wfs@mgweed.UUCP (Walt Scott) (02/01/84)
SELF - HELP
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* How Self-Hypnosis Can Help Your Performance *
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" Launch A Counterattack On "Freezing Up"
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By Duane A. Widdifield, Ph.D.:
John, a high-ranking karate instructor, had just finished
teaching the last class of the night. As he locked the door of
the martial arts studio, and turned to walk down the dark
street to his car, he was confronted by four hostile-looking
men. In the movies, if the hero found himself facing such a
situation, he would swing into action with a flurry of kicks
and punches. But on the steet that dark night, john turned
off completely. Later, he explained, I just went blank. My
body felt weak, and my mind raced with panic! Like many other
athletes, John suffered from the "stess turn-off syndrome."
The winning marathon runner who trips over his shoelace as he
approaches the finish-line, the golfer who misses a six-inch
putt for the club championship, the home-run hitter who
strikes out with the basesloaded, and the martial artist whose
mind suddenly goes blank, all may have something in common-
they all turn of under real stress.
WHAT IS THE STRESS TURN-OFF SYNDROME?
Stress is a feeling of physical or psychological pressure.
Usually, this pressure is a performance pressure, experienced
when trying to do something which will be graded or judged in
some way. Test anxiety is a typical example of this type of
stress. Turn-off means exactly what it sounds like. It is the
partial or complete blocking, or inhibition, of normal
reaction patterns. The so-called shell-shock victims on the
battlefield are examples of this reactive turn-off behavior.
A Syndrome is a cluster or group of symptoms and behavior
patterns which alert us that something is wrong with and
individual. For example, if a person has a runny nose, cough,
generalized weakness, and a mild fever, then we can say that
person has a cold or flu syndrome. All of these symptoms
together tell us that person has a cold or the flu.
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