With the title "Athletes' Mental Health: Approaching a Clinical Sport Psychology" - Prof. Dr. Jürgen Beckmann held a keynote in Venice. At the 22nd Annual convention of the "Associazione Italiana Psicologica dello sport e dell'esercizio" (AIPS), the full professor at the Chair of Sport Psychology campaigned for an expansion in the perspectives of sport psychology.
"Sport psychology frequently dedicates itself to the question of how the performance of athletes can be improved. Psychological problems in competitive sport, on the other hand, are unfortunately not brought up for discussion at all or only rarely," explains Prof. Beckmann. The numbers, however, are alarming. Studies show that almost every second athlete demonstrates symptoms of such mental illness as burn-out, depression or nutritional disturbances. Young athletes have a prevalence for mental illnesses which clearly lies above the mean seen in society. Accordingly, Beckmann demands that "We also need a curative approach and must treat these problems - in the sense of a clinical sport psychology."
Intensification of the prevention
At the same time, the Professor of Sport Psychology recommends intensifying prevention. Already young athletes should be taught, for example, how stress can be processed and can be used positively, or which relaxation methods exist. Additionally, sport psychologists in clubs and federations should serve as firm contact persons and stand in close contact with the young athletes. The Chair of Sport Psychology already fulfills this concept with different partners in competitive sports. In addition, a website has been set up for athletes. Under www.nachwuxathleten.de, athletes can receive help and find information.
With a view of future research activities, Beckmann directed the view of the participants to the field of "personality disorders". "We have a whole set of competitive athletes with very pronounced personality traits. However, there is nearly no research on this." Further knowledge is certainly needed here in order to offer targeted therapies. The annual convention of the AIPS is the most important congress for sport psychology in Italy and takes place every two years. About 300 people attended the 22nd annual convention in Venice.
To the Homepage of the Chair of Sport Psychology
To the Homepage of the Associazione Italiana Psicologica dello sport e dell'esercizio
To the Athletes' information site www.nachwuxathleten.de
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Beckmann
Chair for Sport Psychology
Georg-Brauchle Ring 60/62
80992 Munich
Telephone: 089 289 24541
Email: Juergen.Beckmann(at)tum.de
Text: Fabian Kautz
Photo: Associazione Italiana Psicologica dello sport e dell'esercizio