Sport Psychology Tactics - How Athletes Can Understand The Difference Between The Yips & Burnout
About the Author
Ben Foodman is a licensed psychotherapist & performance specialist. He owns his private practice located in Charlotte North Carolina where he specializes in working with athletes to help them overcome mental blocks (the yips), PTSD, ADD / ADHD and achieve flow states through the techniques of Brainspotting & Neurofeedback. If you are interested in services, use the link here! Enjoy the article below!
Introduction: Athletes & The Sport Psychology Of Burnout And The Yips (AKA Mental Blocks)
Training for sports can be incredibly taxing on the body and mind. There has been a plethora of research that has explored the short-term and long-term negative effects that athletes can experience after long bouts of training. But oftentimes, there can be a huge range of symptoms and behaviors that make it difficult for athletes to accurately understand what specific negative side-effects they are experiencing through sports performance participation.
Because this is such a common and misunderstood topic amongst athletes and sport psychologists, I wanted to take the time to review some common misconceptions about diagnoses that seem nearly identical. For part I. I want to define what burnout is. For part II. I want to review the differences between the Yips (AKA Mental blocks) and burnout by discussing the science of burnout, and for part III. I want to discuss strategies athletes can use to combat burnout.
Part I. Athletes And Psychological Burnout
Burnout in athletes has been defined as ‘when an athlete loses interest in their sport due to physical and emotional exhaustion’. When athletes have come to consult with me in my practice, common symptoms that athletes report are feelings of anhedonia (loss of interest in sport), low motivation, lethargic feelings such as being excessively tired, sadness, hopelessness, or just have overall low energy. Time of recovery can also take significantly longer and may never seem to get better.
One of the ways we can rule out if this is clinical depression is by exploring if there is a previous history of depression, the age of the athlete, if there is a strong family history of depression or if any life circumstances have changed (e.g. family death, recent move, new terminal medical diagnosis, etc.). If none of these previous circumstances have occurred in an athletes life then there is a good chance that we can rule out depression and rule in burnout. But what are other key points we should consider about burnout?
Part II. Sport Psychologists And The Science Behind Burnout & The Yips
If it appears that burnout is indeed the core issue that athletes are experiencing, one thing we can be fairly certain of is that the athlete is probably in a state of overtraining. Not only has the athlete most likely not been correctly monitoring their recovery patterns but also there is a good chance that they are unaware of the emotional toll events inside and outside sports has been taking on them. The combination of emotional and physical stress will have fatigued their autonomic nervous system and keep the athlete in a high sympathetic nervous system state.
This point is key because athletes will often confuse these symptoms with that of a mental block. Mental blocks (AKA the Yips) can present with similar symptoms. However one of the key differences between a mental block is that the symptoms of this psychological phenomenon usually occur situationally whereas burnout maintains a consistent presence throughout the athlete’s life. This is important because the intervention that the sport psychologist uses to help with this issue can either be the right tool or a complete waste of time. So what are some strategies athletes can use to stay ahead of these issues?
Part III. Strategies Athletes Can Use To Identify The Difference And Stay Ahead Of Burnout & The Yips
One of the things that athletes can do in their personal time and pre/post competition is to constantly monitor their energy levels and quality of sleep. Athletes can use Likert scales right as the day begins and right as it ends to establish how they are feeling. By tracking this daily, athletes can see how well they are progressing from a recovery standpoint. Athletes should also monitor their anxiety levels and try to evaluate if anxiety symptoms are situational or consistent. If anxiety symptoms are increasing or recovery rates are slowing down, aggresively self-prescribing rest may be in order. If anxiety symptoms remain unrelenting, seeing a sport psychologist or a licensed psychotherapist may need to be considered as well to help continue progressing to performance enhancement outcomes.
Note To Reader:
If you are an athlete reading this segment of the TRAINING REPORT, hopefully this content was helpful! I put the Training Report together because I felt like many of the discussions on issues such as the Yips/mental blocks, strength training & other subject matter on athlete performance concepts were really missing the mark on these ideas (e.g. how trauma is the direct cause of the Yips). If you are interested in learning more, make sure to subscribe below for when I put out new content on issues related to sport psychology & athlete performance! Also, if you are looking to work with a mental performance specialist, you are in the right place! USE THIS LINK to reach out to me to see if my services are the right fit for your goals!
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