ABSTRACT
Burston’s final chapter extends the exploration of depth sport psychology and the way it distinguishes itself from traditional approaches. Depth practitioners are often psychotherapists, and this chapter explores the contemporary stresses modern performers face, along with some of the potential solutions. This book has testified to an ancient trinity older than sports; the principles of preparation, opposition and repair. This chapter concentrates on the crucial capacity of reparation, a form of resilience required by every athlete. The chapter shares the deeper potentials that can arise when clinical psychological approaches combine with sports.
The recent emergence of mindfulness practices in sport psychology accompanies a section dedicated to profiling depth practitioners around the world: first, sport psychologist Dr Mark Nesti’s book Psychology in Football, a comprehensive guide to sports cultures and how they operate; then Argentinian sport psychologist and psychiatrist Ricardo Rubinstein, with his book Sports on the Couch. Currently practising as a psychoanalyst in London, legendary cricket captain Mike Brearley also relates his insights and clinical skills in his latest book, On Form. A section written especially for this book by New York analyst Dr Tom Ferraro closes the chapter with sport case studies and theory from a depth Freudian perspective.
