{"product_id":"9781912691821-skewed-to-the-right","title":"Skewed to the Right","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSport, Mental Health and Vulnerability\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eUnderstanding the psychology of the successful athlete through interviews with elite sportspeople.\u003cbr\u003eFeatures interviews with Kieren Emery, Mark Enright, Michelle Bergstrand, Luke Stoltman, Graeme Fowler, Nigel Owens, Jack Rutter, Ruth Walczak, and Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eFeatures interviews with \u003cstrong\u003eGraeme Fowler\u003c\/strong\u003e (England cricketer), \u003cstrong\u003eNigel Owens\u003c\/strong\u003e (Welsh International Rugby Union referee), \u003cstrong\u003eBaroness Tanni Grey-Thompson\u003c\/strong\u003e (Paralympian), \u003cstrong\u003eKieren Emery\u003c\/strong\u003e (GB lightweight rower), \u003cstrong\u003eMark Enright\u003c\/strong\u003e (jockey), \u003cstrong\u003eMichelle Bergstrand\u003c\/strong\u003e (British cyclo-cross champion), \u003cstrong\u003eLuke Stoltman\u003c\/strong\u003e (five-times Scotland’s Strongest Man), \u003cstrong\u003eJack Rutter\u003c\/strong\u003e (Paralympian and England cerebral palsy football captain), and \u003cstrong\u003eRuth Walczak\u003c\/strong\u003e (GB Lightweight Rower).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe demands of the high-performance athlete are huge, with many celebrated for their achievements, and put on a pedestal for admired personality traits such as discipline, sacrifice, commitment, and focus. This book seeks to explore the celebrated traits of the high-performance athlete and, by doing so, to increase awareness of the vulnerability that such traits also present. Through discussion with professional sports people and presentation of their own personal stories the book explores obsessionality, masochism, and focus, and how these characteristics can enhance performance on the field yet hinder life off it and may even develop into clinically diagnosable mental health difficulties. In psychology, assessments are based on statistical phenomena; the title \u003cem\u003eSkewed to the Right\u003c\/em\u003e is based on the ‘bell curve’ that is shown through a graph whereby the majority sit in the middle with a few clusters at either on of the extremes. The suggestion is that elite athletes are ‘skewed to the right’ on a number of key traits that put them between the ‘general’ population and those with a clinical diagnosis.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe book opens with an exploration of weight-restricted sport and how making weight is achieved through practices that become culturally acceptable in the sporting world yet would be seen to be classified as clinically diagnosable eating disorders in the medical world. It then moves on to personality traits that help and hinder – those skewed to the right: masochism, obsessionality, and focus. Part 3 looks at one trait skewed to the left – acceptance – that many sportspeople struggle with. The book closes with a section exploring points of vulnerability for all athletes and ends with a look at where we can go from here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe aim of the book is to increase social awareness of the reality of life for the successful high-performance athlete and the challenging dynamics that exist in sporting culture today. It will be of interest to psychologists, psychotherapists, trainees, and anyone with an interest in sporting culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40945941676129,"sku":"9781912691821","price":26.08,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/stand_35231700.jpg?v=1780030579","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781912691821-skewed-to-the-right","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}