This book utilizes a wealth of case studies to demonstrate the importance of using depth sport psychology to explore and understand athletes’ unconscious feelings and fears, and provides the knowledge needed to help athletes deal with pressures faced throughout their sporting career. Applying the theories of Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, Margaret Mahler, Melanie Klein, Heinz Kohut, Donald Winnicott, and Christopher Bollas to explain the dynamics within the athlete’s mind, this useful resource will help develop a better understanding of athlete’s repressed feelings and psychological states. It looks past the cognitive behavioural techniques currently used to aid athletes, and instead focuses on the many ways the unconscious subtly influences athletes, offering an important a paradigm shift. Covering a range of different athletes within various sports, each chapter demonstrates how the psychoanalytic techniques of free association, the working alliance, analytic interpretations, confrontation, dream analysis, transference/counter transference and resistance analysis are used with athletes. Case studies cover such topics as the treatment of anxiety, yips, anger, guilt and perfectionism in the athlete, the influence of birth order, psychological defences used by athletes including gamesmanship, dissociation and humor, and the psychology of injury. Unpacking Depth Sport Psychology is the ideal resource for students, the educated athlete, parents, professors, sport psychologists, and coaches who hope to improve the athletes’ performance.

In Depth Sport Psychology: Reclaiming the Lost Soul of the Athlete is a unique exploration of the vital archetypal elements and themes that emerge when considering elite sportssport psychology through a depth psychological lens. It provides athletes, young people, coaches and clinicians with ways to harness the self, placing athletes on a path towards personal growth and sporting excellence by reconnecting their spirit to their sport. Burston’s multidisciplinary and inclusive approach details the importance of spirituality and other unmeasurable factors, such as emotional recovery, when investigating sporting potential. Incorporating research from classic mythology and the Greek sports academies, he traces sport back to humanity’s animalistic and traumatic origins, explores the rise of the Olympic movement, and compares archetypal identities that are shared with athletes today. Relating this to today’s financially driven and technological sporting climate, he considers the roots of play, examines the difference in the psyche of team sports and individual players, discusses the crucial, clinical welfare of young people, and dedicates a section to sportswomen. In Depth Sport Psychology emphasises how awakening an athlete’s unconscious spirit can positively improve their performance, and offers an applicable methodology for athletes and teachers to use to better understand themselves and achieve brilliance. Uniquely exploring the connection between Jungian depth psychology and sports, the accessible tone of In Depth Sport Psychology will be key reading for analytical and depth psychologists in practice and in training, sports psychologists and other professionals working with athletes. It will also appeal to athletes and sportspeople interested in exploring a new perspective on sporting excellence.

This important book explores the way athletes use defense mechanisms and coping skills to manage both the internal and external stress faced in competitive sport. Covering a range of case studies across various sports, the text showcases a taxonomy of immature, neurotic and mature defences available to the athlete and describes the benefits and drawbacks of each. A clear introductory section defines what defense mechanisms are and how they impact performance such as shame, anxiety, despair, memories of previous losses or fantasies about winning. Applying a psychoanalytic approach in line with the ideas of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, Fenichel, Leo Rangel, George Valliant and many others, the author uses each case study to connect the defense mechanism under investigation with the world of the athlete. Focused on delivering research-based evidence, the book helps readers deepen their understanding of the different types of defense mechanisms used by athletes across the globe, as the author explains what causes them, and recommends techniques for developing effective coping skills. Each chapter of the book also includes a reflective section that challenges the reader to think about how they can help athletes to grow and develop healthy defense mechanisms in any stage of their career. This invaluable text is geared towards the practitioners, researchers, psychoanalysts and students in sport psychology who wish to look more deeply into why athletes struggle. It is also an ideal resource for athletes interested in understanding ways to cope with the unrelenting, exciting and at times overwhelming pressure of competitive sports.

"An excellent text to offer more depth on theories and concepts within Sports Psychology and provide learners with a greater understanding of current psychological theories. The text helps in enforcing knowledge gained and also provides a plethora of references for further reading around any of the chapters covered within the text." - John Harrison, Tyne Metropolitan College "This book provides a good introduction to sports psychology, and enables students to obtain a basic understanding of the key concepts. I will recommend this book to my level 4 students." - Marie Robbins, Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education "Provided an excellent synthesis of key topics in sport psychology. The content draws upon leaders in the field both from a research and applied sport psychology perspective." - Andrew Balsdon, Canterbury Christ Church University This book provides a focused, accurate guide for students working within the dynamic field of sport psychology. The concise and authoritative entries have been selected by experienced teachers and researchers; each one defines, explains and develops a key topic in sport psychology acting as a springboard for further reading and debate. This is a stimulating and practical resource for students defined by the clarity of writing and relevant examples. Each concept gives the student: clear definitions up-to-date suggestions for further reading careful cross-referencing. Easy to use and intelligently judged this book offers the modern student the basic materials, tools and guidance for planning essays and passing exams.

Sport psychology is no longer just an academic subject, it is a discipline studied and applied by all those associated with sport, whether athletes, coaches, journalists or fans. This text concerns key topics in the field of sport psychology.

The aim of Comprehensive Applied Sport Psychology (CASP) is to challenge our field to look beyond its current status and propel applied sport psychology and mental training forward and outward with a broad and multi-layered examination of everything psychological, emotionally, and socially that the athletic community contends with in pursuit of athletic success and that sport psychologists and mental trainers do in their professional capacities. Comprehensive Applied Sport Psychology is the first professional book aimed at offering a truly expansive and deep exploration of just about everything that applied sport psychologists, consultants and mental trainers do in their work. CASP plumbs the depths of the athletic mind including attitudes, psychological and emotional obstacles, mental "muscles" and mental "tools," quality of sport training, the health and well-being of athletes, and other areas that are essential to athletic success. This new volume examines not only the many ways that consultants impact athletes, but also explores their work with coaches, teams, parents, and interdisciplinary groups such as sports medicine team and sports management. The book is grounded in both the latest theory and research, thus making it a valuable part of graduate training in applied sport psychology, as well as a practical resource for consultants who work directly with athletes, coaches, teams, and parents. The goal of CASP, in collaboration with dozens of the leading minds in the field, is to create the definitive guide to what applied sport psychology and mental training are and do.

Think about your favourite sport. Now ask yourself how much of success in that sport is down to physical skills and how much is down to mental skills? We all know that physical skills are vital for performance and understand about training them. We know that psychology is important too, but what people actually do to understand and train in it is less well known. Sport Psychology: A complete introduction gives you the answers, explaining everything you need to know in one place. Structured in two parts, theory and application, part one defines the idea of personality and covers essential psychological traits, including mental toughness, confidence, motivation, stress and character. Part two covers topics such as assessment, skills training, coping techniques, building concentration and working with coaches and teams. You will also find substantial coverage of measurement questionnaires, skills and routes to practice. As well as learning about how the mind works and how that has an impact on sporting performance, you will discover what sport psychologists actually do to improve a performer's psychological skills and mindset. Sport psychology used to be simply about performance. Now, the role of the sport psychologist is more holistic and includes athlete wellbeing, working with coaches and support teams, and operating at a more organizational level. Whether you are a student, interested in sport and sport performance as a professional practice, or involved in sport at any level, Sport Psychology: A complete introduction is your go-to guide.

Over the last 40 years, the field of sport psychology has generated a growing body of literature on the coach-athlete relationship, driven by the recognition that the quality of this dyad can play an important role in an athlete's experiences in sport. Despite strong evidence suggesting that Self-Determination Theory (SDT) accurately reflects processes within this relationship, which promote or undermine intrinsic motivation, there is room to deepen contemporary understandings of coach-athlete dyads by assessing the role of athlete individual differences within this theory. Sixty-seven male athletes (ages 12-18) and 3 male coaches participated in the current study, which set out to cultivate a more nuanced understanding of coach-athlete relationships in a high-level youth athletic academy. Questionnaires measuring preferences for, and perceptions of, coaching behavior, psychological coping skills, psychological needs satisfaction, motivation, and burnout were administered at the beginning and end of the fall season. Results gleaned from correlations, multiple regressions and mediational analyses variably supported the study's main hypotheses. Processes consistent with SDT were evident, as a dimension of perceived coaching behavior predicted needs satisfaction, which in turn, predicted levels of motivation and burnout. Finally, and most importantly, results showed that athletes' psychological coping skills predicted their perceptions of coaching behavior, and outcomes related to needs satisfaction, motivation, and burnout. The current paper also discusses implications of these findings for research and applied practice in sport psychology, and provides recommendations for future avenues of study.

In this student-friendly introduction, the authors consider the psychological effects of sport on both the individual and the group. Topics covered include motivation, performance, mental health and leadership, offering a balanced and in-depth resource for students interested in learning more about sport psychology.

Covering the five psychological areas considered to have the most influence on athletic performance - motivation, confidence, intensity, focus and emotions - this work provides a comprehensive approach to sport psychology.