Psychoanalytic Perspectives On Intense Involvement in Sports

Irwin Hirsch, Ph.D., supervises and teaches at the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis, the William Alanson White Institute and the NYU Postdoctoral Program and at other psychoanalytic institutes nationallyPhillip Blumberg, Ph.D., is a faculty member and supervisor at the William Alanson White Institute and Adjunct Associate Professor in the doctoral program in Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University.Robert I. Watson, Jr., Ph.D., is a supervising psychoanalyst at the William Alanson White Institute and faculty member at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy.

• AcknowledgementsList of ContributorsIntroduction: on intense involvement in sportsIrwin HirschPsychoanalytic perspectives on intense involvement in sportsBaseball’s bisexualityAdrienne Harris Some reflections on the romance and degradation of sports: watching and metawatching in the changing transitional space of sportSteven Cooper Revaluing sportsDon Greif The sensibility of baseball: structure, imagination, and the resolution of paradoxStephen Seligman Serve, smash, and self-states: tennis on the couch and courting Steve MitchellJean PetrucelliA psychoanalytic look at sports fandom The faith of the fanW. B. Carnochan A relational view of passion in sports and the group experienceRobert I. Watson, Jr. Sports—applied psychoanalysis: par excellence James Hansell Sports and psychoanalytic therapy Early adolescence and the search for idealization through basketball and its celebrities: a developmental perspectiveChristopher Bonovitz The athlete’s dreamHoward M. Katz Recommend aerobic activity to our patients? One psychoanalyst’s perspectiveJohn V. O’Leary Marathons, mothering, and the maelstrom of trauma: running away with yourselfStephanie Roth-GoldbergIndex

"This wonderful book is a gift to us all. The editors have done a superb job of bringing together a collection of articles on a fascinating and much neglected topic that are as informative as they are delightful. By exploring the psychological aspects of sports, this book breaks new ground and does so in a way that enriches our understanding of both fields. For sports enthusiasts and all those in the mental health field who have an interest in sports, this Is a book to savor and enjoy." - Theodore Jacobs M.D., Training and Supervising Analyst, New York Psychoanalytic Institute."At long last, psychoanalysts take a serious and respectful look at sports and sports devotees, both as participants and fans. This long overdue book, authored by sophisticated and experienced psychoanalysts acknowledges sports (play?) as an integral part of life, and a bellwether for understanding gender assembly, group and mob dynamics, and, above all, passion—that irrational impulse that makes our lives meaningful. As contemporary psychoanalytic inquiries tend to do, it conflates the teller with the tale so one also gets a glimpse of the authors’ own experience in sports. It is an original, readable and informative volume and I would heartily recommend it to colleagues and a general audience alike. - Edgar Levenson, M.D, Fellow Emeritus, Training. Supervisory Analyst and Faculty William Alanson White Institute."In a refreshing move outside the consulting room, Hirsch, Blumberg, and Watson invite us to contemplate the dynamic element embedded in the physical – and the observing of the physical. Essays written by eminent male and female analysts ask us to consider sports from an analytic point of entrée: What do sports do for us? Why do we play? Why do we watch and cheer? Engaging for the avid player, fan and those not involved with sports at all, this book addresses the intersection of psychodynamics and the passionate involvements we use to get away from our ordinary selves." -Joyce Slochower, PhD. NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis