The Athlete and Their Mechanisms of Defense
A Psychoanalytic Approach to Sport Psychology

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.

Introduction

1. Defense Mechanisms Used by Athletes
2. Why Defenses Mechanisms Must be Addressed Prior to Teaching Coping Skills
3. Emotional Breakdowns in Athletes: Why They Happen and What to do About Them

Part 1. The Immature Defenses

4. Denial Mechanisms in an Aging Athlete
5. Acting Out, Impulsivity and Drug Use in Athletes
6. Grandiosity, Self-Idealization and Narcissism in the Athlete
7. Depersonalization in a Golfer
8. Autistic Fantasies in a Long-Distance Swimmer
9. Perfectionism or the Splitting Defense in Athletes
10. Superstitious Behavior Used by the Regressed Athlete
11. Regression in a Professional Soccer Team
12. Somatization in Athletes
13. Scapegoating and Splitting in Professional Teams
14. Identification with the Aggressor as a Tool to Suppress Anxiety

Part 2. The Neurotic Defenses

15. Displacement of Anger into a Spouse
16. Repression and Reaction Formation in Asian Athletes
17. Overcompensation: Turning Inferiority into Superiority in a LPGA Golfer
18. Doubting in Athletes and the Intellectualization Defense
19. The Undoing Defense: Why Athletes Choke
20. Isolation of Affect Defense in Athletes
21. Dissociation in Sports
22. Reaction Formation: The Problem of Being Mr. Nice Guy
23. The Yips in Golf as an Example of Repression

Part 3. The Mature Defenses

24. Counterphobia or Why Athletes Compete
25. The Value of Self-Observation for Athletes
26. Altruistic Surrender in Sports or Why Athletes Give Away Leads
27. The Anticipation Defense as the Definitive Pre-Game Routine
28. Asceticism and the Renunciation of Pleasure in a Long-Distance Cyclist
29. How Athletes Use Humor to Cope with Stress
30. Suppression Used to Manage Competitive Anxiety
31. Sublimation, Aggression and Winning
32. Sublimation of Sexuality in Sports

Part 4. Odds and Ends

33. The Weakening of Defense Mechanisms with Age
34. Meditation and Prayer as a Way to Find the Zone
35. Using a ‘Higher Power’ as a Coping Mechanism in Sports
36. Mental Health Versus Mental Illness in Athletes
37. The Problem of Prescription Drug Use in Athletes
38. Depression Used as a Defense by Athletes Who Fear Failure
39. Cultural Differences in the Use of Defenses
40. Concluding Remarks on Ways To Identify Defenses in Athletes

Dr. Tom Ferraro is a psychoanalyst in private practice who works with both amateur and professional athletes and teams. Working in the New York metropolitan area, he is also an author, award-winning syndicated columnist and has been featured in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the London Times.