A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Anxiety in Athletes

A great deal of the literature on the relationship between anxiety and performance has come from a cognitive-behavioral perspective. This Athletic Insight paper examines the relationship between the two constructs from a psychodynamic perspective. Included is a discussion of winning and the anxiety of separation from an object relations perspective, the dread of success, self psychology, Freudian instinct theory, and the secondary gain that is found in defeat.