The Idea of Amateur Sports as a Form of Therapy Among People with Depression and other Mental Disorders – Articles Review
Hubert Sawczuk
Orcid profile, Julia Marschollek
Orcid profile, Maciej Pachana
Orcid profile, Jan Zabierowski
Orcid profile, Anna Tomasiewicz
Orcid profile, , Piotr Kukuła
Orcid profile and Marcin Piersiak
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Published Online: Sep 20, 2025
Page range: 407 - 420
Received: May 11, 2024
Accepted: Sep 08, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jhsm-2024-0020
Keywords
© 2025 Hubert Sawczuk et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Background
Physical activity and its impact on people’s physical and mental health is widely discussed over the last decades. Mental health concerns encompass psychiatric diseases and issues related to mental and social well-being, including adjustment difficulties, anxiety, depression, coping mechanisms, and behavioral problems. Physical activity can take different forms and fulfill various needs of the individuals that extend beyond the physical benefits. The idea of amateur sports as a form of therapy among people with depression and other mental disorders has the potential to be a valuable addition to psycho- and pharmacotherapy.
Objectives
This paper aims to gather the ideas and conclusions that could be found in existing literature and summarize them in the form of a review. This form provides an opportunity to acquire a clearer view of the topic as well as advocates for taking a more long-term view on the idea.
Material and methods
Literature review using databases such as: PubMed, PMC, Google Scholar, and Scopus for relevant documents.
Results
There are various kinds of activities, which can differ according to the preferences and limitations of the participants. To the current state of knowledge, popular team activities seem to be the most effective form of this kind of treatment. Findings in the literature agreeably encourage patients to engage in mind-body exercises to improve their mental health.
Conclusions
Although this approach is interesting, it suffers from the lack of big, structured trials that would define which disciplines are the most efficient in improving patients’ mental state. Any form of activity is better than none but various limitations reduce the potential for generalization of findings and weaken the validity of the evidence. Further research in this field is needed to establish which kind of activities suit individuals best, considering their diagnosis and limitations.