AU Blogspot

                             Image courtesy of storyspinn. 

Recently I was contacted by an associate producer from the Dr. Phil show. Are they seeing if I’d be a good guest? It certainly appears like that’s a possibility. So, in addition to getting some very desperately needed help from Dr. Phil and his team, I may one day soon be able to give my bastion of loyal readers a quasi-insider’s view of the show and its’ process. All I can say is, pray for me, and, for now, enjoy this correspondence, edited, of course, for privacy reasons: (more…)

               Thanks to Eduardo Vedia for permission to use this Photo.

I once worked with an athlete on the U.S. ski team with Olympic aspirations.  The problem was that he was “burned out” and unable to perform at his customary high performance level.  This athlete had heard about my success as a sports psychologist helping athletes who were going through this difficult stage and contacted me.  After hearing his story, I agreed to work with him.  My first effort was to help him get in touch with what he was experiencing.  He didn’t want to leave the team, but thought he had no other option. 

I began by dealing with the issue of time management to see if he could find the extra time he needed for other desired activities.  I also recommended that he take about three weeks off from his sport simply to rest his mind and body.  Obviously, his coaches did not respond to this strategy with much enthusiasm.  Once they realized that the alternative was to remove him from the team, they consented to giving him some time off.  We used this hiatus to work on relaxation strategies and stress reduction.  I also helped him rediscover why he was skiing in the first place.  By the time he returned to his sport, he felt renewed and invigorated.  He was back to his old self.

Many athletes who yield to the initial impulse to get away from their sport when burnout symptoms set in are left with a lifelong sense of regret and dissatisfaction.  They always wonder what might have been if burnout had not robbed them of the pleasure of competition and the pursuit of victory.  For those willing to seek the intervention of a skilled and understanding sport psychology consultant, the result can be quite positive.  It really is possible to “have it all”—high-level achievement and a life outside one’s sport.

Take a moment to consider your own athletic experiences and the negative feelings you may have had at times about participating in your sport(s).  Ask yourself if the decisions you made at the time were the right ones for you.  Would you have made other choices if you knew then what you know now?  Whatever your response, never forget that life is ahead of you, not behind.  There’s still time to “get it right.”

Nicole Detling Miller, M.S.
Sport Psychology Instructor
Ashworth University

                          Thanks to Karen Geiger for permission to use this Photo.

I really enjoyed Seth Woolf’s response to Deb’s solid commentary on his previous post. Since we don’t yet have our comments section clearly displayed on this blog, I’ve posted this conversation as an original post for everyone to see and engage. What are your thoughts?

From Deb: 

Dear Sir — I believe you have missed the point of what Dr. Phil has been trying to achieve. As young people, typically all of us do not realize the consequences of actions. I can indicate to you that as a owner of a company, these kind of posting would stop me from hiring an individual, no so much as their right to participate in such activity, but in that the judgment of said individual is not who I want representing my company. In short…it is that simple and professionally said individuals are limiting their options later in life, as they age and realize that childhood was not meant for public display. 

From Seth: 

It is perhaps true that I have “missed the point of what Dr. Phil has been trying to achieve” but, if so, it is because I find his aims pointless. I simply feel the cause and effect of this situation has been confused. If employers look down on such technological behavior and confessionalism, I think it says more about their own bourgeoise biases, and less about the quality of the candidates. More importantly, I would also like to counter your claim that “As young people, typically all of us do not realize the consequences of our actions.” This is a sweeping statement about young people, one which I do not follow. For one, I don’t see “young people” as a definable, homogeneous group. I’m 22, am I a young person? What about a twelve year old in Auswitz? What about an eighty year old with the mental capacities of a person one tenth his or her age? Is it for individuals to decide, society, or who? Similarly, I don’t see how a person, regardless of age, could realize all the consequences of his or her actions. Everyone, again regardless of age, must simply act with what information they have at a given moment. (more…)

              Thanks to Todd Ehlers for permission to use this Photo.

It is likely that many diverse factors have contributed to the current obesity epidemic. Fast food, less activity, trans fats, viruses, big portions, and so on have all been blamed for our increasing waistlines. The more we understand the phenomenon, the better equipped we are to deal with it.

Adina Lemeshow and her colleagues have added a new consideration–social status [1]. Teen girls were asked to rate themselves on a ten point social standing scale, with 10 representing people with the most respect and highest standing and a 1 representing people “no one wants to hang around with.” Girls who rated themselves less than 5 were 69 percent more likely to experience a two unit or more increase in BMI over the following two years, even after other factors such as socioeconomic status, TV viewing habits, mother’s BMI, and depression were controlled. (more…)

 
                 Thanks to Erwan for permission to use this Photo.

After William Enman escaped from the New Jersey psychiatric hospital where he had been serving his sentence, he sent a letter to the governor and hospital CEO protesting that he had earned the right to sign himself out. The 64-year old patient has been serving a sentence for a brutal double-murder hat he had committed in 1974. Although diagnosed as schizophrenic, he has consistently denied the diagnosis and refused to comply with psychiatric treatment. Enman’s September 9, 2007 escape from Ancora Psychiatric Hospital sparked a nation-wide manhunt although he was recaptured without incident 48 hours later. After his rearrest, he stated that he had escaped the hospital to “clear my mind” and that he needed to “get away” from his drug problem. In his letter, he stated that he had “maxed out” the time that he had spent in hospital and was entitled to leave.

In the decades since he was first imprisoned for the brutal bludgeoning deaths of a man and his young son, Enman has committed numerous infractions including having contraband weapons being found in his cell and placing his hands around the throat of his then-wife in 2003. (more…)

 
            Thanks to Kena Takahashi for permission to use this Photo.

Most of us are a bit uneasy about the idea that somebody can influence our thinking without our awareness. We are bombarded by enough obvious persuasive messages as it is, without having to worry about messages we don’t even notice.

Although this example is not exactly subtle, and one wonders if it in fact has any effect on behavior, the PETA brick, purchased at the San Diego Padres’ PETCO stadium, spells out “Boycott Petco” if you just look at the first letter of each word.  

The study of subliminal messages (messages that are “sub” or below our “limin” or threshold of awareness) has a long history. Back in 1956, social psychologist James Vicary claimed that he could boost sales of movie popcorn and Coca Cola by flashing the messages “eat popcorn” or “drink Coca Cola” during a movie. In spite of Vicary’s later confession that he made up his data, not to mention the failure of scientists to replicate his results, many people still believe that subliminal messages work. Americans spend more than 50 million dollars a year on subliminal tapes for self-improvement, and much controversy has surrounded subliminal or back-masked messages in music.

More recently, Vokey has distinguished between a person’s objective and subjective thresholds for awareness [1]. A person responding to a stimulus at the objective threshold will do no better than chance in identifying its presence, and these stimuli appear to have no impact on behavior. However, a stimulus falling between a person’s objective and subjective thresholds will be detected at better than chance levels, and does appear to have the ability to influence behavior. (more…)