COMPETITIVE ANXIETY IN SPORTS. THE VIEW OF AN ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGIST

Abstract

The success of sports activity in a competitive situation is largely determined by psychological readiness, how the athlete’s mental apparatus is configured, how much the athlete is able to cope with the challenges of a competitive situation, the mental mechanisms that the athlete uses to cope with anxiety. In the article, the situations of competitive difficulties are considered from the point of view of the theory of object relations, microdynamic shifts in the intrapsychic reality of an athlete. In a situation of increased anxiety and the difficulties of its processing, primitive mental defenses can be involved: splitting, idealization, projection, denial of external and internal reality, projective identification. Their most typical consequences are feelings of self-doubt, a decrease in the accuracy of understanding and anticipation of the opponent’s actions, a feeling of muscle stiffness, underestimation/ overestimation of the opponent, a decrease in the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of sports action. The article presents two cases of athletes of different sports qualifications, on the basis of which the manifestations and consequences of these primitive forms of protection are discussed. It also describes the specifics of the position of a psychologist in sports, the importance of understanding the mental reality of an athlete, the needs behind anxiety, as well as the need for help in integrating the “I”, despite the prevailing target orientation for a quick result.