Abstract
There are two approaches for the provision of psychological support for athletes, namely, mental training (MT) and counseling. The view that both approaches should be clearly distinguished in terms of what they address and accomplish is advocated by most sport psychologists in Europe and the United States, and on the basis of this viewpoint, psychological support for performance enhancement is exclusively applied to MT. However, in Japan, some sport psychologists report the efficacy of the counseling approach for performance enhancement and in helping athletes demonstrate the best of their abilities. There are research tasks related to how both approaches complement each other and how cooperative relationships can be established between practitioners of sport psychology using each approach.
In this paper, a case wherein there is a clear shift in the support provided to an athlete -namely, from MT to counseling- is introduced. In the discussion on the difference between both approaches and the cooperative relationships between them in the field, this case should provide valuable information. The subject of the case study is a female student athlete practicing individual sports; the athlete had a psychological problem with regard to demonstrating her abilities. Eleven sessions of MT and twenty-six counseling sessions were conducted.
The athlete learned coping methods (flexibility and variation) during MT to address the chief complaint of "lack of control over feelings". Moreover, MT helped in distancing the athlete from the problem involving her "family," which was the underlying problem of the chief complaint, while her settlement in the team and dissatisfaction with her leader were discussed in the counseling sessions. It is believed that the cooperation between MT and counseling was effective in enhancing the different aspects of this athlete's personality, and in this case, it improved her mental ballast and performance.
