Intro to Psychological Skills Training and Arousal Regulation

What is psychological skills training (PST)?

systematic and consistent practice of mental or psychological skills for the purpose of enhancing performance, increasing enjoyment or achieving greater self-satisfaction

• managing mental aspects of game

  • can i have a better experience more than can I play better

Why is PST important?

set players apart, if everyone is training the exact same, everyone should have same results but that’s not what happens mental game does affect performance

• psychological factors account primarily for day-to-day fluctuations in performance

• importance of mental toughness

• importance of mental skills

Why do participants neglect PST?

• lack of knowledge

• misunderstanding about psychological skills

• lack of time

What are the phases of PST programs?

phase 1: education

phase 2: acquisition

phase 3: practice

What is the education phase?

why is it helpful and how is it a skill? no looking for immediate response

• phase 1

• help participants recognize the importance of acquiring psychological skills

• help participants understand how these skills affect performance

• explain the importance of developing the psychological skill; this should be specific to skills you are working on developing

What is the acquisition phase?

what skills, when, best time but not implemented into game/practice

• phase 2

• focus on strategies and techniques for learning the various psychological skills

What is the practice phase?

implemented in events and performances

• phase 3

• to automate skills through overlearning

• to teach people to systematically integrate PST into their performance

• to simulate skills people want to apply in actual performance situations

Are the phases of PST programs linear?

no, there can flow between all of them when figuring out what works best

Who should conduct a PST program?

• ideally sports psychology consultant

• realistically SPCs develop programs and train coaches or other individuals to implement

When is it best to implement a PST program?

• off-season

  • practice without pressure of being in-season

• can implement individual skills and elements at any time

What should be considered when developing a PST program?

• consider approach and current skills of participants

• identify which skills to include and create a schedule

• evaluate effectiveness

• think of sport

  • baseball: deep breath before pitch; soccer: not that much time

What is arousal regulation?

controlling arousal levels to reach optimal level of arousal for performance

What is self-awareness of arousal?

• self-monitoring and recognition of how emotional states affect performance

• checklist of performance states - one way to monitor levels

What’s the next step after self-awareness of arousal has been developed?

• identify the challenges the group or performer is having with arousal regulation

  • too high/low arousal?

• determine the type of arousal the group or performer is struggling with

  • cognitive or somatic?

What is the arousal regulation matching hypothesis?

• anxiety management/arousal regulation technique should match anxiety or arousal problem

  • struggle with cognitive anxiety - cognitive technique

  • somatic anxiety - comatic technique

What is the cross over effects of the matching hypothesis?

• improvement in cognitive anxiety can improve somatic and vice versa

• good at using one technique, have them use that even if it doesn’t match the types of anxiety

What is somatic anxiety and what are the reduction techniques?

• the physiological (physical responses to anxiety)

• progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), controlled breathing, biofeedback

What is progressive muscle relaxation (PMR)?

• somatic

• tensing and relaxing specific muscles in systematic manner

• can develop awareness of difference between tension and lack of tension

  • helpful with awareness of arousal and anxiety levels

• can interrupt tensor and resulting in stronger relaxation

How does controlled breathing improve somatic anxeity?

• anxiety = short, shallow and irregular breaths

  • increases muscle tension makes anxiety feel worse

• controlling breathing brings awareness to breath and reduces anxiety affects

What is biofeedback?

• somatic

• control a physiological factor

  • watching heart rate go down on watch

What is cognitive anxiety and the reduction techniques?

• the thoughts being thought

• relaxation response, autogenic training, systematic desensitization

What is the relaxation resposne?

• cognitive

• process with 4 elements: quiet place, comfortable position, mental device (single thought or work), passive attitude (similar to mindfulness, not upset with self for mind wondering)

  • being upset with self can lead to catastrophe mind

What is autogenic training?

• cognitive

• series of exercise that produce comforting sensations

• focusing on sensations you want to produce

  • thinking about warm bath to relax or gently stream to calm down

What is systematic desensitization?

• cognitive

• used when specific situation produces anxiety

• expose individual to increasingly anxious situations and work on controlling anxiety using other techniques (breathing, PMR, autogenic training, etc)

• used a lot for phobias

What are situations when arousal levels need to be increase?

• feeling lethargic and unenergized

• activity requires higher levels of arousal

What are some strategies to increase arousal?

• increase breathing rate

• act energized

• use mood words and positive statements

• yelling and shouting

• listening to music

• using energizing imagery

• completing a precompetitive workout

• pep talks

What is the catch with music when raising arousal levels?

it can over arouse individuals who don’t need the extra energy

What is the catch with using pep talks to raise arousal levels?

if done poorly, they won’t be affective