Case report on a clinical sport psychological intervention for a rugby player

Abstract

Clinical sport psychology is an example of a differentiated and specialized discipline. This case study report focuses on a successful, long-term, clinical sport psychological intervention for a 24 year old, male, professional rugby union player. The athlete self-referred, through accessing a 24 hour rugby helpline service, owing to depression and anxiety which he had experienced following injury occurred whilst playing rugby. The 15 month intervention covered Person Centered, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Psychological Skills Training (PST), Mindfulness, Flow and HeartMath Techniques. A mixed methods quantitative and qualitative technique was used. The case study is instructive with regard to (a) integration of theory and practice of clinical and sport psychology (b) integration of different types of intervention (c) integration of different modes of intervention. Intervention was experientially positive, appreciated and recommended.

Keywords: Clinical sport psychology, case study, cognitive behavioral therapy, psychological skills training, HeartMath