Athletes and Irrational Beliefs

Physical activity boosts mental health, yet many athletes suffer from poor mental health. Many competitive athletes hold irrational beliefs like “If I lose, I’m a failure.” These self-judgmental thoughts are related to lower self-confidence that leads to higher competitive anxiety and depressive symptoms, according to a study published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise (2022; doi: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102284).

“We investigated athletes’ beliefs, how they view stress, their levels of self-confidence and put all this data together to work out what might predict psychological well-being,” says lead study author Paul Mansell, PhD, lecturer in the School of Health, Science and Wellbeing at Staffordshire University. “We found irrational beliefs to be a core reason for symptoms of poor mental health manifesting in athletes.”

Irrational beliefs are rigid, extreme and inflexible beliefs that consist of demandingness—like ‘must win’ and ‘have to’ thoughts; self-depreciation—like ‘I’m stupid’; low frustration tolerance, and awfulizing—viewing unpleasant events as the worst that they can be, note study authors. Irrational beliefs are linked with unhealthy negative emotions like depression and unhelpful behaviors like avoidance. In contrast, rational beliefs are more logical, non-extreme and flexible.

“The good news,” says Mansell, “is that irrational beliefs can be challenged and weakened. A coach, teammate or a sports psychologist can listen out for irrational phrases and help athletes to counter them. Promoting helpful ‘self-talk’ or imagery can really help to shift somebody’s mindset from being rigid and illogical to being more rational, flexible and healthy.” In another study among teens, helpful imagery that reduced negative thought patterns included visualizing oneself as successful, as reported in the Journal of Affective Disorders (doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.02.066).

See also: Athletes May Need Strategies Against “Trash Talk”