Mental Imagery In Sports

Introduction Mental imagery, also known as visualization, is defined as imagining oneself performing an action in the absence of physical practice (4). European psychologists were the first people to emphasize imagery practice, specifically Freud who was known to be advocating for imagery since before 1900 and into the early 1900’s. There was a huge decline in the use of mental imagery until the 1960’s when the psychologist Maxwell Maltz did extensive work with imagery and resurfaced the interest in it. From the 1960’s on mental imagery has been a major topic of research for psychologists and more recently professionals in the medical field (17). Using mental imagery in athletics is a relatively new concept. The idea of spending time at or

Mental imagery is one of the most effective things for learning specific skills (10). A study that shows this was done in Northwest Greece on elite junior tennis players. At the beginning of the study the athletes were given a questionnaire called the CSAI-2 which was basically a self-appraisal of their performance. These teenagers were then put into a mental training program (MTP). This program consisted of 5 skills: goal setting, positive thinking, self talk, concentration, and arousal regulation techniques. They had 60 minute sessions once a week with the first week focusing on teaching them how to execute the use of imagery correctly. Each skill from above was focused on for five weeks, so the program lasted a total of 25 weeks. These sessions consisted of the athletes imagining themselves executing their techniques perfectly, being perfectly concentrated in their matches, and being the right amount of focused and “psyched up.” These sessions also taught the athletes how to set adequate goals as well as how to talk to themselves positively in matches and practice. This program lasted an entire season and these athletes were given the same CSAI-2 test of self appraisal at the end of the season

The main focus of using imagery in injury rehabilitation is to get athletes to return to play without anxiety of reinjuring themselves (4). There was a study of 71 athletes currently in physical therapy for a wide variety of injuries. These athletes were given the Athletic Inquiry Imagery Questionnaire which is an adaption of the Exercise Imagery Questionnaire mentioned above. These athletes reported using both motivational and cognitive imagery in their rehabilitation programs. The study showed that the athletes competing at a higher level used imagery more than recreational athletes. The first part of this study began in the early parts of these rehabilitation programs before the athletes could safely perform their exercises. The athletes were instructed to imagine themselves successfully executing their therapy exercises without pain. Once the athletes were allowed to do these exercises they continued the same imagery, but also actually did the exercises. All athletes reported that using imagery helped them stay more focused on their rehabilitation programs and also helped them through the more painful parts of these programs. The final phase was shortly before the athletes would return to play and they were supposed to spend time imagining themselves in games and