As therapists, we too often fail to recognize that significant changes in a person’s inner state don’t always lead to desired changes in performance. Early on in my work with performance blocks, I was struck by how often the root of the problem could be traced to traumatic experiences, especially with athletes.
One of the most common athletic performance blocks I treat is something called the yips, the loss by an accomplished athlete of an ability to perform a seemingly simple task that was once almost automatic, like an expert golfer suddenly being unable to drop a three-foot putt. It’s primarily a sports concept, but it can be found in all walks of life, such as a surgeon whose hands inexplicably start to shake in the operating room, or a courtroom attorney who struggles to get words out during a trial. I’ve found that the medical treatment is usually ineffective. Instead, I believe the symptoms found in the yips can more accurately be understood as a form of trauma-based dissociation.
[For more of this story, written by David Grand, go to http://www.psychotherapynetwor...s-and-brainspotting/]
Comments (0)