Graeme Obree

• Obree has said that he was eventually diagnosed as “manic depressive,” the term commonly used at the time for what is now called bipolar disorder. He discussed his mental illness publicly in interviews and in his 2003 autobiography, The Flying Scotsman. [2][3]
• He has described experiencing severe depression for years before receiving the diagnosis. By 2003, he was speaking publicly about both the diagnosis and his earlier suicide attempts. His autobiography also included his suicide attempts and his experience of severe mental illness. [3]

• Obree has described severe depression as a recurring part of his life, including during his cycling career, but said it became much worse after he retired from international competition. He described reaching a point where thinking itself felt painful and said he sometimes turned to alcohol in an attempt to cope with depression. [2][3]
• He made several suicide attempts, including attempts in 1998 and 2001. In the 2001 attempt, he was found hanging in a barn and was resuscitated after being cut down. Obree later spoke openly about the episode and described suicide as arising from an overwhelming desire to escape unbearable thoughts. [3]
• Obree has also connected periods of depression with major disruptions in his life, including the death of his brother in 1994, the end of his elite cycling career and difficulty adjusting to life after competition. He has said that cycling had previously served as an important way of coping with his mental health, and that losing that structure left him struggling significantly. [2]

• Obree has said that doctors were able to help him with medication after he was diagnosed with manic depression. [2]
• He has also described counselling and longer-term psychotherapy as important. In 2003, he credited work with a psychologist with helping him change how he responded when his mood began to deteriorate, including learning to express difficult feelings rather than withdrawing and allowing them to build up. [3]

• Obree has described gradually developing ways to live with depression rather than relying on cycling as his main means of coping. In 2007, he said that support from his family, counselling and medical treatment had helped him begin to address longstanding personal difficulties, and that he no longer felt compelled to prove himself through another cycling record. [2]
• By 2011, Obree said he had spent around ten years in therapy and had found his own ways of dealing with life and staying positive. He was also beginning new projects, including writing, organizing cycling events and becoming involved in community work. [4]

• Obree has spoken publicly about depression and suicide and has used his experiences to encourage more open discussion of those subjects. He has said that people have contacted him after reading or hearing his story to tell him they were struggling themselves, and he has described wanting to pass on some of what he learned through years of therapy. [4][6]
• He has also argued that elite sport can sometimes function as a coping mechanism for people who are already vulnerable to depression. Drawing on his own experience, Obree has said that cycling helped him cope, while also emphasizing that exercise alone does not address the underlying causes of depression. [6]

“I want people to understand what it’s like, how it felt.”

— Graeme Obree [3]