Sport Psychology Presentation - Drozal

Understanding Eating Disorders in Sports Phychology Exploring the Impact of Body Image and Anxiety on Athletes

By: Pyper Drozal

Introductin to eating disorders in athletes

Eating disorders among athletes are a prevalent concern in sport psychology, impacting both the mental and physical health of the athlete. This, in turn, affects athletic preformance.

definition of eating disorders

Eating disorders are a mental health condition. This condition is specific to abnormal eating habits. These eating habits can affect an individuals physical health and mental well-being. Making sports more difficult. Athletes may experience anorexia nervosa (anorexia),bulimia nervosa (bulimia), and/or binge eating disorder. This will influence overall performance in sports.

Prevalence in Athletes

Athletes, especially those in weight-class sports, such as wrestling, are at a higher risk for developing an eating disorder due to the emphasis on body image, preformance, and weight control in their sport, Below is a linked article showing how wrestlers are more at risk:https:// millardwestcatalyst.com/17668/opinion/eating-disorders-in-athletics/ (image on right also from this article)

Psychological factors influencing body image

The media's representation of 'ideal' body standards and the pressure put on athletes can significantly impact an athlete's body image and mental well-being. These things lead to anxiety, and other mental health issues, not just disordered eating. This will take us to chapters 11, and 12 from our text.

Textbook chapter 11

"Psychological responses may begin simply with difficulties concentrating (Gelsema et al, Suinn, 2005) eventually leading to poor desision making, apathy, decreased motivation, in addition to anxiety." (Jamie E. Roberts, PhD and PhD Leilani Madrigal. Sport, Exercise, and Preformance Psychology: Bridging Theory and Applicartion. Springer Publishing Company, 2027)With this said, losing concentration can absolutely affect sports ability. Things like anxiety and decreased motivation can lead to disordered eating.

" (Jamie E. Roberts, PhD and PhD Leilani Madrigal. Sport, Exercise, and Preformance Psychology: Bridging Theory and Applicartion. Springer Publishing Company, 2027)

Common stressors for athletes include, but are not limited to:

2. Injury3. Parents

Textbook Chapter 12

1. Mistakes
1. "Athletes mistakes become so significant because they foresee the reamifications to include being cut from the team, not getting play time, or lettinmg down significant others."

Stressors, anxiety, and coping

Identifying the warning symptoms of eating disorders in athletes is crucial for early intervention and support to protect their mental and physical well-being. This will bring us to two powerpoint lectures.

Stress, Anxiety, and Coping Powerpoint (chapters 11, and 12) Slide 3

Powerpoint Reference 1

Through the powerpoint listed above, we can see that Professor Lookadoo gives us the definition for stress as "A state of anxiety caused by events or responsibilites that exceed one's coping ability". (Lookadoo, 2024)With this said, we can note that athletes are put under alot of pressure to exceed their capabilites, and that could absolutely stress any athlete.

Stress, Anxiety, and Coping Powerpoint (chapters 11, and 12) Slide 6

Powerpoint reference 2

Our responses to stress and anxiety are as follows: "-Perceive the situation as threatening -Physical and mental arousal is initiated -Causes a fight, flight, or freeze response" (Lookadoo, 2024) Now that we know this, it might explain how some athletes, Simone Biles, for example, have dropped out of games or tounaments when they knew that were stressed, anxious, or not that their best mentally.

Simone Biles drops out of the olympics, 2020

Looking at three sport phychologists'

These are the Sport Psychologists' from the Weekly Spotlights I will be taking a look at in this presesntation:-Madeleine Hallé-Helps circus preformers specifally.- Dr. Sean McCann-Past sport phychologist at the winter Olympics.-Dr. Dave Botsford -Past snowboarder, current sport phychologist.

Link to article

Madeleine Hallé is a sport psychologist that helps circus preformers specifally.Hallé says in the article linked below, that she helps preformers with a lot of preformace anxiety.She says that staying confident isnt just for their mental health, but also for safety. I like that Hallé says this, as it is true for any sport.Hallés work absolutely fits in, as these athletes can also suffer with eating disorders and anxiety.Below, Hallé's article can be viewed, by clicking the yellow button.

Sport Psychologist from the weekly spotlight - Madeleine Hallé

Link to video

Dr. Sean McCann works alot with athletes under pressure, and with alot of anxiety over their sport. He works heavily with athletes in the olympics. He also was a sport psychologist with the winter olympics, over 10 years ago.Dr. McCanns work ties in with the content of my presentation as, he does work heavily with those with a lot of fear and anxiety. Below, Dr. McCanns video is linked. You can find it by pressing the yellow button.

Sport Psychologist from the weekly sportlight - dr. sean mccann

Link to article

In the article with Dr. Botsford, he gives some intresting insight on student-athlete mental health. He says that these athletes are often given an adjusted training schedule or a "redshirt" year. This means that these athletes eligabilty to play is extended. Dr. Bedfords work ties in with the content in this presesntation, as he talks about athletes mental health, anxiety, and different things put in place to help those athletes. The article I used for this slide is linked below and can be found by pressing the yellow button.

Sport Psychologist from the weekly spotlight - Dr. Dave Botsford

So much for reading. I am so glad that I did this presentation on athletes anxiety and eating disorders. I learned alot within my research, and I hope you learned some too.

THANKS!

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