The pressures of professional play

The suicide of German footballer Robert Enke has raised fresh questions about the particular pressures of sport on the psyche. Researchers have sought to unpick the various threads that may tie sport with suicidal tendencies. But the picture is a complex one, with each sport throwing up very different issues. There are particular pressures associated with sport but people do commit suicide - it is the most common form of death among young men," says sports psychologist Victor Thompson.