How many psychologists (and psychiatrists) are on this forum? I am (neuropsychology by subspecialty) and I am wondering if a psychology and/or mental skills forum might not be a useful addition to mma.tv. Mental skills training and psychological aspects of athletes is relevant as are issues of psychopathology such as depression for the same universal reasons that everyone else is suceptible to such as well as unique factors of althletes, training, injuries (including mild head injuries), etc. Such would need to be defined as general information for further follow-up and not clinical treatment, of course. None of us would be experts in everything but if there is a group of us the combined knowledge could probably result in interesting as well as useful/helpful discussion and dissemination of empirically based information (and defining the degree of such support) with regard to mental skills training and more general common psychologic/psychopathologic issues/treatments of/for athletes.
I am eventually going to do a mental skills dvd when I get done with my wrestling technique videos; that is an area where training is very unsytematized and ranges from sound principles to voodoo among most athletes.
With regard to the mental skills aspect of training, my experience is that this is ignored, minimized, or pursued haphazardly. There seems to be a vague notion that such training is relevant and many althletes, among other things, complain of difficulty acheiving and maintaining optimal levels of arousal, focus, etc. in the competitive arena; typically, however, relatively little structured time is given to the development of such. When I work with athletes I will ask them what percent do they believe that mental factors play in their competative success. They may say 5% or 95%, etc., it doesn't matter. When I ask about the proportion of their structured time and training that is devoted specifically to such I will rarely get a commensurate figure.
On the other hand, mental skills training is not the be-all and end-all of "sport psychology." Optimal performance is difficult if not impossible when the athlete is suffering from marked levels of stress or clinical depression, etc. The type of lifestyle, regimens, and culture(s) of athletics also provides somewhat unique psychological challenges with the final common pathway sometimes being various forms of psychopathology necessitating treatment. Further, optimal performance is not the be-all and end-all goal of psychological input into that athlete. Althletic participation and competition is a portion of the athlete's life in what is, presumably, a pursuit of happiness, contentment, etc. This area needs to be appropriately placed and balanced within the more general life (e.g., family, friends, work, other pursuits) of the althlete. Balance and perspective generally engender althletic success and more general happyness and contentment. For most, consistent success, in anything (including athletics) comes from good focus, not obsession. All of this comes from conscious and structured efforts; if you don't know where and how you're going, you're probably not going to get there.
So...who is out there and who might be willing to participate in a "psychological aspects of combat sports" (or the like) forum if Kirik would also be interested?
Rich