This has been an extremely popular article on the site over the past 8 years. The premise of the article is the war-cry John F Murray has been making for years, namely that coaches and managers and executives and even athletes stigmatize mental illness and treat their depressed, anxious, and otherwise struggling athletes as if they have leprosy, discouraging openness to admit to problems and seek help. The end result is that psychology is seen as scary and something to avoid, players don't get the help they need, psychologists are not hired to help the teams, or it is done secretly (or as Warren Moon writes in his book, "I had to sneak into my therapists office late at night so nobody would know I was getting help"). The bottom line is that sports treats mental illness they way society might have 100 years ago, isolating them, torturing them with the silence.

A WHOLE NEW WAY TO VIEW FOOTBALL

Arizona Republic: "Football Shrink Calls It"

 This was an article in the sports page of the Arizona Republic after John F Murray first used the MPI (booking coming soon) to show how Tampa Bay was so clearly outperforming Oakland prior to the Super Bowl and actually predicted a blow-out win by Jon Gruden's monsters when everyone else was saying it would be a big win for Oakland. This article represents the MPI and a new way of rating football games that includes the mental factor in the metric. It is the topic of the upcoming book "The Mental Performance Index: Ranking the Best Teams in Super Bowl History" (World Audience, 2010) and Lesley Visser is writing the epilogue for the book.

Wall Street Journal: "Working Out Your Anxiety"

 About six years ago John F Murray started writing about how he would go for a walk with some of his clients. It made many of them more comfortable, it was fun, and it helped to reduce some of that face to face anxiety that some clients feel. It was also healthy and Palm Beach was the ideal place to do it. It was picked up by a story in the National Post of Canada, and later in this story in the Wall Street Journal.

Wall Street Journal: "After an Epic Loss, Then What

Many people (50% to be precise) lose in sports and have to learn how to cope with it. This particular article came on the heels of Tom Watson and Andy Roddick's collapses in major events and how they have to pick themselves up and move on.

PSYCHOLOGY IS FOR THOSE IN THE HALL OF FAME TOO

Newsday: "Hall of Fame NFL QB Warren Moon Talks about Benefits of Counseling

Warren Moon was elected to the Hall of Fame for his greatness at quarterback. What nobody apparently knew was that he had to sneak undetected for years into his psychotherapist's office late at night to receive the help he so needed. This is one article that highlights the absolute inanity of a sports society that rejects mental weakness and stigmatizes those who seek help openly. Pro sports are highly competitive and stressful and it should be normal for athletes to expect that a certain percentage will be struggling with something mentally just like the rest of society that may not be under nearly as much pressure or stress to excel.

WORSE THAN A BROKEN LEG

Indianapolis Star: "Indians’ Snell Deals with Depression"

Popular article about a major league baseball player afflicted with depression. This can represent any psychological disorder we care to discuss and there are hundreds! The truth is that having a medical or mental health condition will affect a person off the field, but on the field too in terms of a major distraction.

GRIEF BUSTING 101

The Star Ledger: "L.A. Angels keeping memory of late teammate Nick Adenhart close during march through playoffs"

This is a popular article and one example of many on how to cope effectively with the grief of losing a teammate or really anyone close to you. When done right, as this article shows, it can lead to greater team unity and success. So this is our example of an issue of using sports psychology to cope with a severe potential distraction effectively.