Before runner Alexi Pappas competed at the Rio Olympics, she had never heard of the post-Olympic blues. "This was 2016, and so it wasn't very common for people to be open about their mental health ," she says. In retrospect, she says she'd seen her teammates struggle mentally after previous Olympics, but she never connected the dots.

So when Pappas made the Greek team to compete in the 10,000 meters, she only focused on the race. In fact, "I was instructed not to think about the moment after," she says. And she didn't think she'd need to.

"Growing up, I was like, 'If I could be an Olympian, I will be happy forever,'" she says. Yet despite a successful race, in which she set a national record, she started to struggle shortly after she crossed the finish line. "I had a situational depression, which is when a series of things happen that make you feel like you just fell off a cliff," she says.

Included in that "series of things" were: contract negotiations, moving to a new city, and changing coaches. Meanwhile, Pappas had continued running 120 miles a week, rather than taking time after the Games to recover physically. And on top of all that, she was only sleeping one hour a night.

Thoughts of doom and panic plagued her the other 23 hours. Alexi Pappas is a Greek-American runner who competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics. She's also a filmmaker, writer, and actor.

Brenley Shapiro , MSW is a sports psychologist and mental performance coach. After the Olympics, Athletes' Mental Heal.