Expert Series: Dr. Kevin Chapman on Performance Anxiety

Performance anxiety really is a subset of social anxiety. In fact, most social situations have a performance element to them. You have some people who struggle with, say, social anxiety, generally speaking, despite performing or not, it’s just the presence of other people. Whereas performance anxiety is specific to performance situations, whether that be a sport, whether that be giving a speech or meeting a new person or something to that effect. It’s the presence of other people and the perception that there’s going to be some form of negative evaluation that I’m anxious about, and therefore I either avoid it significantly or I endure it with a whole lot of distress in that situation. We all have social anxiety, we all get anxious about performing. The thing is though, is that when it goes into the disorder realm, it can become social anxiety disorder to the point of not wanting to perform at all or even getting sick.

I think in today’s society, there’s a lot of not only actual pressure with today’s athletes, but also perceived pressure. We have a lot of things with social media and we also have a lot of parents, unfortunately, that live vicariously through their kids. I think, ultimately, if I perceive my performance as a part of my identity, that’s going to make me perfectionistic and make me exceptionally anxious. I think one very important point is that parents and coaches need to take the pressure off by not having unrealistic expectations for the athlete. I mean, they play the sport because they love the game and they love the competition that goes with that, as opposed to saying that if you don’t perform well, that must mean this about me. I think really helping athletes separate how you perform is not who you are.

One good example, let’s say golf, would be rather than saying, “I’m trash, I’m garbage,” it’s saying, “Good golfer, bad performance.” There’s a difference. It’s acknowledging that I could have performed better, but that’s not who I am as an athlete. I think really teaching young athletes in particular that what you do on the court or field is not who you are. Also, not saying things that are going to be added pressure, having a process mentality as opposed to an outcome mentality, focusing on what works as opposed to not doing that. For example, “Stop turning the ball over,” is one thing a coach would say, versus, “Have better ball control.” That’s much more reinforcing and encouraging as opposed to punitive.

I think as a parent, I think it’s really important to really pay attention to the two main criteria anytime something becomes a problem as it relates to anxiety and other emotional experiences for a student athlete. I think, number one, significant distress. If you like, a lot of parents will say, especially moms, they’ll say, “I know my child.” If I can tell that they’re significantly uncomfortable and they’re different than what they used to be at baseline, they know something’s off. They’re either complaining about it a lot, they’re either not their usual selves at home, their coaches are probably saying things like, “Hey, I don’t know what’s going on with Joey, but he seems off and I can’t get him really to say anything. He’s not usually that way,” they might shut down. The significant distress, personal distress, I’m bothered by it or others can tell.

The other part is impairment, there’s significant impairment. Parents need to look out for, is this really affecting how they perform not only on the field of the court, but also in the classroom, because performance anxiety also manifest in test situations. It’s like I might study and do well and know all the material, but I go blank when I’m in an exam situation. Looking for warning signs like that.

For much younger athletes, I’d say elementary school-level athletes, it’s really difficult to really say, “Hey, I’m feeling really anxious right now on the field. Mom, can you help?” That’s really difficult because most children somaticize, they express feelings and emotions through bodily sensations. The low-hanging fruit for us as educators, as coaches, as teammates, et cetera, is to teach younger athletes, little littles to be able to recognize things through what I call a body scan, teaching them a diagram of a body and saying, “Where are you feeling that way when you’re about to perform? Point to it. Is it here? Is it your heart? Is it your stomach? Is it in your head?” I think helping a younger athlete identify through a body scan what’s actually happening, where that distress is, will actually help them become better at identifying when they’re having strong emotions that usually is expressed through bodily complaints.

A parent and a coach can identify when anxieties become more problematic when things like the following take place. First of all, it there’s sleep disturbance, that’s a huge issue. Being anxious about an exam or a performance is one thing, but not being able to sleep is an issue. Secondly, if eating problems emerge, like if I’m not hungry, I’m not eating food, I don’t have a high caloric intake when I normally do, that means that the anxiety is probably slowing down my digestion and I’m probably way too anxious and my arousal’s way too high. Or third, it’s I have bodily sensations that are uncomfortable in my stomach. If I have to use the restroom a lot, for instance, that’s probably an issue. A lot of athletes get so jacked up with anxiety that they actually throw up before competition and that’s a huge problem.

Successful athletes recognize that anxiety is a normal part of competition. Jitters, anxiety, can help you perform really well. The issue was more so saying when does the arousal get so high in your body that it’s impacting how I know you can perform? What we’re getting at is brain associations, because oftentimes when we struggle in areas where we have a heightened anxiety, heightened arousal, really what’s happened in our brain, our limbic system, our hypothalamus, our amygdala, our hippocampus, we have memories of when we messed up, we have strong arousal when we’ve messed up, and then our body tells us that we must’ve messed up. What we’re trying to do is reprogram those associations through teaching a new association. In order to do that, we have to teach our brain what is it that you need to learn.

When I do things like anchoring in the present, it’s often to get a parent or a coach to ask three very important questions. One is, did what you most worry about occur, yes or no? Once they say no, then it’s, how do you know? “Well, I actually did well on this game.” What did you learn? That’s a very basic sounding question, but the what did I learn is very powerful for my brain, which is trying to teach me a new non-threatening association. What did I learn? Once they repeat that same procedure over and over and over, all of a sudden, my brain has stockpiled all these new associations that tell me that making mistakes are fine.

I think that the current generation of athletes now, I think it’s heading in a positive direction. I will say though that we also know that a lot of the athletes in this generation, in the emerging adult category, are also among the most anxious. There’s a lot more pressure with this generation. There’s a lot more information on social media that can be good and bad, and there’s a lot more with technology that can be good and bad. I think that though this generation has a whole lot more in terms of resources to perform at an optimal level, I think raising awareness with mental health is essential with this generation because there’s more reasons to be anxious. I think that if we can remove the stigma and educate parents, coaches, teams, and athletes about the importance of balance, flexibility, I think that this generation is going to be very successful with athletes.