This is a part of the letter that we sent tha last July to Rob Schwarb, if you want to get back to English home page you can click here, to go to Italian site you can click here

Here is a brief abstract about our work:

Psychoanalytical aspects of sport activity:the defence mechanisms.

This study reports the results regarding a new method of direct clinical observation applied to the field of sport.
The subjects were schoolchildren (aged 7 and 12) involved in fencing activity in elementary school in Milan, subdivided into 3 groups of 12,48, and 48 subjects. A new observation grid was ysed, applied to atlethic behaviour and to the relative defence mechanisms. The chosen sport was that of fencing, for its characteristic and dual interaction.(Such studies were later extended to the dualistic disciplines of tennis and table tennis.)
The work was structured in such a way that the two atletes could be simultaneously observed during the competitive phase in order to single out those stereotyped andrepetitive actions which can give an indication of behavioural psychopthatology.From the study it emerged that the main mechanism noticed was that of negation and that it diminished as competitive behaviour increassed,leaving space to other defence mechanisms.In some cases certain mechanisms were repeated and then fixed but later on,excepting some particular cases,they were gradually redistributed and realigned as competitive interaction mediated by the rules of the fencing discipline continued.

This is an Example of Grid:

strongly attack and then consol adversaryannullment

bold behaviour in front of adversary negation

attribute one's attitude to adversary projection

no action for phisical causes somatization

playing for pleasure of "audience" and masters sublimation

et cetera

Are you interested to propose a grid to apply Defense Mechanism to golf?

If you do, send it us.

Best wishes,
Giovanni Lodetti