Bad Blood? Menstrual pain, stigma, and mental illness in competitive sport cultures

月经对女运动员的表现和健康的影响已成为体育界的一个优先问题。月经通常伴随着心理，身体和行为症状，这些症状会破坏生活中许多方面的日常功能。世界上一半的人口有月经，但它与重大的社会和文化禁忌有关。像伊加·斯沃泰克这样的精英运动员打破了关于月经对运动成绩的影响以及如何管理月经的专业知识缺乏的沉默。目前的研究计划旨在优先考虑女运动员的声音，以探索竞技体育文化中的月经挑战。大多数月经研究都集中在女运动员如何客观症状，例如注意力下降和极度疼痛，干扰训练和表现。将月经作为一个生理问题来看待，提高了人们对运动员奋斗的认识，然而，它将月经的“问题”置于女性体内。与妖魔化自然生物过程相关的风险导致一些运动员宁愿通过持续的激素避孕来完全不服用避孕药。女性生理学观点忽视了社会和文化对月经经历的影响，也没有考虑精英体育环境对运动员月经健康和表现的作用。在一般人群中，月经可能被认为是不洁和恶心的，导致心理压力和羞耻。月经问题可能导致精神障碍的发展，如经前焦虑症和一些妇女的自杀意念。尽管心理健康研究在体育运动中的扩散，运动员月经耻辱，羞耻和心理健康状况尚待研究。这种耻辱使运动员太害怕透露月经问题，无法获得支持。为了解决这些差距，这项研究将扩大运动员月经经历的重点，超越表现影响，包括更广泛的心理健康。具体而言，通过一系列研究，我们将探讨经历严重月经症状和精神疾病的运动员的个人叙述。这个学生的第一阶段将部署叙事研究，探索运动员在运动中的月经和精神疾病的经验，特别是探索运动环境和相关的社会因素如何相互作用，以塑造具有挑战性的月经经验。在此基础上，第二阶段将利用反思性主题分析来探索运动员如何向教练和/或队友透露月经问题。将明确关注导致披露的原因、披露的方式以及感知到的反应和相关影响。在第三阶段，参与性研究将用于共同制作互动式心理教育干预措施，以支持女运动员的健康体育环境。结果将举行相关的组织和应用从业者致力于改善做法，支持女运动员管理月经周期的挑战，在性能设置。

The impact of menstruation on female athlete performance and wellbeing has emerged as a priority issue within sport. Menstruation is often accompanied by psychological, physical, and behavioural symptoms that disrupt daily functioning in many aspects of life. Half the world's population menstruates, yet it is associated with significant societal and cultural taboo. Elite athletes, such as Iga Swiatek have been credited with breaking the silence on the impact menstruation can have on athletic performance and the lack of professional knowledge on how to manage it. The current programme of research aims to prioritise female athletes' voices to explore menstruation challenges within competitive sport cultures.Most menstrual research has focused on how female athletes objective symptoms, such as reduced focus and extreme pain, disrupt training and performance. Framing menstruation as a physiological issue has raised awareness of athlete's struggles, however, it places the "problem" of menstruation inside women's bodies. The risks associated with demonising a natural biological process has resulted in some athletes preferring not to menstruate at all, by taking continuous hormonal contraception. Purely physiological perspectives ignore the social and cultural influences on menstrual experiences and do not consider the role elite sporting environments may have on athlete menstrual health and performance. Within the general population, menstruation can be deemed unclean and disgusting, leading to psychological stress and shame. Menstrual issues can lead to the development of mental disorders, such as pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder and for some women, suicidal ideation. Despite the proliferation of mental health research in sport, athlete menstrual stigma, shame, and mental ill health are yet to be studied. This stigma leaves athletes too fearful to disclose menstrual issues and unable to access support. Addressing these gaps, this research will broaden the focus of athletes' menstrual experiences beyond performance impacts, to include wider mental health. Specifically, through a series of studies, we will explore personal narratives of athletes who experience severe menstrual symptoms and mental ill health. The first phase of this studentship will deploy narrative research to explore athletes' experiences of menstruation and mental illness in sport, particularly exploring how sport environments and associated social factors interact to shape challenging menstrual experiences. Building upon this, phase 2 will utilise reflexive thematic analysis to explore how athletes disclose menstrual issues to their coaches and/or teammates. There will be an explicit focus on what led to the disclosure, how the disclosure was made, and the perceived response and associated impacts. In phase 3, participatory research will be used to co-produce an interactive psychoeducational intervention to support healthier sport environments for female athletes, by female athletes. Results will hold relevance for organisations and applied practitioners committed to improving practices that support female athletes to manage menstrual cycle challenges in a performance setting.