Psychiatric Bulletin (2003) 27: 156-157. doi: 10.1192/pb.27.4.156-c
© 2003 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Carranza, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Carranza, F.
Psychiatric Bulletin (2003) 27: 156-157
© 2003 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Correspondence

From couch to coach

F. Carranza, Specialist in Psychiatry

The Gordon Hospital, Bloomburg Street, London SW1V 2RH

The Football Association (FA) launched its strategy "Psychology for Football" at the Pride Park Stadium, Derby, on 7 November 2002. The meeting was a call to football professionals to endorse the use of sports psychologists.

Psychologists have received a cautious reception from sports professionals (Martin et al, 1997). Countries like Australia and the USA have been using psychologists in sports for decades. In the UK, developments have been slower, with important changes, such as the accreditation of the British Association of Sports and Exercise Sciences, happening in the late 80s.

The involvement of psychiatrists in sports has been more anonymous, as psychiatry not only carries a stigma but is also the antithesis of Mens sana in corpore sano (Carranza, 1999). Society perpetuates the problem by seeing sportsmen as highly-skilled entities, rather than primarily as human beings with strengths and weaknesses. Because of this, sports professionals in need of psychiatric help usually approach services as a last resort, during the final stages of their problem.

The FA strategy should be made extensive to other sports and, ideally, implemented at all levels. It would also be desirable to consider the inclusion in the strategy of professionals such as psychiatrists, who could play not only a therapeutic (Begel, 1992) but, equally important, a preventative role. Psychiatry can also complement psychology providing clinical input, or working together in a wider strategy towards changing behaviour in the public, and attitudes related to sport in society in general.

References

  1. BEGEL, D. (1992) An overview of sport psychiatry. American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 606-614.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  2. CARRANZA, F. (1999) Attitudes of Sportsmen to Psychiatry. Hamburg: Congress of Psychiatry.
  3. MARTIN, S. B., WRISBERG, C. A., BEITEL, P. A. et al (1997) NCAA Division I athletes' attitudes toward seeking sport psychology consultation: the development of an objective instrument. The Sport Psychologist, 11, 201-218.




This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Carranza, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Carranza, F.