Athletes
Ath•lete: a person who is proficient in sports & other forms of physical exercise. (Oxford Languages)
Brynne works with various athletes across a variety of disciplines. These include the everyday athlete or "weekend warrior", high school, collegiate, amateur, Olympic, competitive, retired, and/or injured professionals.
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The lifestyle & world of an athlete often possesses extraordinary circumstances which can cause unique mental health challenges. Because this population has historically been undefined within the mental health field, their unique issues have been overlooked.
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Brynne's practice's mission is to recognize athletes as a distinct population in need of specialization & to help athletes gain the insight & understanding essential to living a satisfying life. Below are some examples of the unique difficulties athletes face & the impacts they can have.
maintaining a narrow & strict definition of success
- You equate success, winning, & progress with happiness
- You don't accept anything less than 100%
- Less than 100% means you're a bad person/athlete/teammate
- You solely define yourself by your achievements
- You have unrealistic expectations of yourself
- You set extreme goals
- You engage in unhealthy behavior in order to achieve
your expectations & goals
- You sacrifice your health, free time, work, & relationships
- You cycle through times of high & low motivation
- Your mood, outlook, & self-esteem are significantly altered
by your performance
Identity
​- You feel unsure of your identity outside of sport
​- You don't know what you want out of life, where your interests lie, what
you are passionate about, & what else makes you you outside of sport
since much of your time & energy have been focused on one thing
- You feel sort of lost, aimless, & uncertain after retirement
- You may question how & why you ended up here
- You feel resentful towards those who may have pressured or
forced you into a life centralized around your sport
emotional detachment &
challenging interpersonal relationships
- You have a hard time accessing, understanding, & communicating your
feelings because your athlete training conditioned you to suppress them
- You struggle to relate & connect to those around you on a deeper level
- You have a hard time establishing healthy & long-term friendships &
romantic relationships
- You feel insecure about opening up about your feelings for fear of being
perceived as weak, losing a competitive edge, & risking your position
Self-esteem &
authentic confidence
​- You struggle to feel confident in your abilities & yourself overall
- You have difficulties affirming & complimenting yourself - it feels
uncomfortable, inauthentic, or maybe narcissistic
- You often beat yourself up over minor mistakes for hours or even
days & weeks at a time
- You struggle to get past mistakes because they linger
in the back of your mind
- You have a tendency to hyperfocus on the negative
& discredit the positive
- You have a hard time believing the compliments people give you
- While, simultaneously, you may have become reliant on your
performance, teammates, coaches, & fans to feel happy or good
Depression & Anxiety
- You feel isolated & lonely, even when surrounded by others
- You don't truly feel happy but think you should & are unsure why
- You feel misunderstood by family, friends, or spouses
- You've developed a skewed body image, disordered eating habits,
or establish a poor relationship with food
- You're experiencing overwhelming emotionality due to the grief & loss
cause by an unexpected career/sport altering/ending injury, graduation,
or retirement
- You struggle to control your reactions to fear, pressure & stress
​- It's challenging for you to balance work, life, school, & sports - you
consistently feel stress & pressure from all areas
- You feel like a disappointment or failure
adapting to
post-sport life
- You struggle or are unable to structure & manage your time since being
accustomed to a strict training regime
- You feel uncomfortable being alone & doing things on your own
- You have a hard time trusting yourself, your "gut", & your instincts
- You often look for validation or confirmation from others on your thoughts, feelings, & decisions
- You're often indecisive - overanalyzing all possible options & outcomes
- You feel like you constantly need to prove yourself, your worth,
& your dedication
- You have a hard time doing what you really want to do because
you're afraid of letting people down
chronic pain,
PTSD, OCD, & more
- You live with chronic pain due to injuries or overuse & now live
with frustrating emotional & physical impacts
- You experience symptoms related to PTSD due to sport-related physical
or emotional traumas such as injuries or abusive coaches
- You experience symptoms related to OCD since living a strict &
regimented lifestyle such as body issues, food issues, etc.
