When you take a sport seriously, you can feel like you’re in a relationship; in fact, you may even see your bike more often than your partner! But like any relationship, your cycling connection it can come with ups and downs. And just like in other relationships, other factors can play a role in those ebbs and flows, including work. stressan illness in the family, parenting, or maybe just a lost love for something you used to admire so deeply.
When you have these kinds of relational problems with another human being—stress, loss of enjoyment or connection, confused or complicated feelings – you would probably consider seeing a mental health therapist to help you figure out what’s going on. Well, as an endurance athlete in a relationship with your sport, you can reap the same benefits from mental health therapy to support and enhance your performance.
Research on how mental therapy helps athletes is surprisingly limited, but some research suggests slight performance benefits to psychological skills training (including things like imagery, self-talk, goal setting, and arousal regulation) and advantages to full attention practice, particularly when interventions last for several weeks and include daily practice. A case study also showed that the use of techniques practiced in cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT (a type of talk therapy) helped an elite skier overcome a debilitating situation. anxiety that prevented him from competing. (A lots of studies support the benefits of CBT for relieving anxiety). Other to study in 62 novice basketball players found that instructional self-talk improved skill performance.
“I work with athletes when they’ve had a better friendship with their sport, and they ‘do business together’ because it felt so good,” he says. emily saul, Boston-based licensed sports psychology coach and mental health counselor. “They really loved it and had fun, and the more they did it, they were like, ‘Oh, I can be good at this,’ and then goals are all that matters. That can complicate a cyclical relationship, as it downplays the process and puts all the focus on the outcome. A therapist can help you see this.
Therapy is a space that you can go to when you feel some kind of disconnection with your life, be it with yourself, with your partner, with your sport or with anything else. And you don’t need to be elite to go to therapy to talk about your sport, nor do you need to feel like you’re broken. Many people go to therapy just looking for a “tune-up.”
In fact, there are countless reasons why someone would consider therapy. Here’s why it might specifically benefit endurance athletes, plus what to do if you want to start mental health sessions.
The benefits of mental health therapy for athletes
Have you ever had a injury that prevented you from riding a bike and you felt like you could fall apart because riding a bike helps you keep your composure? “If you know more about how you are navigating your own [mental health]his sport can be a complement, rather than a primary means of caring for him,” says Saul.
Therapy can also teach us how to apply the strength and guts that carry us through sport to other areas of our lives. “If I understand how calm down on the bike, but I don’t know how to get over this in my life; if i did it on the bike i could access that skill [in life]Saul says. She says this can also work the other way around: the way he tackles big projects at work can help him figure out how to frame himself for longer rides either going faster either tackling hills.
Types of therapy and how to find the right one for you
Finally the most important factor towards “‘success” with a therapist is the strength of your relationship with them. That’s why it’s key to find someone you like and trust.
That said, there are many types of therapy that can help you narrow down what to look for in a therapist. For example, many athletes enjoy and do well with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), because it aligns with the part of them that thrives on training plans.
CBT is a modality that examines someone’s thought patterns to see how they lead to behaviors that might not be serving the individual. For example, a therapist might offer thought-stopping exercises that help people stop ruminating in worst-case scenarios. Some ways to stop thinking include using positive self talk (“I got through that really hard training, I can do this!”), interrupting you out loud by saying “stop it!” or “not now, brain!”, or use a rubber band on the wrist to literally get out of it.
specific things a The CBT therapist might ask an athlete to do are goal setting or going through a mental rehearsal of what you want exercise either the race look alike. A therapist might also focus on arousal control exercises; In sports psychology, this means monitoring your physical and psychological states to optimize your performance through mental and physical exercises. Those exercises may include things like repeating a mantra and taking deep breaths.
Another type of therapy that is helpful for athletes is rational emotive behavioral therapy (RET). This type of therapy challenges one’s rigid and irrational thoughts to find other more helpful ones to meet their needs. goals. For example, a RET-focused therapist might suggest changing the belief “big races make me anxious” to “big races worry me.” The first sentence prepares someone for anxiety; the second helps someone see how they can adapt their behaviors to the concerns.
REBT can also help athletes coming back from injury who are afraid of re-injuring themselves. That’s because REBT can help them identify and challenge irrational thoughts like “I’m going to get injured again and I’ll never be able to compete again and I’ll be miserable!” and change your internal narrative to a more realistic one, such as “I’d be mad if I got hurt again, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world, and I’d be able to deal with it” or “I have rehabilitated my injury the best I can, all I can do now is be smart with my training. I might get hurt again, but I might as well No get injured.”
Motivational Interviewing Therapies: A technique that can be used to help people find their motivation and the ability to make positive behavior change—can be a useful and welcome change from “tough love” (or self-talk) training. This therapy technique helps people find where their ambivalence to change lies and helps them find the answers within themselves to act.
How to find a therapist that suits you
Because a strong relationship with your therapist is paramount to the success you’ll see working with them, it may take some trial and error to find the best person.
The best way to start your search is to ask for personal references, either from a friend or your doctor. If you work for a company that has an employee assistance program (EAP), they can usually get you a few free sessions relatively quickly, and then help you find a therapist to work with long-term.
You can also use directories like psychology today either Soul to help you find a provider in your area that accepts your insurance, if you have it. (You’ll want to check if they’re in-network or out-of-network, and what types of sessions or specific practitioners your plan allows. If you find an out-of-network therapist and have a PPO, you may be able to file a great claim for partial reimbursement.) If you don’t have insurance, Open Road Collective Y Therapy4thePeople work with those who are uninsured and unable to pay a full rate. For those looking for a color supplier, there are directories like therapy for black girls Y LatinX Therapy.
The good news is that telehealth also makes it easy to find a therapist, even if there isn’t one in your immediate geographic area. (Although the therapist must be licensed in the state he lives in in order to work with you.)
What to ask a therapist
Saul says it’s important to tell a potential therapist that you’re a endurance athlete who dedicates many hours to his training, and that is a key part of your life. It’s important to do this because someone who doesn’t understand endurance athletes or cycling might see it as an obsession. She suggests asking: What is your experience working with people who spend a lot of time on something that is outside the norm?
She also recommends giving them a specific setting for their life. For example: “I do a lot cycling training— Could you give me an idea of how I would respond if I came in really struggling with disappointment because of something I trained for months not going well? This approach can give you a good idea of how curious they are. (And you want your therapist to be curious about your life!)
It may also be helpful to ask how you will be handled if you are not satisfied with therapy. A good provider should be comfortable with feedback and work with you to find a better option, if needed.
Just like you could go to prehab physical therapy a prevent injuries, keep your body strong and optimize performance – think of psychotherapy as doing the same for your brain. It can keep you not only strong in cycling, but also finding peace and passion out of the saddle.
The bottom line of mental health therapy for endurance athletes
People often say things like “exercise cures depression” or “cycling is my therapy”. And while exercise has certainly been shown to support and even boost mental healthIt is not the same as seeing a therapist. In fact, others who hear this may internalize that something is wrong with them because their training isn’t “enough” to deal with their mental health. This hurts everyone, but especially those who are struggling with depression.
Studies suggest that the prevalence of depression may actually be higher in endurance athletes, compared to the general population. Saul also says that more people experience trauma than they realize. All of this is to say that you don’t need a diagnosis to seek mental health therapy.
If you feel depressed, anxiouseither stressedyou are looking to return the passion to your sport, or you simply want to overcome a mental obstacle in training, finding a therapist can help you get through the struggle. It’s about finding one that you like to work with, that you trust and that helps you discover things about yourself that keep you pedaling forward.
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