The effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy in reducing performance anxiety in elite Turkish athletes

Performance anxiety has been a hot research topic for a couple of decade; however, the research is relatively rare with athletes. Elevated levels of anxiety symptoms may especially be problematic during a sport performance that requires increased focus, high physical strength and high control. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to reduce performance anxiety of elite athletes. 22 voluntary participants from a group of elite Turkish sprinters, between the ages of 15 and 19, were randomly assigned to CBT group or control group. After six sessions of CBT, it is expected that participants of CBT group show significantly reduced levels of anxiety before the competition, and significantly improved scores compared to participants from the control group. In accordance with a pretest-posttest design, the CBT application was held between two competitions, the scores of the competitions were used as performance measurement. The anxiety levels of participants were measured before each competition with Four Systems Anxiety Questionnaire (FSAQ). 2X2 ANOVA and Paired samples t-test detected significant differences between pretest and posttest scores of CBT group in terms of performance and anxiety level, whereas there was no significant difference for control group. The implications of the results were discussed regarding treatment of performance anxiety in sports.