Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with Athletes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/sjsep.v7i.150889Keywords:
Applied sport psychology, Cognitive defusion, Functional contextualism, Psychological flexibility, Relational frame theoryAbstract
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) appears to be ubiquitous in sport, becoming a dominant approach to sport psychology in Scandinavia. Yet most resources are typically outside the academic literature. Therefore, aside from case study reports, little is known about how ACT can be adopted as a psychotherapeutic approach to sport psychology delivery. This paper provides professional practice insights into the application of ACT in sport over and above what can be typically portrayed in research studies. We outline how sport psychology practitioners can introduce ACT to sport settings, consider the delivery of ACT via different modalities (individual consultations, brief and single session interventions, and workshops), and discuss assessing the effectiveness of ACT in sport. We hope this paper encourages sport psychologists to adopt ACT in their work.
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