By Mac E. Lancaster, BS, and Ran D. Anbar, MD
Sports are based on physical competition, but psychological training is a key part of becoming an outstanding athlete. Athletes need to monitor their mental health, not only to remain calm and goal-oriented but also to avoid injury.
For example, athletes experiencing depression, anxiety, and related mental health disorders are more prone to injury, longer healing periods, injury recurrence, and lower sports return rates (Rogers et al., 2023).
Fortunately, athletes can learn to employ hypnosis on their own as a psychological tool that can improve training outcomes and competitive performance (Li & Li, 2022).
Studies have pointed to the potential for hypnosis to help athletes boost their self-confidence, attention, memory, ability to learn and improve athletic technique, recovery rates, and sleep while reducing anxiety and fears (Li & Li, 2022).
Golf performance has proven to be one of the sports most impacted by hypnotic intervention (Milling & Randazzo, 2016). According to a recent case study, hypnosis may assist golfers in managing their emotions and thoughts during a high-pressure situation, resulting in a lower mean stroke average (Pates, 2021).
Hypnosis allows golfers to suppress negative emotions and elevate positive ones while inducing mental relaxation (Pates & Cowen, 2013). As a result, the golfer is more likely to achieve a state of flow, in which they adopt an ideal performance mentality of smooth, accurate execution with complete engagement in the task at hand (Pates & Maynard, 2000).
This blog reports of a firsthand experience from one of our 16-year-old patients, “Jack” (not his real name), who learned to use hypnosis, which subsequently benefited his golf game.
Jack initially learned to use hypnosis to help improve his sleep quality. He used hypnosis for relaxation by envisioning a peaceful........