Doping and Athletics

Given the big stakes in scholastic and professional athletics, it's not surprising that athletes succumb to the temptation or pressure to take performance-enhancing drugs. And sometimes athletes need to take substances that are banned for medical reasons. These are just some of the issues and problems that will be discussed in the symposium “Doping and the Athlete” at APA's 2010 annual meeting.

The symposium, which will be held Saturday, May 22, at 1 p.m., will be led by Antonia Baum, M.D. Topics include the history of doping in athletics and the anti-doping movement, a guide to the therapeutic-use exemption for psychiatrists treating athletes with medications on the banned-substance list and how to make the case to get such an exemption, the role of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in the therapeutic-exemption process, doping-control efforts in collegiate athletics from the NCAA perspective, and the ethics of doping in athletics. Questions will be taken from the audience at the end of the session.