injury or falls, or due to repetitive thought process”, showed reduced cognitive “debilitating and somatic anxiety and increased self-confidence after three EMDR sessions, with effects maintained 90-days after the intervention (Arnold, 2004). Similarly, state anxiety and heart rate were reduced after three EMDR sessions in swimmers reporting distressing past swimming experiences (Graham & Robinson, 2007). Second, EMDR has been combined with graded exposure to treat performance blocks, or the in sport, conceptualizing such difficulties as a form of anxiety (Bennet & “yips” Maynard, 2016). Processing memories of painful life events, reframing negative cognitions and reducing anxiety levels in two athletes led to an improved ability to execute the movement required. Similarly, performance enhancement protocols have used EMDR in business and sport (Foster, 2012; Foster & Lendl, 1995; Gracheck, 2011). This form of EMDR places greater emphasis on present performance, goal realization and adopting techniques from the field of sport psychology including goal-setting, arousal control and imagery however to date little empirical exploration exists. Given sport performance is shaped by a number of related psychological factors, including self-efficacy (Moritz, Feltz, Fahrbach, & Mack, 2000), pre-competition anxiety (Woodman & Hardy, 2003), and the influence of (negative) imagery (e.g., Hanton et al., 2004; Nordin & Cumming, 2005), EMDR has the potential to modify the effects of negative experience(s) and imagery. However, to date no published work exists on the area of future oriented imagery in sport. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to add to the extant literature by exploring the effects of EMDR on negative prospective imagery in a sample of amateur golfers. Based on the extant clinical literature, we hypothesized that a brief series of standard protocol EMDR sessions would alter imagery meaning and effects, and that addressing such imagery would reduce cognitive and somatic anxiety. Method
injury or falls, or due to “debilitating repetitive thought process”, showed reduced cognitive and somatic anxiety and increased self-confidence after three EMDR sessions, with effects maintained 90-days after the intervention (Arnold, 2004). Similarly, state anxiety and heart rate were reduced after three EMDR sessions in swimmers reporting distressing past swimming experiences (Graham & Robinson, 2007). Second, EMDR has been combined with graded exposure to treat performance blocks, or the “yips” in sport, conceptualizing such difficulties as a form of anxiety (Bennet & Maynard, 2016). Processing memories of painful life events, reframing negative cognitions and reducing anxiety levels in two athletes led to an improved ability to execute the movement required. Similarly, performance enhancement protocols have used EMDR in business and sport (Foster, 2012; Foster & Lendl, 1995; Gracheck, 2011). This form of EMDR places greater emphasis on present performance, goal realization and adopting techniques from the field of sport psychology including goal-setting, arousal control and imagery however to date little empirical exploration exists. Given sport performance is shaped by a number of related psychological factors, including self-efficacy (Moritz, Feltz, Fahrbach, & Mack, 2000), pre-competition anxiety (Woodman & Hardy, 2003), and the influence of (negative) imagery (e.g., Hanton et al., 2004; Nordin & Cumming, 2005), EMDR has the potential to modify the effects of negative experience(s) and imagery. However, to date no published work exists on the area of future oriented imagery in sport. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to add to the extant literature by exploring the effects of EMDR on negative prospective imagery in a sample of amateur golfers. Based on the extant clinical literature, we hypothesized that a brief series of standard protocol EMDR sessions would alter imagery meaning and effects, and that addressing such imagery would reduce cognitive and somatic anxiety. Method