The Mental Health Side Of An Epidemic: Conversation With A Leading Performance Psychologist

....Dr. Goldman: Going back to what’s the same and what’s different about this special population, one element is they might actually have some familiarity with certain forms of isolation, like having an injury. When you think about the idea of adapting and being resilient, these are things that athletes are often conditioned for. Uncertainty and instability are common threads within a sports setting. So in some ways I think there is some conditioning that helps the players be robust.

But another element to it is not just the players, but starting to think about the coaches and staff. At the pro level, it’s not a nine-to-five job. They’re on the road, long hours, long days, high levels of intensity. Now they’re being isolated at home, and for some people they’re having to re-calibrate to interactions on a more frequent basis with say, family, partners, husbands, wives. So it also becomes an interesting dynamic of interpersonal relationship.....

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Bethany`s Notes: A Q&A with a leading sports psychologist regarding COVID-19 and the challenges athletes of all levels may face during this time of uncertainty.