Cognitive Imagery Restructuring (CIR) in Enhancing Sports Performance: A Review

Description

Page: 509-512

Chaitanya Shekhar and Vikram Kumar (Department of Psychology, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab)

A person’s personality is shaped by their thoughts and behavior. In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), we focus on certain maladaptive thought processes and behaviors that unconsciously create negative effects on our personality or even mental disorders. Such thoughts and behaviors are replaced with positive ones to create desirable changes in the personality of an individual. Cognitive Imagery Restructuring (CIR) with a similar approach focuses on the imagination, i.e., how our imagination shapes our personality, and with the use of visualization techniques, maladaptive imagery is replaced with positive imagery and desirable changes are manifested in the personality. In the field of sports, imagination plays a very important role in performance under different circumstances, and an athlete needs to avoid the misuse of imagination, or it may deplete their sports performance. However, some external circumstances like fear of the outcome, social expectations, and overthinking act as clouds in the path of clear imagination, unconsciously resulting in improper execution, loss of focus, performance anxiety, restricted physical movements, etc. In CIR, we simply clear these clouds with the use of visualization techniques. In another aspect, premature excitement is a state where a person satisfies himself by making fantasies of desirable outcomes, like victory without realizing that it is a defense mechanism of the unconscious mind when a person is not confident about his abilities. However, in CIR, such fantasies are sublimated into mental imagery that enhances sports performance making an athlete feel more confident, physically more active, and focused on the performance. Many researchers highlight the importance of mental rehearsal and how it improves neuromuscular coordination resulting in smooth movements and perfect execution. In this research, we are going to study the research that has been done to analyze the association between CIR and mental rehearsals with its other domains to boost the performance of an athlete.