Clinical Issues: Sports Athletes

Clinical Issues: Sports Athletes

The focus in sports psychology is shifting towards a holistic understanding of athletes' psychosocial reality, including issues like eating disorders. Performance enhancement is deeply personal, tied to an athlete's self-worth and often intertwined with family dynamics. Acknowledging that sports psychologists can't handle all the personal challenges athletes face is important. The referral process plays a crucial role, with sports psychologists acting as trusted experts who prepare athletes for the possibility to go for treatment. During sessions, respecting concerns, providing support, and maintaining dignity are paramount, with a focus on competition goals and returning to play. Confidentiality is essential, and the possibility of stretching beyond comfort zones should be considered cautiously.

Authors of this review:

Nikita Goncharenko

Date of Publication:

16/07/2023

Academic Reference:

Clinical Issues (by Bert De Cuyper, 2017)

Tags:sports psychology

Key Ideas

Shift from a personal enhancement focus to a holistic understanding of the psychosocial reality of the athlete (e.g. eating disorders).

Performance enhancement is a deeply personal issue. Performance is the central thing in life, often a defining feature of bring, tied to the feeling of self-worth of the athlete. It is sometimes can be inextricably enmeshed with family dynamics.

Admitting that sports psychologists cannot handle the intimate intra- & interpersonal difficulties of the athlete is unprofessional.

Mental health is also interlinked with sport psychology. Need to be able to explain what to do when a mental illness diagnosis appears (e.g. depression).

Facilitation of Referral Process: athlete needs to be directed further to professionals in a specific field. Sports psychologist acts as a trusty expert

Process of referral in steps: (1) Preparation: inform that the referral is possible (make sure the intro is clearly conveyed). (2) Explain “why?”: highlight benefits for performance. (3) Educate: 3.1) tell what it will be like to work with the practitioner. 3.2) clarify the expertise & function of the practitioner, 3.3) failure to reveal relevant info violates trust/makes it difficult in work. 3.4) Describe forms of payment (the practitioner should set a specific fee).

During the session, respect concerns and provide support, maintain dignity, and keep a safe face. The focus is on the athlete's competition goals and the aim is to return to competition.

Inform which info will be shared with the practitioner. Do NOT push athletes (coaches' or parents’ bad impact); Teach confidentiality.

Consider stretching: with proper guidance/supervision may be possible to work with athletes on issues outside of comfort. But do reassess the situation daily. There is the perfect time to a "refer".

"Referring in" practitioners can alleviate fears of abandonment from sports psychologists. If not, provide the info to schedule an appointment with the practitioner.

Follow up: Assess the effectiveness. If not, discuss alternative strategies, and do NOT hesitate to reintroduce the referral option.

Parallel treatment in team approach: more than one practitioner. The benefit of this approach is comprehensive care. The negative side is the high cost, as well as the fact the athlete needs to tell the whole story again and again.

It is recommended to introduce new practitioners slowly (NOT overwhelm the athlete). It is helpful to assure athletes that you will still be their sports psychologist during treatment with another practitioner.

Citations

"Clinical referral - the process of referring an athlete to a qualified professional."

"Individual risk factors – Relatively stable characteristics within the individual athlete that make him/her more vulnerable to clinical problems."

"Situational risk factors - Aspects of the organization and the context of the athletic performance that promote the development of clinical problems."

External References

Andersen, M. and Van Raalte, J. (2005). Over One’s Head. Referral Processes. In M. Andersen (Ed.), Sport Psychology in Practice (chapter 9). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Gardner, F. and Moore, Z. (2006). Introduction to Clinical Sport Psychology. In F.Gardner and Z. Moore, Clinical Sport Psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. p 3-11.