Latest news with #sportspsychology
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Tom Daley reveals how a savage comment from one of his diving instructors led to him battling body dysmorphia and bulimia
Tom Daley has revealed that his issues with body dysmorphia and bulimia were triggered by a savage comment made by one of his diving instructors. The former Olympic diver, 31, candidly opened up about his struggles with body issues and eating disorders in his new documentary, Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds. He recalled how a shocking comment made by an instructor led to him obsessing over his weight and food. Tom explained: 'At the end of 2011 I was told that I would have to lose weight by our performance director at British diving, and that I was overweight and that I needed to look slimmer, leaner and more like I did in 2008. 'It was the first time where I felt that I was being looked at and judged not for how I did in the diving pool, but for how I looked. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. 'I took then some quite drastic measures to make sure that the food did not stay in my stomach let's put it that way.' He candidly went on: 'A rational person would know that I wasn't fat, but that was all that I could think about in the build up to the Olympic Games. I had a diary that I would write in, and at the top of it, I'd write the date and my weight. 'I was kind of left on my own devices, and kind of left with that struggle by myself, because even when I was having these meetings with my sports psychologist, I didn't know how to bring that out, because every time I said it out loud, I knew it felt silly. 'But in my head, it was the biggest thing that I would always think about every day, every time I made a decision about what I was going to eat, if I was going to eat it and then get myself so hungry that I would end up eating so much and bingeing to the point where I was then so guilty that I then had to do something about that.' The gold medallist admitted that he felt 'very alone' and unable to talk to anyone about his struggles, because he felt as though men weren't supposed to have mental health issues. Tom said: 'I still feel like ashamed talking about it now, because, like, once you're on the other side of it, it seems so easy just to stop and ask for help, but when you're in it, you feel like you can't be helped. 'Guys didn't have eating disorders. Guys didn't have any problems with their mental health. 'Guys were meant to be these macho things that get on with anything and you just keep going. I was not that, I didn't know who I could talk to. He previously spoke of his early career struggles ahead of the release of his new Discovery+ documentary, Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds, in June (pictured in 2008) 'The running theme here is that I felt very alone in all of the things that I was dealing with.' Body dysmorphia is a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance. These flaws are often unnoticeable to others, according to the NHS. Bulimia (bulimia nervosa) is an eating disorder and serious mental health condition. according to the NHS. Tom previously reflected on his body issues earlier this year, telling Fashion Magazine: 'I had moments of real struggle. In 2011, my performance director told me that I was overweight and that I needed to look like I did when I was 14 - I was nearly 18 at the time. 'That was the first time I felt like somebody was looking at my body - not from a performance point of view but by what it looked like.' 'I struggled with all kinds of different issues around body dysmorphia and bulimia.' After retiring from diving in 2024, Tom has set his sights on projects including the upcoming knitting show with Channel 4, Game of Wool. The documentary forced him to look back on the good and bad of his Olympic career. The diver said he felt particularly alone as a man suffering from an eating disorder. He added: 'It was not something that men talked about. It was like, 'Well, that only happens to girls. So I felt very alone in that experience.' But while Tom was candid about the darker side of his athletic career, he said he is excited to tell his children about it. Tom shares two children - Robert 'Robbie' and Phoenix Rose - with his husband Lance Black. They welcomed the twins in 2023 via a surrogate. Tom said: 'There's so much archival footage that I've never seen before, so it was very surreal to look back on it. 'It made me very emotional, but I'm really excited to be able to show it to my kids in the future: 'This is what I did as an athlete and what I'm extremely proud of.'' The former diver turned knitting extraordinaire explained that over time, his priorities shifted towards his family. He added: 'By the time the Tokyo Olympics came around [in 2021], I realised I was more than just a diver. 'Between 2016 and 2021, I got married, we had a kid and my priorities shifted.' Touching upon his changing priorities, Tom said that knitting became a healthy distraction for him. He explained: 'During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics; we had such severe lockdowns that knitting actually became my superpower. 'It allowed me to really stay present and have a healthy distraction.' WHAT IS BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER? Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), or body dysmorphia, is a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance. These flaws are often unnoticeable to others. People of any age can have BDD, but it is most common in teenagers and young adults. It affects both men and women. Having BDD does not mean you are vain or self-obsessed. It can be very upsetting and have a big impact on your life. Symptoms of BDD You might have BDD if you: worry a lot about a specific area of your body (particularly your face) spend a lot of time comparing your looks with other people's look at yourself in mirrors a lot or avoid mirrors altogether go to a lot of effort to conceal flaws – for example, by spending a long time combing your hair, applying make-up or choosing clothes pick at your skin to make it 'smooth' BDD can seriously affect your daily life, including your work, social life and relationships. BDD can also lead to depression, self-harm and even thoughts of suicide. You should visit your GP if you think you might have BDD. If you have relatively mild symptoms of BDD you should be referred for a type of talking therapy called cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which you have either on your own or in a group If you have moderate symptoms of BDD you should be offered either CBT or a type of antidepressant medication called a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) If you have more severe symptoms of BDD, or other treatments don't work, you should be offered CBT together with an SSRI.
New York Times
16-05-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Five small habits sports psychologists wish everyone did
When Dr. Elizabeth Nobis has a pile of tasks that start to overwhelm her, she sometimes pauses and does 10 to 15 push-ups. 'Every time I get up after that, I feel just a little more like, 'OK, I can do this,'' she said. For Nobis, a sports psychologist in the University of Pennsylvania's athletic department, it's a small habit she developed in high school that helps her reset her attitude. It's also the kind of mental tool that anyone can try. Advertisement We asked Nobis and several other sports psychologists for small habits they wish everyone would do. Dr. Kirsten Cooper is a clinical and sports psychologist who works with Fortune 500 companies and professional athletes. She believes that substituting the word 'but' for 'and' when we speak can make a difference. By just tweaking the way we talk to ourselves, we're expanding our emotional capacity to have multiple emotions at once, while preventing them from triggering poor performance. Cooper gave a couple of examples to illustrate her point: 'I'm uncomfortable and I can stay in the present' and 'I'm angry and can act like a sportswoman.' 'We're developing distress tolerance for discomfort,' Cooper said. This helps us move away from negative thinking. The idea is that 'and' means two things can be equally true, while 'but' pins two parts of a sentence against each other. 'I can perform but I'm nervous.' 'I'm nervous and I can perform.' It can be hard to remember to do, though, when the way we speak becomes almost subconscious. For that reason, Cooper recommends creating a little reminder for yourself, like painting one thumbnail a different color from the rest of your nails or hanging a sticky note with the word 'and' at the edge of your computer screen. That way, when you see that visual symbol, you remember the meaning behind it. Lorna Harkins, an assistant director for leadership and mental performance at Dartmouth College, said the most common struggle athletes approach her with is managing mistakes. 'On the field, when they would mess up, or when something wouldn't go to plan, they struggled to move on,' she said. 'They would beat themselves up in the moment and then also after the fact.' It's something a lot of people can relate to, and it's why Harkins wishes everyone would do what she calls 'scenario plan.' Advertisement 'Being able to say that it won't be perfect and it won't always work out,' she said. 'So what are the things that are going to go wrong? Then, when that happens, what are you going to do?' Having a plan for every scenario helps prevent spiraling or freezing in the moment and instead causes productive thinking. You might not feel great in the moment when the unexpected happens, but you'll have already thought about what to do ahead of time and become more resilient and mentally flexible. She asks athletes to journal and write scenarios down and then close the book. 'Because we will pick this up in time if that happens,' she said, 'but you've planned (for it) so you can let it go and focus on the present moment.' When Dr. Marc Cormier engages in small talk, the typical 'What do you do for a living?' question is usually followed by another: 'What are your best tips?' Cormier, a performance psychology specialist and the director of performance psychology for the University of Kentucky athletics, has a simple answer: Arrive on time. He views that as the 'initial gear.' 'When you think of a performance, it's like a sequence of events,' he said. 'It's like the inside of a clock; you've got hundreds of gears all turning and working together. But in the end, if that one initial gear is not working, then nothing else works.' There are two reasons Cormier said people struggle with punctuality. The first is that they self-identify with being notoriously late. A lot of times, it even becomes a running joke. But saying, 'I'm always late,' is problematic in the way that it prevents attempts to fix the issue and therefore causes the word 'late' to feel less impactful. It's also easy to blame a busy schedule. To that, Cormier says it's important to do less. 'If you find yourself in a position where you're arriving late or notoriously submitting things late, that means there are too many competing things you're trying to do,' Cormier said. 'Sometimes, we don't have that choice and everything we're doing is required. Advertisement 'From that standpoint, let's see what we can intentionally wait to do. So, 'I'm not going to clean the house today, I'll wait until Saturday as a choice so that I can get to my kid's soccer game on time.' ' Many of us are wired to rely on results to affirm us, and we chase the feeling they can bring. But our identity can also get wrapped up in those results. Dr. Ian Connole, the director of Dartmouth College's peak performance initiative, works with athletes to remember that their performance is only a small piece of a puzzle. 'The more we can move it to the 'what they do,' the more free they are to enter into that space without a reliance on every outcome being a reflection of who they are,' Connole said. While we can and should embrace great moments and feel the not-so-great moments, we should always be consciously reflecting, he said, on what matters to us. As we set out to accomplish something big or meaningful, it's not uncommon to feel overwhelmed. But Nobis said those feelings are preventable. 'Break things down into the next attainable action,' she said. 'Control what you can control at that moment. I can do one of these things. And we know that motivation begets motivation. So once you start one small thing, you're more likely to keep going.' Before Nobis begins a task at work herself, she often closes her eyes and reminds herself of the first step she needs to take, rather than dwelling on all that's ahead. It lowers the barrier in the moment, which lowers the intensity. Nobis finds that when we address emotions, like the feeling of being overwhelmed, with questions, everything can change. 'Try to name the emotional experience that's going on,' she said. 'I feel uncomfortable. Why? My body is tense. Am I feeling nervous? And then you can make deliberate choices because you notice and you have awareness.' This can be the difference-maker, she said, when taking that small first step. (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; iStock)
