About Information Portal
Coaches are alternative mental health service providers. But, like psychiatric drugs, they can do more harm than good.
It’s great that more people than ever are talking about their mental health, including Olympic athletes. But a significant downside is that it’s contributing to the overprescribing of psychiatric drugs.
One of the reasons that psychiatric drugs are being overprescribed is that psychiatrists and doctors don’t usually talk with patients about the risks, benefits and alternative products and/or services, which is a legal requirement for obtaining informed consent before prescribing a psychiatric drug for a diagnosed mental disorder.
Another reason is that psychiatric drugs are being prescribed for misdiagnosed mental disorders and normal mental health challenges, including to young athletes.
Coaches have always had a strong influence on the mental development of athletes, good or bad. This information portal has been designed to support coaches who want to help athletes build their self-esteem and develop mental skills, which would help prevent the overprescribing of psychiatric drugs.
The Sport for Mental Health information portal was developed in 2025 by David Carmichael, who has been a prescription drug safety advocate since 2006 because of a catastrophic adverse reaction he had in July 2004 to the SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) antidepressant Paxil.
Before July 2004, David had a successful 20-year career in the physical activity and sport sector after completing a master’s degree in physical education with a specialization in the physiology and psychology of coaching at York University in Toronto, Canada. All of this is explained in his chronology. His career included developing a multiskill development program for children called Sportability from 1986 to 1990 and publishing a book in 1994 titled Building a Solid Foundation for Sporting Success: A Guide for Parents of Young Children.
David was interviewed often by the media about healthy child development through sport and long-term athlete development. Here are a few examples from the 1990s:
- Canadian Living Television, 1999 (3:35)
- TSN Inside Sports, 1994 (16:51)
- CBC Newsworld, Coast to Coast, 1991 (10:51)
- TVO, 1991 (6:20)
David started developing Sport for Mental Health as an information portal for coaches after returning from an Antidepressant Safety Day in Sacramento, California in May 2024. When he was promoting the event, he talked with a mother about how psychiatric drugs are often prescribed for normal mental health challenges, and she told him that their family doctor wanted to prescribe the SSRI antidepressant Prozac to her 5-year-old son because he got really nervous before batting in Tee Ball.
In August 2024, the National Post, a national daily newspaper in Canada, published an article featuring Olympic Gold Medal gymnast Simon Biles from the United States that reinforced the need for Sport for Mental Health. David was concerned that the headline “Mental health drugs are invaluable for many Olympians. It can also give them a competitive edge” alone would be a catalyst for a significant increase in the number of athletes being misdiagnosed with mental disorders and prescribed psychiatric drugs, including to enhance performance.
David can be reached at david@knowyourdrugs.org.