Sports Therapy Archives - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Overcoming Self-Deception

Self deception is a form of rationalization. It is an attempt to help you avoid facing or dealing with the truth, which can be difficult to accept at times. The teacher tells the student to “sit down”. The student complies but says to himself, “I was tired of standing up anyway”.

As a sports psychologist I often work with young athletes and their parents. Recently, I evaluated a young tennis player who wasn’t performing to her abilities and had been underperforming for some time. We identified a number of factors that were inhibiting her performance. Rather than accepting the evaluation and help to directly improve the situation, the parent and youngster interpreted the problems as “normal” and to wait and see if she would mature and grow out of it. If she was having a problem with her forehand and a pro recommended a change, would she accept the fact and do the work or wait for improvement to occur on its own?

Self-deception and rationalization is also alive and well in the professional ranks as well.

A top player on the women’s tennis tour, was well known for losing her temper during matches and losing matches as a result! As she was being interviewed, there were clips of her exploding and losing it in various matches as she was explaining that she is an “emotional” player and needs to express her emotions to play better.

The truth is most individuals still have a hard time accepting the fact that their mental and emotional state often times interfere with their performing at their best and only by working and training on specific mind-body skills can they hope to consistently perform at their best.

I once heard, “it is not practice that makes perfect, but practicing more perfectly that does.”

I welcome your thoughts and comments. Send them to Dr.Robert Heller at info@robertheller.net. If you are living or traveling to S. Florida, I am located in Boca Raton and would be happy to work with you on developing your mental toughness skills.

Performance Enhancement Gadgets & Gimmicks

As a sports psychologist who works with many tennis players and golfers in Boca Raton, Florida, I see and hear of lots of devices and strategies designed to improve performance. Typically advertisers find a well known celebrity or top athlete to promote their product to suggest it is the product that has helped them achieve their success and if you use the product it will help you as well!

As tennis champion Novak Djokovic has stormed into the spotlight; he is the latest to be drawn into the peak performance spot light. Last month, the attention was focused on his “secret gluten free diet”. This month the headlines in the Wall Street Journal is, “Novak Djokovic’s Secret: Sitting in a Pressured Egg”.

A company who sells the product for a smooth $75,000 claims that spending up to 20 minutes in the pod three times a week can boost athletic performance by improving circulation, boosting oxygen-rich red blood cells, removing lactic acid and other potential benefits. Djokovic gets to use the device for free and the company gets to use his quote, “I think it really helps – not with muscle but more with recovery after an exhausting set”.

A lot of the same claims can be made by having a massage – for around $75.

Defeating Negative Thinking

Negative thinking is easy to acquire and once it becomes a habit, requires consistent effort to change. Defeating negative thinking requires you to first become aware of what your negative thoughts and when they occur. Next, you need to make a list of the negative thoughts. Then, you need to come up with a “better” thought to “replace” the negative thought and practicing thinking and saying the replacement thought whenever the negative thought comes to mind. You must practice saying the new healthier thought STRONGLY and PASSIONATELY in order to get a change at the feeling level.

Defeating negative thinking requires systematic practice. Here is a mental exercise you can practice with: (I use this with tennis players, although you can see how easily it can be adapted to use with other sports or even in non-athletic related situations.)

Here is a list of common negative thoughts associated with playing competitive tennis. For each negative statement, write a more desirable positive statement.

1. Oh no. I have to play this opponent in the first round, I have lost to him twice before.

2. I can’t believe I missed that shot. What’s wrong with me?

3. I am down 3-0. I don’t have a chance.

4. That’s the second backhand I missed. My backhand is the worst.

5. I double faulted on game point. I really suck.

6. I should be killing this guy. I’m so much better and I’m down 3-1.

7. It’s unbelievable. That’s the second shot of mine that hit the line and he called it out. What a cheater!

8. I was ahead the entire set and now it’s 5-5. I’m terrible. I’ll probably end up blowing the set and losing the match.

9. My overhead was great in practice all week and now in the match I have missed 2 of them.

10. I can’t get over that bad call last game. It was such an important point.

Write any additional negative thoughts that are specific to your situation on the back of this page.

On a separate sheet of paper for each negative thought, come up with a more desirable thought to counter the negative one.

Now you have completed the first step in defeating negative thinking.

Resiliency

Resiliency, the ability to come back when behind, is a key mental skill to have both in sports and in life. A recent NBC show highlighted the resiliency of pro golfer, Michael Allen, who for most of his life struggled to make a living as a pro golfer.

Although he believed in himself, after 334 PGA starts without a win he called it quits. In an effort to better support his family, he tried other jobs. After several more years, with the support of his wife and the financial backing of friends he tried again.

His wife convinced him he had to do something different in order to have a better chance at a successful comeback. This time, he worked more on his fitness, hired a new “swing coach” and worked with a “sports psychologist”.

Resiliency combined with doing things differently paid off. After 20 years, Michael won his first PGA Senior tour and for the past 5 years has been a leading money winner, winning several other major tournaments.

The interview was conducted by veteran news reporter, Jayne Pauly. When asked by Matt Lauer of the Today Show, which of the changes she felt were most important in turning things around for Michel Allen, she said, the “sports psychology”.

As a sports psychologist, I live and work in Boca Raton,Florida, a Mecca for golf and tennis and home to numerous professional athletic events. In my experience, mental skills like resiliency and confidence are partly inherited, partly learned through early childhood experiences and partly improved upon through teaching, as are many life skills.

Through counseling and various types of emotional skills training athletes and non-athletes can learn to make changes and improvements in their performance both on and off the playing field.

The key is to get the help you need, make the necessary changes and put in the time and effort for things to come together.

How to Become Resilient

When you are resilient, you can handle adversity, come back when you are behind and channel pressure into helping you perform at your best. Resilient people use an ABCD or 4 step approach.

First of all, when they make a mistake, resilient people quickly(A) analyze it without judgment or emotion. They know they can’t do anything about what has just happened but seek to prevent future mistakes.

Secondly, they (B) breathe- slowly and deeply. This relaxes the body and calms the mind. It helps to forget the mistake, keep it in realistic perspective and move on.

The third step resilient people use is (C), they correct the mistake by focusing on what they might do differently the next time to insure a different result.

The fourth step is they (D) decide on a plan or course of action that they will immediately implement in order to move forward with greater confidence and effectiveness.

Resilient people have learned these skills either through trial and error or by being taught by someone who is resilient themselves.

If we use the sport of tennis as an example, consider a resilient player. He or she double faults. Instead of becoming self critical or overly negative, he mentally reviews the source of the error and decides the ball was tossed too low. He takes a calming breath to help let go and forget the last shot and pictures himself tossing the ball higher at the next opportunity. As he prepares to serve he thinks to himself “Higher toss” and pictures his arm releasing the ball as his arm raises past his eyes. All of this is accomplished in a matter of seconds.

Resilient people practice this 4 part process in most things they do. Try it yourself for three weeks in a particularly area of your life and notice what results you get.

Winning From Behind

Have you ever been losing badly in a game or tennis match and thought you had no chance of coming back or winning? Chances are, you ended up losing. Why? Perhaps because your opponent was playing much better or you were performing below what you normally do. But more likely, you insured your loss by your strong belief that you would lose. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy. Because you no longer believe you can win, you start slacking off which allows your opponent to finish you off without trying too hard.

In the 2011 Wimbledon tennis quarter finals match, it would have been easy for the under-dog, Jo Wilfred Tsonga, to think that he was done, and give up or at least let down. You see, he was down 2 sets to love against one of the best players, not only in the world, but perhaps one of the best players of all time, the great Rodger Federer. In fact, when Federer was ahead two sets to love in each of his prior 78 matches, he had always won. The odds of Tsonga winning that match was slim to none. However, someone forgot to remind Tsonga because he just stuck in there, raised his game and ended up winning the next 3 sets to win the match!

Bottom line, play hard, play your game and play until the last second or last point.

A positive belief in yourself and your abilities can often improve your chances of success in almost every situation both in sports and in life!

Most athletes can learn to improve their confidence, improve their ability to come back from behind and play tougher under pressure.

A mental conditioning training program program like Dr. Robert Heller’s TENNISNISMIND,(www.mentalskillstennis.com) provides relaxation exercises to calm the body and specific affirmations to train the mind to automatically respond to challenges in positive ways.

Winning in Sports

The Women’s World Cup match up between Japan and the United States turned out to be a real “nail biter” and a test for mental skills and mental toughness as well as the physical skill, technique and strategy. The U.S. had long dominated Japan in previous match ups and was the heavy favorite to win. In fact, they took most of the shots and controlled play for much of the first half, creating many opportunities but failing to connect. In a game where the U.S. was leading during much of it, Japan fought back and tied the score in the regular game and then again with only four minutes remaining in the overtime. In the shootout, it was Japan’s goalkeeper who blocked 2 U.S. kicks and perhaps a U.S. player who may have choked by sending what should have been an easy goal, a dozen feet above the goal bar that made the difference in Japan’s winning effort.

Winning in sports and in life, is trying your hardest and never giving up until the very end. It is holding out hope and playing with uncertainty. In sports psychology, we teach persistence, tenacity and recovering from adversity. This game was a testimony to those skills and ideals. Both teams have much to feel proud about.

Hypnosis and Performance

Hypnosis has been a useful tool for improving performance. Over the past 35 years, I have had the opportunity to work with performing artists, athletes, business persons and students who were looking to either enhance their performance or reduce anxiety, worry and fear associated with performing in front of others.

Hypnosis can often accelerate the progress and improve the effectiveness in treatment . While not everyone can benefit from hypnosis, about 50% can be helped with hypnosis and another 20% can experience powerful results.

Hypnosis is a state of heightened suggestibility based on deep relaxation and specific suggestions developed through careful consultation with a skilled therapist specially trained in clinical hypnosis. While it is not entirely clear exactly how hypnosis works, there is ample evidence from numerous controlled and clinical studies that it can often be highly successful .

With performance issues, I often find direct suggestions around confidence, concentration and calmness are the foundation for enhanced performance. Where negative past experiences are blocking progress, hypnosis can be useful in identifying the blocks and facilitate working through them.

Hypnosis can be used as a sole treatment or as an adjunct to more comprehensive treatment depending on the presenting issues. It is increasingly common for clients coming in with performance issues to have significant co- occurring conditions which magnify there performance issues and make them harder to treat unless they are addressed as well.

Hypnosis treatment tends to be straightforward and short term. Following the education of the client on what hypnosis is and isn’t, a detailed assessment occurs. Then, the therapist develops problem-specific suggestions. Initial relaxation is taught and deepened in a follow-up session. Suggestions combined with relaxation gradually help clients change attitudes, feelings and behaviors. Often times performance issues can be improved or overcome in six to twelve sessions over a 3-4 month period.

Some examples of applications of hypnosis and performance include musicians, dancers and other performers, students taking tests, business people and other professionals needing to speak in public and even some forms of impotence .

The common elements of performance anxieties include basing one’s self worth on the performance, having perfectionistic standards, being overly self critical, fear of the anxiety and caring too much what others think about them.

Hypnosis aids in reducing anxiety, providing an effective method for regulating emotions and assisting in creating a healthier, stronger and positive performance image.

In my work with clients, I often record the sessions and encourage them to practice between visits to strengthen the suggestions. I also teach clients how to develop their own suggestions to maintain their progress in this and other areas of their life.

Hypnosis is a useful tool in the hands of a skilled psychologist or other mental health professional trained in its use. It accelerates treatment and has almost no negative side effects.

Peak Performance Strategies

I recently came across an article on “9 ways Olympians develop resilience” and whether these attributes can be taught to the average person to perform better at the gym, tennis court, job and life in general. As a practicing psychologist, who has worked with lots of athletes and non-athletes for over 40 years, I do believe many of these attributes can be learned and/or improved upon. Here are my top five.

How to Select a Coach

As a sports psychologist who works with a lot of kids and parents I am often asked about how to pick a coach, when to change a coach and how to talk with coaches.

In team sports, it is the coach who selects the player. In individual sports, especially tennis and golf, it is the students and in most cases the parents who selects the coach. Since parents are investing time and money, they naturally are looking to see results. Unfortunately, parents are too eager to see results in terms of winning games and matches, rather than improvement in skills, attitudes and behaviors. At the youth level, it is often easy to produce wins early on. For example, in tennis, a player with a weak backhand may be taught to run around it and hit a forehand. This short term fix won’t last very long as better players will find the backhand anyway or hit rather easily to the open court on the next shot. Parents need to be patient and not switch coaches too quickly based largely on results.Over time, the athlete who patiently and systmatically works on improving their underling fundamentals will overcome the athlete who puts wins and results ahead of improvements. Consider these questions: Is your child enjoying the training? Has the coach outlined a specific developmental plan based on the needs, goals and abilities of you child? Does the plan and methods to achieve it make sense to you?

Sports parents need to keep in mind that to develop in a sport to compete effectively at a high level takes upwards of 10 years of training. So, it is most important to enjoy the journey!