The Masks We Wear: Through the Lens of Persona, Masking, and Code-Switching
This is the time of year when people who celebrate Halloween begin to think about their costumes or maybe they already have their costume picked out by this point. Some of these costumes may include a mask to create the desired effect. Masks, however, serve other purposes besides dressing up for Halloween, and some of these purposes and variants will be discussed in this post.
Changing the Stigma Surrounding Mental Health
Mental health and stigma are words that are often used together, though there is hope for a future where that is not the case. The stigma surrounding mental health is insidious, embedded on many levels and can have harmful consequences. This post hopes to explore the topic of mental health stigma in hopes of inspiring everyone to do their part to help break this stigma, which can only be done if we all work together.
Why Mental Health?: Through the Lens of Emotional Regulation, Social Connection, and Systemic Environmental Systems
Yes, mental health. I said it, and it is a topic that must keep coming up because of how essential it is to our overall well-being and quality of life. Mental health, like physical health, exists on a continuum (Menefee et al., 2022). Think about this as shades of gray between white and black. Mental health is not all or nothing nor is it an isolated aspect of being human. Mental health is linked to our physical health, emotional well being, and social relationships.
The Power of Narrative and Reframing
We often craft narratives or stories in our head about events, experiences, people, places, etc., which, given what the brain is programmed to do, makes sense. In the process, we may adjust, add, or omit facts or aspects to make the story fit. When we craft narratives or stories our brain accesses the parts that are involved in emotional, processing, memory, and social cognition (Martinez-Conde et al., 2019). While there is plenty of neuroscience research that talks about the specifics, we will not dive into that here and now. If you would like to, the research is interesting and Google Scholar is a great tool for investigating this topic. Our focus takes us down a different path.
Welcome Autumn!
The green of summer fades into fiery reds, dazzling yellows, and soft oranges. The flowers of summer bear fruit and we begin to enjoy winter squash, apples, cranberries, and sweet potatoes. Along with the unique astronomical phenomena and the beautiful change in color palette, this time of year often elicits different themes that invite reflection.
Emotions: Mind and/or Body
Have no fear, we are not going to talk about neuroscience today regarding emotions. Instead, we are going to investigate something about emotions. Do emotions begin in the mind or the body? Before you keep reading, take a guess about the answer. Most importantly, keep track of your train of thought about how you arrived at this answer.
Inviting Self-Compassion
Self-compassion is totally different from being self-centered or self-indulgent. These terms are often conflated and a detriment to self-compassion, and to us and our mental health. While the blog on this website has brought self-compassion before, this post really makes self-compassion the focus for inclusion in everyday life.
Mindfulness and the Mind-Body Connection
The body gets lost in the mix. So, what do you think happens? The body loses trust in you that it will be heard or listened to in times of challenge and in times of peace. So the lesson becomes about building that trust back.
Porges Polyvagal Theory: The Six States of the Autonomic Nervous System
Polyvagal Theory was introduced by Stephen Porges, PhD focuses on the role of the autonomic nervous system, particularly the vagus nerve, as it relates to the physiological/psychological states related to our daily behavior. There are three defining principles (Polyvagal Institute, n.d.):
Hierarchy of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) per Polyvagal Theory (PVT)
Neuroception
Co-regulation
What is the Difference Between Self-Worth, Self-Esteem, Self-Confidence, and Self-Efficacy
The concepts of self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-efficacy tend to get thrown around a lot and often interchangeably. And yet, they mean different things. Furthermore, how one works to address these different concepts is also different. Thus, it is worth taking the time to break these down.
Psychological Factors and Sport Injuries: What a Sport and Performance Professional Can Do? Part 2
In Part 1 of this post, there was a big information dump. This post picks up with an example. Hopefully, there has been enough time between the two posts to allow for different thought processes to occur to help with integrating the material. Let’s remind ourselves where we are headed. The example that we will discuss today is of a female-identifying athlete with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury to help demonstrate the nuance required of a sport and performance professional (SPP) to help an injured athlete.
Eating Disorders in Male Athletes
There has been a lot of focus on female-identifying athletes and eating disorders. While necessary and important, it is essential to not forget about male athletes. They are also susceptible to eating disorders.
Sexual Orientation Stigma in Sports
There are often topics in sport and sport psychology that are challenging to discuss given that, in many ways, sport is a microcosm of the larger culture. That said, many athletes remain silent about important issues and aspects of their lives, such as sexual orientation. So what can be done by sport and performance professionals (SPPs) to support athletes who continue to hide this aspect of their lives in order to continue to play?
Psychological Factors and Sport Injuries: What Can a Sport and Performance Professional Do? Part 1
When looking at the topic of injuries and injury prevention and rehabilitation, much must be attended to to provide the best care to an athlete. Sport injury risk is multifactorial, and any prevention program must account for this nature (Gledhill et al., 2018).
Designing a Rehabilitation Program: Things to Think About
There are many different factors associated with injury and the rehabilitation process. It is not a linear and straight forward journey. Many of us could agree that we wish it was! Referral, adherence, and modeling are essential concepts to consider in the process when building a rehabilitation training program. However, there are other considerations that need to be included to support adherence, for example.
Returning to the Sport You Love
Returning to the sport you love from a serious injury can be challenging, as there are many physical and psychological factors to consider. This post focuses on three psychological factors pulled from self-determination theory (SDT) that a sport and performance professional (SPP) and an athlete may want to address.
Mental Preparation for Adolescents Before the Big Game, Meet, or Race
It’s the week before a big game, meet, or race. What can you do mentally prepare? This post focuses on adolescents, but many of the ideas are applicable to adult athletes as well. Additionally, there are so many more to consider. This post just has three to get you started.
Team Cohesion - Task and Social Cohesion
Team cohesion is a common topic in many fields. Chances are that many of us are familiar with team cohesion in the work place, for example. Team cohesion in sports is another great example and a place to explore. Thus, this post aims to look at task cohesion and social cohesion to discuss the interplay between both types of cohesion as it relates to building effective team performances.
Barriers for Sport and Performance Consultants
Sport and performance consults exist within the world of psychology. They also exist within the world of sports. Both of these worlds introduce challenges for how a sport and performance consult can be introduced into the picture to help athletes. What is identified in this post about barriers for sport and performance consults hopes to illuminate some of these barriers and suggests ways that these barriers can potentially be overcome.
Introducing Self-Compassion Within a Team
It is no secret that I believe in the power of self-compassion with it comes to sport and performance psychology. Many times the question that is asked is if self-compassion hampers the competitive edge. The answer is no. Self-compassion does not mean that you can't push yourself and acknowledge your mistakes. Rather, it means that you do not tear yourself down when you are pushing yourself. It is counterproductive to tear yourself down when you need to build self-efficacy and self-confidence.