Applying Psychodynamic Concepts to Sport Psychology …€¦ · Psychodynamic Concepts in Sport Psychology 209 What Is Psychodynamic Theory? Many sport psychology professionals have

The Sport Psychologist, 1998,12,208-222 O 1998 Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc.

Applying Psychodynamic Concepts to Sport Psychology Practice

William B. Strean Herbert S. Strean Ur3versity of Alberta Rutgers University

Sport psychology practitioners use various theoretical perspectives to inform their work. The potential contribution of psychodynamic concepts to professional sport psychology practice is explored. The basics of psychodynamic theory as it relates to normal personality, maladaptive functioning, and therapeutic intervention are reviewed. Specific attention is addressed to free association, resistance, transference, and countertransference. Treatment procedures, such as confrontation, clarification, and interpretation, are presented. Suggestions for including psychodynamic principles within other frameworks are offered.

Most sport psychology professionals agree that practitioners should be fa- miliar with many theoretical models when assessing athletes' needs and intenen- ing in these individuals' lives. Although a wide range of concepts may be helpful in guiding our consultations, a select number of approaches generally dominate at various times. When some orientations become less popular, useful ideas are often neglected or forgotten. Psychodynamic theory, which has received progressively limited attention, can be very helpful.

In this paper, we define and explain psychodynamic theory and demonstrate how certain concepts can help sport psychology consultants enhance their ser- vices. Although these concepts do have interconnections, which are linked to shared fundamental assumptions about people, consultants need not wholeheartedly em- brace a psychodynamic orientation to benefit from some of the ideas. Many consultants are somewhat eclectic and may benefit from select portions of our presen- tation. Although few practitioners may use psychodynamics as a prevailing paradigm, there may be "something for everyone" that can be taken from psychodynamic theory and techniques and put into practice. The consultant-athlete relationship is crucial to the success of sport psychology intervention. The psychodynamic perspective can help provide insight about the nature and components of the professional helping relationship.

William B. Strean is with the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alber@ E-401 Van Vliet, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2H9, Canada. Herbert S. Strean is with the Graduate School of Social Work, Rutgers University, 7 West 96 Street, #5E, New York, NY 10025.

Psychodynamic Concepts in Sport Psychology 209

What Is Psychodynamic Theory? Many sport psychology professionals have had a cursory introduction to psychodynamic theory.'§ome sport psychology textbooks treat psychodynamic theory almost exclusively from a historical perspective (e.g., Gill, 1986; Henschen & Straub, 1995; Horn, 1992) or exclude it (e.g., Anshel, 1994; Cox, 1994; Murphy, 1995). Some authors have discounted using psychodynamic theory in sport psychology, suggesting, for example, that "psychoanalytic approaches have had little impact on sport psychology" (Gill, 1986, p. 26) and that psychodynamic approaches focus on psychopathology and do not contribute to our work with athletes (Gill, 1986; Vealey, 1992). Few professionals who completed their graduate education during the past 2 decades have read extensive primary sources on psychodynamic theory. In fact, many individuals have quickly dismissed or repudiated Freud without gaining more than a superficial grasp of a limited number of his ideas. As Apitzsch (1995) stated, rather strongly:

In my opinion sport psychology researchers from North America are, by and large, ignorant of the existence of scientific studies on psychodynamic theory reported in languages other than English and, therefore, too hastily jump to conclusions concerning the usefulness of this theory. (p. 113)

Perhaps some of the negative views on psychodynamic theory relate to aggression and early, personality research. Yet, for reasons given, reviewing some central tenets of psychodynamic theory may be useful before proceeding.

Psychodynamic theory is a philosophy about normal personality, a perspective on maladaptive functioning, and a form of therapeutic intervention. Each com- ponent can inform sport psychology practice. Let us first examine how it relates to normal personality.

The Normal Personality Psychic determinism is basic to understanding the human personality (Freud, 19391 1961). This principle holds that in mental functioning, nothing happens by chance. Everything a person feels, thinks, fantasizes, dreams, and does has psychological motive. How individuals earn a living, whom they choose to love, whom they hate, the sports they select, and how they interact with teammates are all partially motivated by inner unconscious forces (Freud, 190511961).

Several foundations of a psychodynamic perspective are congruent with popular contemporary theories, such as triadic reciprocal determinism (Bandura, 1986). Although theories about psychic determinism and the unconscious support that external factors are always impinging on human beings, these ideas can help sport psychology consultants appreciate that individual, group, and institutional behaviors, while reactions to situational (and social-cognitive) variables, are also influenced and shaped by instinctual wishes, ego functions, such as defenses and

'We use psychodynamic and psychoanalytic interchangeably. All writers have slightly different notions about what these terms imply. Historically, psychoanalysis was considered a subset of the broader orientation of psychodynamics. By using these terms, we de- note an orientation where the unconscious is acknowledged, history determines the present, and all behaviors are considered meaningful.

210 Strean and Strean

superego mandates (i.e., the conscience and ideals), and other idiosyncratic internal forces. For example, a coach praises two team members. One of them experiences increased self-esteem and capacity to compete, whereas the other becomes suspicious and depressed, questioning the coach's intentions. The reasons behind these different responses are complex and partially influenced by the individual's life history, fantasy and dream life, self-image, superego mandates, transferences (selective perceptions, which will be further described) toward the coach and peers, and several other internal variables.

A psychodynamic perspective, which emphasizes determinism and the unconscious, can help sport psychology consultants better understand athletes' presenting problems. For example, when a coach complains that athletes are constantly in defiance, a psychodynamic analysis suggests that the coach may derive unconscious protection and gratification from teammates' collective defiance. ~ s ~ c h o d ~ n a & c theorists contend that a chronic complaint usually reflects an unconscious wish (e.g., Strean, 1994).

According to psychodynamic theory, the human mind is composed of the id, ego, and superego. The most primitive part of the brain, the id, is entirely unconscious. The id constrains instincts and drives (sexual and aggressive) and moti- vates gratifying these urges. The ego, although active at birth, generally develops through experience and executes the personality, mediating between internal id drives and superego commands and external demands (Freud, 192311961), The ego controls judgment, reality testing, frustration tolerance, impulse control, and interpersonal relationships. The ego also defends against anxiety through repression, denial, projection, and reaction. Anxiety is the human reaction to danger from the environment (e.g., news of an impending tornado) or from within (e.g., signals that a forbidden sexual or aggressive impulse might emerge). By assessing athletes' ego strengths, sport psychology consultants can determine how well clients are adapting and how much assistance is needed.

The superego is a judge or censor for the mind and is essentially the product of interpersonal experiences. The superego is divided into two parts: the conscience and the ego ideal (Freud, 1938). The conscience forbids (i.e., "Thou shalt not"), whereas the ego ideal stores values, ethical imperatives, and morals.

The human personality, with the id, ego, and superego, can be compared to a car. The id is the engine, the ego the driver, and the superego the backseat driver. Just as various parts of a car do not function separately, the id, ego, and superego work interdependently. For example, some athletes-in-training experience difficulty upon waking up in the early morning. When the alarm sounds, an athlete would like to continue sleeping (i.e., the id at work). However, the superego ad- monishes, "You must get up and run those miles. You are committing a reprehen- sible act when you do not train!" The mediating ego then reconciles the id demands and superego commands. The ego can renounce the wish to sleep (i.e., repression) and yield to the superego, using ego functions (e.g., frustration tolerance or impulse control). The athlete consequently gets up and runs. On the other hand, the ego may gratify the id wish and fight the superego commands; hence, the athlete decides to sleep. However, if this is the case, the superego is still at work. To appease it, the athlete may dream about running or have a nightmare that a coach forcefully comes in the room and says, "You are off the team, you sleepyhead."

All sport psychology consultants can be aided in their assessments and interventions when they understand how the athlete's id, ego, and superego are


interdependently working. For example, some athletes who fail to perform tasks well are actively, albeit unnecessarily, punishing themselves for id wishes, such as intense aggression. These id wishes must be discussed with a nonpunitive helper (benign superego), so that athletes can understand how and why they are arranging (unconsciously) to fail.

Each individual's past shapes present functioning. Psychodynamic theory postulates that all individuals experience the present based on the subjective past. Particularly in interpersonal relationships, people often ascribe to other people's qualities, which really belong to past individuals, such as parents and siblings (Fenichel, 1945; Fine, 1982; Freud, 190511961 ; Strean, 1994). Frequently, athletes who face difficulties with teammates unconsciously view them as siblings. Simi- larly, problems with coaches may emanate from unconscious wishes to see them as parental figures. In addition, coaches and other authority figures can view play- ers as sons and daughters and relive old struggles with them.

Sport psychology consultants should understand that the child remains present at all times in adults until death. For example, many male athletes cannot handle competition well, because they feel like little boys waging a battle with father-like giants. These athletes become intimidated by adversaries or feel guilty when sur- passing them. For example, one might wonder why the New York Knickerbockers, during the 1996-1997 season, after defeating outstanding teams, consistently seemed to arrange to be defeated by inferior teams. Similarly, why would Michael Jordan step down when he dominated his sport? Clearly, the reasons are complex. Without Jordan's deeper thoughts on the matter, we would be speculating from any perspective. Yet, from a psychodynamic view, we might suppose that what motivated Michael Jordan to become a "minor league" player in baseball was partially a reaction to his father's death. The child within Jordan may have been uncomfortable on top of the world and may have wanted to feel like a struggling boy after his father died.

Ideas gleaned from psychodynamic theory can facilitate understanding normal functioning. However, sport psychologists more commonly agree that a psy- chodynarnic approach can be useful when assessing pathology or dysfunctional behavior.

Maladaptive Functioning Psychodynamic theory alleges that the difference between adaptive and maladaptive behavior is always one of degree. Psychological conflicts are part of the human condition (Hartmann, 1958) and are inevitable and universal. They are also one of the most important dynamic factors underlying human behavior. Returning to the example of athletes struggling between running or sleeping, this is a typical, everyday conflict that most people experience in one form or another. If the deci- sion to run or sleep does not involve too much anxiety, the conflict is resolved fairly easily and quickly. However, if strong id wishes conflict sharply with pro- hibitive superego demands, intense anxiety is experienced. Then, a neurotic symptom, such as an obsession, compulsion, phobia, or even psychotic reaction, can emerge.

The main difference between a neurotic reaction (or something more severe) and an adaptive response is that anxiety aroused by id wishes cannot be controlled by defenses, such as projection or denial. Instead, a symptom develops.

Whereas some concern or worry may be adaptive, true anxiety is always a warning that some unacceptable wish, thought, fantasy, or memory will reach

212 * Stuean and Strean

consciousness (Freud, 192311961). If the unacceptable element is very strong or the defense weak (or both), much anxiety erupts, and the individual forms a neurotic symptom. Neurotic conflict formation works in a predictable sequence: the id wishes conflict with internal (superego) or external prohibitions, and the ego is threatened and produces anxiety to signal imminent danger. If defenses do not resolve the conflict, neurotic or psychotic symptoms emerge.

Consider the sequence of events in one college athlete's neurotic conflict. Adam, a 19-year-old tennis player, reported to his sport psychologist that he could neither sleep at night nor concentrate on schoolwork, because he had constant thoughts (i.e., obsessions) that his mother was dying. He was then too tired to train or compete effectively.

As Adam became involved in counseling, he was eventually able to share his anger about being away from home. He missed his parents' constant admiration and affection (particularly from his mother), which was always part of his daily life. However, what also emerged was that Adam was busy fighting strong dependency wishes, anger, and punctured narcissism. Adam's repression and denial (i.e., defenses) were not strong enough to handle the anxiety emanating from his intense dependency yearnings and strong anger. Thus, he developed a "compromise formationw-an obsessive thought that expressed his deep dependency wishes for his mother and his simultaneous wish to kill her, both forbidden id wishes that conflicted with Adam's strong superego prohibitions.

Individuals who suffer from maladaptive functioning confuse wishes with acts. Incidentally, this is something that all children do. Sexual or aggressive thoughts become equated with acticns, and then people must punish themselves for "behaving" improperly. Joe Pepitone, an outstanding first baseman for the New York Yankees during the 1960s, experienced this. As a child and teenager, Pepitone had a very tempestuous relationship with his father. Father and son hurled insults at each other almost daily. One day, in extreme anger, Joe yelled at his father, "Drop dead!" Just 2 days later, Joe's father died from natural causes. However, Joe equated his death wishes toward his father with a deed- "Wishing makes it so'- and felt very guilty after his father's death, so much so that he arranged for his own constant punishment. Whenever Joe succeeded in baseball, he felt anxious and marked his success as "making too much of a killing." Then, he unconsciously arranged to be thrown out of ball games by umpires, constantly fought with coaches, and was eventually evicted from baseball altogether (Strean & Freeman, 1992).

James Patrick Brosnan, a major league pitcher, also showed signs of maladaptive functioning. Brosnan sought professional assistance, because he was always suffering from a shortness of temper; a general, unwarranted dislike of people; and a loss of human understanding. "The Reluctant Hero," a chapter in Lucy Freeman's (1970) edited book, Celebrities on the Couch, Brosnan described how much he loved to shout "Kill the umpire" in and out of baseball games. Whenever he wanted to kill the umpire, he thought about his father and then experienced enormous guilt and anxiety. Brosnan stated:

My father and I always had a strained relationship. I started to understand that this was the basis for my rebellion against managers, umpires, or any sort of authority. I always had trouble with umpires (I see how clearly this was related to my father, who was an umpire for awhile). Once Jocko Conlan, a National league umpire said to me, "I want to talk to you. Your reputation


is bad among umpires." "Why?" I asked. "Your attitude is bad. Why don't you change?' (p. 50)

Brosnan discussed in detail how as he faced his hatred toward his father and understood its roots, his arguments with coaches and umpires lessened and his pitch- ing vastly improved.

A rather common maladaptive problem that affects some professional athletes is the inability to travel on airplanes, often called "an airplane phobia." Since most professional teams travel by air, an airplane phobia can doom a career.

Sally, an outstanding basketball player on a women's professional team, sought counseling because every time she traveled by airplane to participate in a game, she was convinced she was going to die. Always terrified that the plane was going to crash, Sally had many reactions. Her heart would pound quickly, and she became frightened that she was about to have a heart attack. Immobilized by this fear, she became nauseous and frequently vomited. By the time she arrived at the city where she was scheduled to play basketball, she was an emotional and physical wreck. Obviously, her weakened condition interfered with her ability on the basketball court. Thus, she sought a sport psychologist's help.

Interestingly, Sally's airplane phobia did not exist prior to her professional career. Clearly, Sally's traveling difficulties were related to becoming a professional athlete. Examining Sally's experiences as a professional basketball player, the sport psychologist was able to determine that Sally had many conflicts. On one hand, she was elated to be "a star" and relished "towering over" her siblings, friends, colleagues, and adversaries. In one dream, she was floating in the sky, far above everybody else. Although this grandiose position was gratifying, Sally feared fall- ing from the sky and crashing. Sally's airplane phobia, therefore, was an expression of her powerful ambition and competition, her desire to look down on others, and her sense that this position was "too arrogant" and she should be pushed "down to earth."

In Hanna's (1993) "The Psychodynamically Oriented Clinical Social Worker as Sports Consultant," which described his work with elite wrestlers, he suggested that a psychodynamic orientation helps sports consultants relate to maladaptive functioning with considerable finesse. Hanna pointed out that a psychodynamic orientation is often more helpful when internal vulnerability leads to fluctuating self-esteem and thus to performance-inhibiting anxiety and depression. Hanna implied that psychodynamic theory helps practitioners understand the workings of internal reality as it interacts with an external stimulus, such as stressful competition.

Therapeutic Intervention Although psychoanalysis as therapy is a complex procedure, the sport psychology consultant can modify and utilize several concepts. In this section, we demonstrate how free association, resistance, transference, countertransference, and treatment procedures, such as confrontation, clarification, and interpretation, can be adapted to sport psychology consulting. We do not suggest a complete shift to a psychodynamic orientation; rather, we would hope that practitioners can incorporate some of these ideas into their own repertoires.

Free Association. To help athletes become more sensitized to how they write problematic or maladaptive scripts, athletes are encouraged to try free association, or saying whatever comes to mind. As athletes permit themselves to talk


openly about their problems, they learn new things about themselves by listening to associations that were previously defended. For example, as Sandy, a college volleyball player, associated to her anger and fear of her coach, she eventually heard and understood how she was making the coach a punitive mother. As Roger, a men's lacrosse coach, associated to his team members, he understood how he was projecting part of his own past onto his athletes and perceived them as though they were part of his own debased self-image.

If the practitioner neither praises nor condemns while the athlete freely asso- ciates, and communicates that thoughts and feelings have been understood, the client may slowly begin to feel like a prisoner set free. Like the well-understood child who is not berated for what has been confessed, most individuals start to like themselves more as they freely associate with a nonjudgmental therapist. When athletes free associate, they usually begin to recall memories that influence current functioning. They begin to see how a fight with a teammate may be part of an unresolved sibling conflict, or fear of a coach might be a continuation of an old ambivalent relationship with a parent.

Through free association, athletes soon realize factors that account for their behaviors, and appreciate that to continue condemning themselves for wishes and fears is counterproductive. Very often this nonjudgmental attitude is translated to family, friends, and teammates. As athletes appreciate themselves more, they start to appreciate others more. In turn, family, friends, and teammates increase their appreciation of the athlete.

For athletes to develop more confidence, they must first learn to enjoy their mental contents (i.e., free associations). This can take place only if the practitioner firmly supports the value and utility of "the fundamental rule" (Freud, 1904) of free association: saying what comes to mind. It usually takes many years of experience for a practitioner to believe that empathic listening without too much advice largely contributes to an athlete's improved functioning. Practitioners often forget that when people discuss personal problems, listeners are quick to give reassur- ance and advice to avoid discharging tensions and making the person under stress feel devalued. Athletes start valuing themselves more when the counselor values what they say. This is more likely if an athlete's counselor is a nonintrusive, empathic listener. This is a valuable lesson, irrespective of whether one follows it for psychodynamic reasons.

Resistance. Initially, most individuals welcome the idea of saying everything that comes to mind and usually feel better as a result (e.g., Bellak, 1993). However, the counseling or therapy may eventually arouse anxiety. As athletes discover personal, "hidden" elements, as they confront aggressive or sexual fantasies and recover embarrassing memories, they begin to feel guilt and shame. To ward off anxiety, athletes will stop presenting material in a spontaneous manner and cease examining themselves. Therapists refer to this as resistance. Resistance is any action or attitude on the client's behalf that impedes the course of therapeutic work. To some extent, every client unconsciously wants to preserve the status quo, yet all intervention must continue despite resistance (Strean, 1990). The client's daily-life defenses (e.g., projection, denial, and repression) emerge as resistances in counseling.

Jim, a college track athlete, sought professional counseling, because he was constantly irritated by his coach and teammates as well as teachers and colleagues. He spent most of his sessions talking about how his roommate was "full of hostility."


Later in counseling, he talked at length about his coach and teammates' "sadism." Still later, he complained that the team members were "always showing contempt." In his daily life, ~ i m projected his anger onto everyone else and denied his own feelings. He filled many counseling sessions by avoiding an examination of his anger and projecting it onto everyone else, including his counselor.

Psychodynamic clinicians point out that resistance is not created by therapy. The therapeutic situation activates anxiety, and the client then uses habitual defenses to oppose the therapist and therapy (Fine, 1982; Strean, 1990). Resistances, to some degree, are present from the first session to the last, because for the client, some internal or external danger is always lurking. Resolving resistances is one of the psychodynamic therapist's important functions. This matter will be elaborated later in this paper when psychodyarnic practitioners' activities are discussed.

Transference. A significant, if not the best, contribution that psychodynamic theory can make is facilitating our understanding of how we are viewed as helpers. According to psychodynamic theory, professional assistants help clients see how and why they experience the helping person in a certain way (Fine, 1982). Why does one athlete argue almost every time the practitioner speaks? Why does another act like a compliant child and accept almost everything thepractitioner says?

Although transference reactions can be traced to childhood, a simple one-to- one correspondence between the past and present does not always exist. Frequently, a "compensatory fantasy7' (Fine, 1982) compensates for what was lacking in childhood. In effect, the athlete fantasizes that the practitioner is someone who a parent should have been.

Freud (190511961, 191211961, 192611961) and other psychodynamic theorists have discovered that transference reactions can take manv forms. The client can proclaim loving feelings toward the helper, but dreams, fantasies, and resistances (for example, forgetting an appointment or bouncing a check) may reveal the opposite. Similarly, statements of hatred can defend against warm feelings.

Clients commonly display transference by ascribing to the practitioner their own psychic structures: id wishes, ego defenses, or superego mandates. Many clinicians are perceived as dirty old men or women because clients ascribe their own id wishes to clinicians. More frequently, clients transfer their own superego mandates to practitioners. This is why clients are frequently anticipating criticism or other punishment from the helping person.

As sport psychology practitioners and athletes accept transference as a fact of therapeutic life and consistently examine athletes' transference responses, they begin to appreciate athletes' conflicts and how historical aspects are contributing to problematic behaviors. As already suggested, transference has many forms: loving, hateful, and ambivalent. Idealizing transference often places the practitioner in trouble. Because most individuals yearn for a perfect parent, when they are in a helping situation and find, often for the first time, an empathic listener who asks for little but gives a great deal, clients may easily think, "At last, I have found the ideal parent."

When this happens, clients soak in the therapist's every word and truly believe that Paradise has been rediscovered. If practitioners do not recognize that they are being severely distorted, clients are hurt. When the client's childish admiration of the professional is not viewed as a resistance, the client cannot achieve autonomy, self-confidence, or self-esteem and remains a psychological child tied to a parent.

216 - Strean and Strean

Dave, a soccer player, sought professional help, because he was feeling depressed, particularly when he was engaged in sports. Almost as soon as he began seeing a sport psychologist, his condition improved, and his depression lifted. He felt that his female counselor was "the most nurturing, kindest, attentive woman" he had ever met. The counselor enjoyed Dave's laudatory remarks, but rather than help him see that he precluded being a potent male by acting like a compliant, admiring child, she welcomed Dave's adoring comments. When the counselor realized (as did Dave later on) that he was not growing from his counseling experience, the therapist began to monitor her exultation toward Dave's compliments. Eventually Dave identified the aggression behind his childish facade and began to understand his fear about asserting himself-a major factor in his depression.

All transference reactions-positive, negative, and ambivalent-must be understood by client and practitioner. When either party receives too much gratification or protection, the counseling experience is stalled and the client's progress suffers. Transference may be incorporated into other theoretical perspectives. For example, sport psychology consultants might maintain a predominantly cognitive-behavioral orientation but still attend to how they are experienced by athletes.

Countertransference. Countertransference refers to "all those reactions of the [counselor] to the client that may help or hinder treatment" (Slakter, 1987, p. 3). Countertransference, like transference, is ever present and must be studied constantly by all practitioners (Brenner, 1985).

Many psychodynamic writers (Brenner, 1985; Fine, 1982; Strean, 1991) suggested that countertransference is a necessary prerequisite of successful therapy. Greenson (1 967) stated:

It does not do justice to the arduous demands of the analytic profession to hope that the obtaining and delivering of insight might be free from conflict, guilt, and anxiety. These activities ought to be pleasurable to the analyst. . . . The pleasure in listening, looking, exploring, imagining, and comprehending is not only permissible but necessary for the optimal efficiency of the analyst. (p. 399)

Similarly, Brenner (1976) stated:

Whatever work one does as an adult, whatever satisfactions one finds in a chosen profession, whatever relationships one establishes with persons one meets with, whether in a professional capacity or in any other, all are signifi- cantly motivated or determined by psychic conflicts that originated in con- nection with childhood instinctual wishes. One cannot, therefore, distinguish sharply between countertransference that deserves to be called normal and that which deserves to be called pathological. Just as in the case of neurotic symptoms the differences (between the neurotic and normal) are a matter of degree. (p. 130)

Counseling and psychotherapy usually proceed well when the helper likes the client. Although positive countertransference is desirable, like positive transference, it should be studied carefully (Fine, 1982). If clients are loved too much, counselors tend to overidentify with them and are unable to help them see their roles in writing maladaptive scripts.

Tom, a swimmer, was coached by a woman. As he described his conflicts with the coach and how she was "so similar" to his "controlling and mean" mother,


his female therapist greatly sympathized with him. Slowly, she became critical of Tom's mother and coach, and Tom subsequently felt very "supported" and "vindi- cated." However, his arguments with the coach intensified, and eventually he was thrown off the team.

Although clients have difficulty acknowledging hostile feelings toward the practitioner, counselors have even more difficulty acknowledging hostility toward clients. Yet, professional helpers are human beings and can become frustrated by client criticism and dissatisfaction or bored by clients' constant complaints. Be- cause practitioners are "not supposed" to feel hostile, antagonistic feelings toward clients are often disguised and repressed. These feelings manifest themselves in subtle forms, both in and out of treatment. Using clinical diagnosis as a countertransference expression and altering therapeutic plans and procedures are common expressions of disguised hostility (Fine, 1982).

Susan, a divorced professional tennis player, was in intensive psychotherapy for depression, work dissatisfaction, and unsuccessful romantic relationships. Af- ter finding her first consultation with her male therapist "very encouraging," she quickly changed her mind in the third interview when he was wearing a suit that was "out of fashion." As her criticisms mounted and her therapist felt irritated, the therapist found himself referring to Susan as "a phallic character." Still later, when Susan became even more vituperative and resistant, the therapist concluded that she was a "borderline personality." Every few months, the therapist changed his clinical diagnosis, making it increasingly severe as his client became more critical. After about 7 months of treatment, Susan was diagnosed as an "ambulatory schizo- phrenic." In the eighth month of treatment, she was considered "openly psychotic and psychopathic." After 10 months of therapy, Susan was diagnosed as "untreatable," at which point she quit treatment. Because the therapist was un- aware of his negative countertransference (seen partly through the changing diagnosis), he did not resolve his own feelings, and the client did not receive needed help.

When clients criticize practitioners, isolate themselves from a client-counselor relationship, do not improve, or even regress, practitioners often blame the therapeutic modality they are using and keep changing it. In sport settings, coaches and sport psychology consultants may write-off a player as an "uncoachable" athlete or a "basket case" when interventions are unsuccessful.

Certainly, negative countertransference occurs in all therapy and counseling situations. For example, when Mitchell, a man in his 30s who sought marriage counseling, was not progressing in his individual treatment, his therapist suggested conjoint marital counseling with Mitchell's wife. When Mitchell and his wife spent their time arguing, the therapist separated them and saw each in individual treatment. When that was unsuccessful, and family therapy was suggested, Mitchell and his wife discontinued therapy, feeling they were "too difficult to help."

Very often, when a client does not improve in counseling, negative countertransference is not being sufficiently examined. Frequently, therapists omit this, because they do not want to face their own anger toward the client. When sport psychology consultants cannot face something internally, they usually cannot help athletes face the same issue. To help athletes, counselors must monitor themselves for situations where negative countertransference arises. When it does, consultants should talk with a colleague or supervisor to resolve issues.

Transference and Countertransference at Work. Recently, a colleague offered an excellent example of dynamic processes in action. He described his work with a young basketball player, about 17 years old, and discussed how they

218 Strean and Strenn

had been doing good work together. A few months ago, the player informed his helper that he wanted to become a sport psychologist. This colleague described this as identification with the "good father" and then explained his side of the relationship. The player evoked in the psychologist feelings of being the big brother, who protects the younger player, who looks up to him. The sport psychologist only had sisters and suggested that he would have liked to have had a little brother. These processes, he suggested, are just part of living, but not examining them and not catching some of the more severe examples of transference and countertransference can be a large oversight.

Activities of the Psychodynamically Oriented Practitioner Although not unique to the psychodynamically oriented practitioner's repertoire, we now review the primary tasks of the therapist or counselor who adheres to this perspective. As already indicated, listening is one of the psychodynamically oriented practitioner's primary tasks. As the client produces material, themes emerge and the practitioner asks questions so that persistent themes receive further elabo- ration. As certain resistances and transference reactions become clear, the practitioner confronts the athlete, that is, draws the athlete's attention to a particular phenomenon, such as consistent problems focusing during competition, and tries to help the client face this issue.

Clarification involves bringing the details about confronted issues into sharper focus. It involves "digging out" significant details from the past that are being recapitulated in the present. Interpretation follows confrontation and clarification and involves providing meaning to the client's thoughts, feelings, fantasies, dreams, and behavior. The goal is self-understanding or insight. Working through is inte- grating comprehension by repeating and deepening insights. Finally, the client synthesizes insights by developing an adequate way of coping with life.

Inasmuch as we have already discussed the role and importance of listening, let us review the other activities of the psychodynamically oriented practitioner.

Confrontation. To help athletes learn about variables that contribute to problematic behavior, clients should occasionally be confronted with behavior that they have not noticed or addressed. When confronting an athlete with a piece of behavior, such as missed sessions, lateness, inattentiveness to helper's comments, or ingratiating remarks, the practitioner must have significant data to make a firm statement about the issue. The phenomenon being addressed (e.g., lateness) should be common before it is discussed. Otherwise, the athlete will have difficulty relat- ing to the confrontation. As Greenson (1967) suggested, prematurely demonstrating resistive or transferential behavior not only wastes time but often compounds anxiety, intensifies resistance, and dissipates material that might be better assimilated later.

After 5 months of treatment with Bob (a man in his 30s), his male therapist realized that after saying he was being helped, Bob would miss his next session. When the therapist confronted Bob with his behavior, Bob first felt it was insig- nificant and offered several rationalizations to account for missed sessions. When the therapist suggested that Bob was then avoiding confrontation, Bob again moved away, claiming that the therapist wanted "too much intimacy" and saying that he was not interested. In effect, Bob demonstrated that the therapist's confrontation was correct but unacceptable.


Clartfication. Awareness about behavior is insufficient. Athletes should understand the reasons for their behaviors. In the preceding example, Bob needed help clarifying why intimacy did not interest him. The therapist asked Bob what bothered him about closeness and intimacy and learned that Bob felt powerless, weakened, and subordinate in a close relationship. He felt this way with his parents and brother. To be close was to be "crushed."

Interpretation. Interpretation makes the athlete aware of the unconscious meaning, source, history, mode, or cause of a given psychic event. Interpretations can only be given after the athlete has been confronted with an issue or attitude, some clarification has ensued, and the practitioner feels that the athlete has some conviction about the internal matter.

Freud's (192611961) comment about interpretation, made over 70 years ago, is still pertinent today:

When you have found the right interpretation, another task lies ahead. You must wait for the right moment at which you can communicate your interpretation to the patient with some prospect of success .... You will be making a bad mistake if you throw your interpretations at the patient's head as soon as you have found them. (p. 160)

Fine (1982) outlined three types of interpretation: uncovering, connective, and integrative. A concealed wish is brought to consciousness through the uncovering interpretation. After Bob talked about his dread of closeness and detailed some contributing history, the therapist made an uncovering interpretation about Bob's missed sessions: "If you come to every session, you are afraid you will bring us too close and that will be too uncomfortable for you." In the connective interpretation, the present is related to the past so that athletes can see how they are distorting the present by waging old battles and seeking childish gratification.

In working on Bob's missed appointments, the therapist later made a connective interpretation and pointed out that Bob was seeing the therapist as his father and brother and was afraid the therapist would crush and demean him. The integrative interpretation involves pulling together material from various sources to help the athlete see personal problems in a broader perspective. In helping Bob, the therapist repeatedly showed him how he was remaining a child in interpersonal relationships, making others much bigger, and then running away.

Repeated interpretations of resistance, transference, and other behaviors is called working through. More insight is gained, and a synthesis evolves. The deci- sive question about therapeutic activities is not whether a confrontation, clarification, or interpretation is correct but how the athlete reacts and how the practitioner proceeds.

As previously stated, an athlete often responds to interventions according to personal dynamics and current transference to the helping professional. The response to an interpretation is often more important than anything else. Under- standing an athlete's continual compliance to an interpretation may be more crucial than comprehending how well that client understands the content of the interpretation. The same would be true of an athlete's consistent belligerence, am- bivalence, or any other intervention response.

The therapeutic or counseling situation is a dynamic dialogue. In this dialogue, the athlete's responses to the helping professional must always be scrutinized.


In psychodynamically oriented intervention, counselors primarily focus on how the athlete responds to questions, confrontations, clarifications, and interpretations, rather than on whether the content is correct.

Research Findings and Issues

Having examined various concepts and practices of dynamically oriented practitioners, addressing research support and the limitations of psychodynamic theory and practice may be useful. Psychoanalysis has been evaluated almost since its inception. Freud and his contemporaries wrote up many cases, evaluating their treatment results (Jones, 1957). Although evaluation research (e.g., Alexander, 1938; Feldman, 1968; Fenichel, 1930; Ferenczi, 1955; Jones, 1937; Wallerstein, 1986) has generally reported that 50-75% of patients who terminated treatment mark- edly improved, results are still being pestioned. At least three factors have plagued attempts to garner support for psychodynamic practice: lack of sufficient empirical data and replicable findings, lack of true experimental designs that would make data more acceptable, and investigators' potential bias.

Reuben Fine (1981) pointed out, however, that psychoanalytic data-dreams, fantasies, slips of the tongue, transference, resistance, neurotic symptoms--cannot be quantified in a way that satisfies experimental psychologists. Consequently, experimental psychologists and other researchers have often written off psychoanalysis as unscientific. Fine suggested that to investigate psychoanalysis, researchers will always have to rely on unquantifiable data. Boring (1957), the eminent experimental psychologist, expressed the same view:

Apparently psychology is not in a position to validate or invalidate psychoanalysis experimentally-with selected groups and carefully chosen controls. Hence, we are reduced to the collection of case histories. (p. 10)

Fine (1983) in The Logic of Psychology: A Dynamic Approach, argued co- gently that psychoanalysis as a theoretical structure should be regarded as a scientific systematic psychology. He went on to assert that psychoanalysis represents the heart of psychology, and much of academic or "scientific psychology" needed to be rethought in the context of psychoanalytic psychology.

Evaluation research and the conversations surrounding it reveal some basic epistemological issues. From a traditional empirical perspective, a clear limitation of psychodynamic theory and practice is that many of the tenets cannot be verified or falsified. Yet, for practitioners who are willing to be guided by case evidence and professional experience, ample evidence supports using many psychodynamic concepts and procedures. Certainly, future research in sport psychology can contribute to showing the viability and weaknesses of such practices.

Conclusion

Several concepts from psychodynamic theory, taken collectively or individually, can help sport psychology consultants understand adaptive and maladaptive behaviors. These components also facilitate intervening in athletes' lives, particularly in their attempts to master the inevitable anxieties associated with competition. Clearly, some of the approaches described here are more relevant to intensive


intervention. Others are more helpful to solving relatively deep problems than to operating in an educational performance enhancement mode.

No single orientation is optimal for all athletes and situations faced by ap- plied sport psychology practitioners. Psychodynamic principles and practices can be integrated with cognitive, behavioral, or other frameworks. I t is our hope that, consciously or unconsciously, some of our suggestions will lead to improved professional practice.

References Alexander, E (1938). Five year report of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis 1932-

1937. Chicago: Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. Anshel, M.H. (1994). Sportpsychology: From theory to practice (2nd ed.). Scottsdale, AZ:

Gorsuch Scarisbrick. Apitzsch, E. (1995). Psychodynamic theory of personality and sport performance. In S.

Biddle (Ed.), Europeanperspectives on sportpsychology (pp. 11 1-127). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social-cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Bellak, L. (1993). Psychoanalysis as a science. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Boring, E. (1957). A history of experimental psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-

Crofts. Brenner, C. (1976). Psychoanalytic technique and psychic conflict. New York: Interna-

tional Universities Press. Brenner, C. (1985). Countertransference as compromise formation. The Psychoanalytic

Quarterly, 54,155-163. Cox, R.H. (1994). Sport psychology: Concepts and applications. Dubuque, IA: Brown &

Benchmark. Feldman, F. (1968). Results of psychoanalysis in clinic case assignments. Journal of the

American Psychoanalytic Association, 16,274-300. Fenichel, 0. (1930). Zehn Jahre Berliner Psychoanalytisches Znstitut. Vienna: International

Psychoanalytisches Verlag. Fenichel, 0. (1945). The psychoanalytic theory of neuroses. New York: W.W. Norton. Ferenczi, S. (1955). The problem of the termination of the analysis (E. Mosbacher, Trans.).

In M. Balint (Ed.), Final contributions to the problems and methods ofpsychoanaly- sis (Vol. 3, pp. 77-86). New York: Basic Books. (Original work published 1927)

Fine, R. (1981). The psychoanalytic vision. New York: Free Press. Fine, R. (1982). The healing of the mind (2nd ed.). New York: Free Press. Fine, R. (1983). The logic of psychology. Washington, DC: University Press of America. Freeman, L. (1970). Celebrities on the couch. New York: Simon and Schuster. Freud, S. (1938). The basic writings of Sigmund Freud. New York: Random House. Freud, S. (1961). Psychoanalytic procedure. In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard

edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 7, pp. 249-256). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1904)

Freud, S. (1961). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 7, pp. 125-248). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1905)

Freud, S. (1961). The dynamics of transference. In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 12, pp. 97- 108). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1912)


Freud, S. (1961). Remembering, repeating, and working through. In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works ofSigmund Freud (Vol. 12, pp. 145-156). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1914)

Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id. In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard edition oj the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 19, pp. 1-66) London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1923)

Freud, S. (1961). Inhibitions, symptoms, and anxiety. In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 20, pp. 77-174). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1926)

Freud, S. (1961). An outline of psychoanalysis. In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 23, pp. 139-25 1). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1939)

Gill, D. L. (1986). Psychological dynamics of sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Greenson, R. (1967). The technique and practice of psychoanalysis. New York: Interna-

tional Universities Press. Hanna, E. (1993). The psychodynamically oriented social worker as sports consultant: A

preliminary report. Clinical Social Work Journal, 21(3), 283-300. Hartmann, H. (1958). Ego psychology and the problem of adaptation. New York: Interna-

tional Universities Press. Henschen, K.P., & Straub, W.F. (Eds.). (1995). Sport psychology an analysis of athlete

behavior (3rd ed.). Longmeadow, MA: Mouvement Publications. Horn, T.S. (Ed.) (1992). Advances in sport psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Jones, E. (1937). Decennial report of the London Clinic of Psychoanalysis. London: Lon-

don Institute of Psychoanalysis. Jones, E. (1957). The life and work of Sigmund Freud. New York: Basic Books. Kadushin, A. (1972). The social work interview. New York: Columbia University Press. Murphy, S.M. (Ed.). (1995). Sport psychology interventions. Champaign, IL: Human Ki-

netics. Slakter, E. (1987). Countertransference. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. Strean, H. (1990). Resolving resistances in psychotherapy. New York: BrunnerIMazel. Strean, H. (1991). Behind the couch. New York: Continuum Strean, H. (1994). Essentials of psychoanalysis. New York: Brunner/Mazel. Strean, H., & Freeman, L. (1992). Why people fail. Tanytown, NY: Wynwood Press. Vealey, R.S. (1992). Personality and sport: A comprehensive view. In T. S. Horn (Ed.),

Advances in sport psychology (pp. 25-59). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Wallerstein, R. (1986). Forty-two lives in treatment. New York: The Guilford Press.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers, as well as Mark Andersen and Zave Pundra, for their thoughtful comments on earlier versions of this paper.

Manuscript submitted: May 21, 1997 Revision received: August 26, 1997

Documents

Applying Psychodynamic Concepts to Sport Psychology …€¦ · Psychodynamic Concepts in Sport Psychology 209 What Is Psychodynamic Theory? Many sport psychology professionals have