ABSTRACT
Obtaining complete and adequate recovery is vital for all individuals who invest physiological and psychological resources in their pursuit of certain goals. The process of recovery pertains to those activities and experiences that result in a positive change in an individual’s physiological and psychological state, so that resources are restored. Research has shown that detachment is one specific powerful recovery experience. Detachment has been a well-researched topic in work and organisational psychology, where it involves refraining from work-related activities and mentally disengaging from work during time away from work. Gaining traction in the field of sport psychology more recently as well, detachment refers to an athlete’s cognitive and emotional disconnection from the demands of training and competition. This chapter provides a brief overview of theories on psychological recovery as well as research findings on the antecedents and consequences of detachment in the domains of work and sport. Individual-level as well as organisational-level recommendations for promoting detachment are also reviewed.
