stress and anxiety 2014
TRANSCRIPT
Stress and Anxiety
Learning Outcomes• State the different types of anxiety (at least 4
types)
• Define types of stress and anxiety
• State ways in which anxiety is measured and analyse the pros and cons of different measures
• Explain the relationship between eustress, distress, hypo and hyper stress
• Explain the relationship between anxiety and stress
Effects of arousal and anxiety
• Arousal is measured in the Reticular activating system in the brain stem
• Responsible for Organising behaviour
• Arousal effects behaviour
• Effects of arousal not always negative
Negative v positive
Negative effects Distress (or commonly stress)
Cognitive effects
Somatic effectsConfusion
Lack of concentration Irrational
thought Increased heart rate
Increased blood pressure
sweating
Hypostress
Hyperstress
Stress or feelings experienced when one has exceeded the limit
of one’s adaptability
Or when a person has taken on more than they can handle
When someone has not enough stress in their life. They are bored, physically immobile or unchallenged.
May have feelings of restlessness or lack of
inspiration
Definitions of Stress
• Used to describe negative feelings a person experiences in a potentially threatening situation.
Seyle (1956)
“ The non-specific response of the body to any demand made on it.”
If we are placed in a situation in which we feel pressurised, unable to meet the task or worried about the consequences, we may experience stress.
Examples of
stressors
• Stress can be initiated by stressors (perceived demands), a stressor could be any demands placed on the performer that initiate stress:
Threatens our self-esteem e.g. audience
Causes us personal harm e.g. fear of injury
Develops fear of the unknown e.g. performance of the opposition
Causes frustration e.g. mistakes being made
Increases pressure e.g. pressure from parents,crowd and/or coach
Stressor
Stress experience
Frustration, Foul, conflictCompetition Demands
Climate, Fatigue, Playing badly, Injury worry
Alarm, Resist, exhaust. Cognitive or
somatic
Eustress or distress!
McGrath (1970) suggest that when placed in a stressful situation, a performer would respond by progressing through four stages:
Environment Demands
Perception of the environmental demands
Stress response (physical & psychological)
Actual behaviour
Athlete perception
is so important!
Eustress or DistressEnhanced or
impaired performance
Situation
Threat or challenge
The Effects of Stress on Performance
Stage 4: Outcome
Increased performance Reduced performance
Stage 3: Increased arousal levels
Eustress (increased energy and motivation)
Distress (increased worry)
Stage 2: Perception of demand by athlete
Positive perception (challenge) Negative Perception (threat)
Stage 1: Demand
E.g. Last penalty in a shoot-out
Anxiety
• Anxiety is a negative aspect of stress and includes irrational thoughts and fear of failure
Anxiety
“ When an athlete’s performance suffers in an important event, it is often because of too much worry about the outcome……being solely concerned with winning causes an increase in anxiety.”
T. Orlick, Psyching for Sport
Mental training for athletes, 1986
Causes = expectations, audience teammates
evaluation (evaluation apprehension)
Two components of Anxiety
Cognitive anxiety = “Thoughts” “Psychological”
Thoughts, nervousness, apprehension or worry that a performer has about their lack of ability to complete a task.
Somatic Anxiety = “physiological”
Physiological responses to a situation where the performer feels they may not cope – increased hr, sweaty palms, muscle tension.
Cognitive responses to anxiety Somatic responses to anxiety
• Loss of concentration• Feelings on apprehension• inability to cope• Attentional narrowing• Fear of failure
These are PYSCHOLOGICAL responses
• Sweating• Increased muscle tension•Feelings of nausea• Increased heart rate• Increased breathing rate
These are PHYSIOLOGICAL responses
Symptoms of Anxiety
Cognitive State Anxiety = worry, negativity, nervousness
Somatic State Anxiety = perception of physiological changes
Increased heart rate, palms sweating
Athlete perceives this as negative
Associates this with not preparing well
Poor concentration’
fear, bad decisions
Reduced performance
Anxiety and arousal
increases
Increased cognitive
state anxiety
Further increase in mistakes
THREE FURTHER TYPES
Researchers have distinguished
State Anxiety (A-state) = anxiety felt in a particular situation.
• A temporary emotional reaction of someone in a situation that they experience as threatening.
E.G.
A basketball player’s level of state anxiety would change during the match.
Prior to tip off – elevated level (nerves)
During match – lower level
Final seconds faced with 3 free throws –
extremely high level.
Trait anxiety (A-trait) = an enduring personality trait, giving a tendency to view all situations as threatening.
Anxiety as a personality trait is a tendency to react to situations in an anxious way.
E.G.Two rugby players with equal skill are put under pressure to kick a last minute goal.
They have different state anxiety reactions to the situation because of their personalities – their level of trait anxiety.
1) Laid back (low trait anxiety), doesn’t perceive kick as overally threatening, doesn’t experience any more state anxiety than expected.
2) High trait anxiety, finds all situations threatening.
Competitive Anxiety
• Form of anxiety is specific to sport
• Threats include:
– Not playing well
– Letting team down
– Meeting training demands before the event
– Personal relationships
– Injury
• Marten’s – the tendency to see competitive situations as threatening
• There is a direct relationship between a person’s level of trait and state anxiety.
• Those who score high on measures of trait anxiety experience more state anxiety in highly competitive and evaluative situations.
• Through experience, an athlete with high trait anxiety can learn to cope with a particular situation and lower their state anxiety.
• Knowledge of a person’s level of trait anxiety will enable a prediction to be made about how they will react to competitions, being assessed and in threatening conditions.
Measuring Anxiety
MEASUREMENT OF STRESS & AnxietyQUESTIONNAIRES
• Marten’s Sport Competitive Anxiety Test (SCAT - 1977)
• measures emotional and physiological responses to stress in the competitive situation
• Speilberger’s State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI - 1970)
• measures emotional and physiological responses to stress in general and specific situations
• Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI – 1990)
Pro’s and Con’s
• Quick
• Easy
• Cheap
• Lots of info
• Socially acceptable answers
• Misunderstanding question
More measures
BEHAVIOURAL MEASURES
• the performance of sports players is observed
• a subjective method
PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES
• require laboratory testing equipment, objective methods
• examples :
– galvanic skin response
– Electrocardiogram (ECG)
– Electroencephalogram (EEG)
Problems
• Observations involves looking for symptoms of anxiety
• Can take place in artificial environments which lead to extra anxiety
• Physiological methods put performers in artificial circumstances
• Wired up
• Can increase anxiety
WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY?
So……….
Learning Outcomes• State the different types of anxiety (at least 4
types)
• Define types of stress and anxiety
• State ways in which anxiety is measured and analyse the pros and cons of different measures
• Explain the relationship between eustress, distress, hypo and hyper stress
• Explain the relationship between anxiety and stress
Learning Outcomes
• Describe and demonstrate Anxiety control techniques
• Explain how different techniques are used to control anxiety
• Apply knowledge to exam questions
Controlling StressThe coach and performer can control stress through
approaching the problem in two ways:
1) Controlling & redirecting the
performer’s thoughts & attention -reducing cognitive anxiety.
2) Reducing & controlling the
physiological components of
anxiety – reducing somatic
anxiety.
Cognitive techniques for controlling anxiety and stress
• Imagery – by method of relaxing by creating mental images to escape the immediate effects of stress. The principle is to recreate an environment that is very relaxing.
• Visualisation/Mental Practice or rehearsal – the process of creating a mental image of what you want to happen or feel, locking into the ‘perfect performance’. This diverts attention away from the cause of anxiety.
Internal/external
• Attention control – maintaining concentration on appropriate cues. This aims to improve the performer’s ability to focus on appropriate cues then the number of errors caused by other distractions is reduced. “Being in the zone!”
• Self-talk – developing positive thoughts about one’s actions. Is vital that self talk remains positive and focus on self-instructing motivational content. Can be planned.
Thought Stopping – stopping a negative thought and replacing it with a positive one!
Cognitive relabeling –
• Athletes can 'label' their arousal/stress in different ways.
• An athlete who labels arousal before a game as apprehension (negative – anxiety) can 're-label' it as excitement, which may cause a change in emotion and have a positive effect on performance.
Goal Setting
A technique used to control anxiety by directing attention away from stress and towards an achievable target.
• Outcome goals – achievement of a particular result e.g. qualifying for the next round. Achievement will increase motivation but the performer cannot control the factors influencing the outcome e.g. officials, opposition and weather. Can lead to increase in anxiety if result is not achieved.
• Performance goals – the performer’s attempts are judged against others or even with themselves. E.G. achieving a certain time in a competition. Motivation will be maintained if not increased.
• Process goal – concentrate on the performer’s techniques and tactics, process goals often influence performance goals. E.g. to perform a slower backswing during a bunker shot may well improve efficiency of the stroke.
Somatic techniques for controlling anxiety and stress
• Biofeedback – information about the changes in physiological variables; the performer watches a monitor displaying changes in readings. The use of physiological measuring equipment to help teach an athlete how to control physiological responses E.G.
– heart rate, using a pulsometer or heart rate monitor -slowing down heartbeat.
– Finger thermometers (as high arousal/stress leads to less blood being pumped to extremities)
– Electromyograms (to give athlete information about levels of muscle tension).
• Breathing control – using diaphragmatic breathing (breathing deeply) as a means of focusing on relaxation. Encourages full oxygen exchange, reduces the heart rate and lowers/stabilises blood pressure.
• Centering – using deep breathing as a way of refocusing your concentration. Requires the performer to focus particularly on the rate of breathing and maintaining a slow, steady pace.
Progressive muscular relaxation (PMR) –learning to be aware of the tension present in
muscles and removing it by relaxing. This is done
by alternating extreme tension that is held for a
few seconds the releasing the tension to relax.
Exam question
The mark scheme……..
Learning Outcomes
• Describe and demonstrate Anxiety control techniques
• Explain how different techniques are used to control anxiety
• Apply knowledge to exam questions