United States Sports Academy - "America's Sports University"

Abstract

Athletes who have experienced an upsetting competitive experience not only may perceive competition negatively but relive the upsetting performance event when they approach competition or contemplate competition which results in an increase in anxiety. EMDR was performed with competitive swimmers to aid them in reprocessing an upsetting swimming event. Their coping beliefs were measured and level of anxiety prior and after the EMDR. Vignettes are presented as examples of the changes in the athletes' level of anxiety coping beliefs after three sessions.

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When individuals have perceived a situation negatively and have created negative cognitions about that experience, it is often a reflection of their perceptual style (Bandura, 1997). He also suggested that positive visualization enhances self-efficacy by reciprocally inhibiting negative visualizations. This negative interpretation of the event predisposes the individual to react in a manner indicative of poor self-efficacy. Hardy (1990) has investigated a catastrophe model of performance in sport. It appears that an individual's cognitive interpretation of the anxiety is important by the impact it plays on performance (Jones & Swain, 1992; Jones, Swain, & Hardy, 1993). The athlete's perception and interpretation of anxiety as positive or negative in regards to his or her performance maybe detrimental to performance if perceived as threatening (Jones & Swain, 1992; Jones, Swain et al., 1993; Nordell & Sime, 1993; Rotella & Learner, 1993).

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) has been used extensively with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Van der Kolk, 1997), but there is little knowledge in the area of EMDR and performance anxiety (Oglesby, 1999). Most of the work in this area to date has been anecdotal. EMDR uses bouts of 20-40 rapid, saccadic eye movements by requesting the athlete to visually track a light which moves laterally in sequence from left to right. This technique was discovered by Francine Shapiro (1989), and she found it resulted in the brain processing information in much the same manner it does during rapid eye movements. Shapiro believes this results in traumatic memories being reprocessed in a more positive or coping light. This process requires the individual to visualize an upsetting sports event and reprocess that event employing all senses and simultaneously reframing cognitively. Foster and Lendl (1995, 1996) used EMDR to enhance performance in athletes and as a tool for executive coaching. Crabbe (1996) used the technique to improve riders' performance in dressage competition.

Athletes who have experienced an upsetting competitive experience are an important subgroup of competitive athletes who have difficulty with competitive anxiety. This group not only perceives competition negatively but additionally relives the upsetting performance event when they approach competition or contemplate competition which results in an increase in anxiety. The purpose of this paper is to provide a number of examples as a means of illustration of the technique of EMDR and reprocessing an upsetting swimming event.

Method

Participants

Volunteers (N = 21) were recruited from four competitive swim teams without compensation: a state college, two Y.M.C.A.s, and a public high school. Participants ranged in age from 16-21 years of age with twice as many women as men.

Measures

Anxiety. Each athlete rated an upsetting sports event according to the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS). Wolpe's (1991) scale is a continuum from 0 (no disturbance) to 10 (highest disturbance). Heart rate was also recorded by having the participants take their pulse and count out loud each beat while focusing on the upsetting event as the researcher timed and recorded.

Self Perception. Validity of Cognition Scale (VoC) is part of the EMDR protocol. It is a self-perception measure that Shapiro (1992) developed to measure a person's positive coping self-belief concerning the upsetting event. This belief is rated on a 7-point scale from 1 (completely false) to 7 (completely true).

Procedures

EMDR. The purpose of EMDR is to facilitate cognitive reprocessing, so that an individual is able to secure all the learning possible from a given upsetting experience and interpret that information in the most positive light for personal growth. The athlete focused on an anxiety provoking or unpleasant swimming competitive experience to investigate the possibility of reprocessing this in a positive format to impact favorably on future competitive performance. The actual desensitization of the anxiety-provoking event began with the athletes holding that event in their awareness. The person is asked to compose a possible coping statement (VoC) concerning the upsetting event that he or she presently does not believe. The person then rates the upsetting event on the SUDS scale, and the heart rate is simultaneously taken.

The researcher induced bouts of (20-40) rapid, saccadic eye movements by requesting the athlete to visually track a light which moves laterally in sequence from left to right. All measures are taken again at the conclusion of the session. The athletes had three sessions of EMDR with the last session focusing on an ideal swimming experience. The standard EMDR protocol was followed (Shapiro, 1998).

Vignettes

Backstroke. This young lady recounted an experience of doing the backstroke in competition when she missed her count for the turn and hit her head on the wall. She sunk to the bottom and inhaled water. The feelings reported were the following: confusion, panic, and thinking "I could drown." "How could I be so stupid as to miss the turn?" When asked to rate the SUDS, she rated it as a 7, and her heart rate was 110. She described a tense, upset feeling in her stomach as she envisioned the event. Her coping statement was "I got that turn down pat," which she rated on the VoC at a 5-6. By the third EMDR session she had a SUDS rating of 2 and a heart rate of 70 with her VOC up to a 6.5.

Goggles. Miss Goggle was also performing the backstroke when her goggles came off, and she hit her head on the wall and lost her breath. She described having a sick feeling in her stomach and difficulty breathing. She placed last in the event and was terribly embarrassed and felt horrible. The location in her body that she felt the anxiety as she recalled the event was in her eyes and shoulders. Her SUDS rating initially was a 5, and her heart rate 100 with a VoC rating of 5 for the statement "I learned from my mistakes." At the conclusion of the three sessions her SUDS was a 3 with an 80 heart rate and a VoC score of 6.

Disappointment. Mr. Disappointment described a competition where he swam the 50 fly and the 200 relay. When he came out of the pool and toweled off, the coach said to him, "I thought you were better than what you showed." Mr. Disappointment described this statement from the coach as devastating. He experienced a tight, tense jaw as he summoned up the image and gave this a SUDS of 10 with a heart rate of 110. His VoC for "I know I am a good enough swimmer" was 5. After our third session his SUDS fell to a 1 with a 90 heart rate and a 7 VoC.

Seated Back: Mr. Seated Back recalls a 200 backstroke competition where he was seated back 6 to 7 seconds slower than he expected. His feelings were embarrassment, nervousness, anxiety, and physically felt his back tense up. His thoughts were "I did the worst." He gave a SUDS rating of 8 with a heart rate of 85. His VoC rating was 5 for "I tried my best." At the conclusion of our sessions, he reported a SUDS of 1 with a heart rate of 80 and a VoC of 7.

Mr. Disqualified. Mr. Disqualified's upsetting event was that he was swimming in a sectional meet on the relay team. He was the first one to swim and he "did great." When the last leg of the relay finished, he was so excited because they won that he jumped into the water which resulted in the team being disqualified. He remembered looking up in disbelief at them being disqualified. His thoughts were "I screwed up." He felt tightness in his chest as he recounted the story and reported a SUDS of 8 with a heart rate of 90. His VoC was "It is ok because we made it up the next week" was a 2. He actually became teary eyed during the procedure. At the conclusion of our sessions, he rated the SUDS at a 0 with a heart rate of 75. His VoC rating was 6.5.

Mr. 50 Breaststroke. This last young man in the New England Championships broke the 50 breast record on the first day. He volunteered that he began obsessing over the 100 breast, and self-doubt crept into his thoughts, "I doubt I can do it." He ended up swimming his worse time on the 100 with a 1:01. This experience was felt as a tingling in his stomach with a SUDS of 8 and a heart rate of 80. His VoC for "It's over I won't obsess" was rated as a 5. When we finished our work together, he rated the SUDS at a 0, his heart rate a 55, and his VoC was a 7.

Conclusion

These vignettes serve to demonstrate that upsetting sport events are often held in athletes' consciousness long after the event has taken place and may have the ability to arouse unpleasant feelings, and the physiological effects correlate when they think of them. Concurrently, these cognitions have the ability to color the lens through which the athletes envision their self-efficacy in competition. Many of these athletes reported as they approached a competitive event the negative self-statements and recollections from the prior upsetting sport event would creep into their thoughts and result in self-doubt and anxiety. This would even occur as they stood on the blocks at a competition.

The upsetting event was replayed in their mind's eye in a freeze frame image. It is as if an upsetting event is a kin to a log jam, and there is no movement with the same scene and emotions playing over and over. The EMDR is not merely a recounting of the event but more a kin to a re-experiencing of the event. Physical, physiological, and emotional feelings are re-experienced as they relive the event in their mind's eye. This allows the athlete to reprocess the event and resolve some of the conflict in a more adaptive style. EMDR is not for the average athlete, but it is for the one who cannot let the demons of an upsetting sport event lie to rest. Some teams have a sport psychologist to help them. If this person is trained in EMDR, this may be a viable approach to such an athlete. If this is not an option, a serious athlete may pursue EMDR on her/his own to deal with such a limiting event.

References

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Contact: Louise Graham
Bridgewater State College
Kelly 102
Bridgewater, MA 02325
lgraham@bridgew.edu
Fax 5-8-531-4011

Acknowledgements: I wish to thank the coaches for them allowing the disruption to their practices and willingness to participate in the study; Associate Professor Joseph Yeskewicz, Klye Browing, Ann Murray and Chuck Hickey. This work was partially supported by a CART grant.