourselves in what we were before. Beyond the damage caused to sport and the world of football, athletes are perhaps more affected than others by a certain general nervousness. And then this atmosphere of gloom, even if indirectly it can favor dramatic choices “.
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