**4. Conclusion**

Elite athletes are a unique population that can provide uncommon challenges, but they also have strengths and circumstances that make them good candidates for psychiatric treatment. The goal of treatment is to improve mental health in order to maintain peak athletic functioning. Psychotherapy is a common form of treatment for mental health issues and may be particularly effective for elite athletes in the form of individual psychotherapy, marital/family psychotherapy, or group psychotherapy. Due to the nature of the elite athlete population, mental health clinicians may face several unique challenges in providing services to these individuals. These include diagnostic ambiguity, barriers to help-seeking behaviors, altered expectations about services, and personality factors. Elite athletes face many pressures and stressors that are not common to the general population. Mental health professionals should keep these considerations in mind during treatment and work to normalize and reduce stigma towards receiving mental health services within the elite athlete population.
