User:Picklequeen1!/Sport psychology

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Mental Health in Sports Psychology

'''When people watch sports, they tend to only think about the skill of athletes. They don't realize the mental health aspect of sports plays a big role in an athlete's performance as well. As of 2016, the research done on the mental health of athletes was underdeveloped and unreliable. Some common stressors that affect an athlete's mental health are injuries, underperforming, and environmental factors. With these stressors plus others, the athletes are now prone to deeper mental health issues including anxiety and depression. However, some athletes use the sport as a way of escape, somewhere to hide from the mental issues they are currently facing, whether that be depression and anxiety, or a more complex diagnosis. It is difficult to find evidence pertaining to mental health in athletes because many studies on mental health don't generally focus on mental health in athletes specifically. '''

Common Areas of Study (bolded is what we added)

Athletic Performance

Sport psychology remains influential to athletic performance at all levels. The goal of this area of study is to explore what makes athletes perform the way the way they do. Athletic performance can be measured by self-report or objective data (e.g. player/team statistics). Scholars currently prefer the use of self-reports or a combination of subjective and objective measurements, due to the many factors which go into athletic performance. For example, Athlete's Subjective Performance Scale (ASPS) has been developed and validated with objective data (player's statistics), and found to be a reliable tool for assessing athletic performance in team sports. '''Much of the research done on athletic performance has been through meta-analysis reviews. These meta-analysis reviews have shown that there is a benefit to using sports psychology techniques to improve an athletes performance. Some influences that have been found to be largely beneficial include task-cohesion and self-efficacy.''' Being mentally prepared has also proven to help athlete's performance, however research has shown that elite athletes and coaches will be hesitant to seek out help from a sport psychologist even if they believed it could help. There are multiple key recommendations for mental practice which improve sport performance, such as practicing imagery and increasing mental and physical repetitions.