If you’ve recently been injured then you are in this first phase of reacting to your injury. You are trying to mentally and emotionally process what happened, how it is impacting you now, and predict how it impacts your future. We are going to look at a few psychological aspects that are impacting you now.
The Sense of Loss
Regardless of if your injury is short-term, long-term, or season/career-ending, you may be feeling a sense of loss. If you feel a sense of grief, like losing a loved one, you are not alone. Many athletes experience this when coping with an injury. It makes sense because you are or will be immediately absent from competition. That can lead to a disruption of identity, purpose, and social connections you’ve built through sport. You might experience feelings of frustration, anxiety, or sadness.
Appraising What is Happening
How we see an event depends upon how we appraise it. That goes for anything, really. If someone brings you ice cream and it is your favorite flavor, you’ll assess that as more exciting than if it is a “meh” flavor. It is the glass half empty vs. glass half full situation.
Appraisal —> Perspective —> Thoughts —> Feelings —> Behaviors
We can see how this overlaps with understanding stress. One person may be apprehensive about an upcoming in-class presentation while another is barely concerned; this difference comes from how each individual interprets the event. Those interpretations can differ based on personal characteristics, past experiences, and the value placed on the event. We call these cognitive appraisal models.
Explore more about each element by clicking below.
The way we appraise our injuries depends on the combination of personal and situational factors. You may appraise your injury differently than someone similar to you with the same injury. You may also appraise a second or different injury differently. It all depends upon our personal and situational factors. Sometimes, a professional can help you shift the way you appraise the situation so that it is more effective for your recovery.
Emotional and Behavioral Responses
After we appraise the situation, it impacts our emotions…our emotions impact our behaviors. Those impact our physical and psychological recovery. Using the same chart above, let’s look at the responses after we appraise the situation.
If you are in a more negative mood, you may be less likely to see your injury as a challenge instead of a threat. As you go through rehabilitation/PT, you will be most successful if you have a more positive, optimistic response. You’ll read more about that in Adhering to Rehab page. Right now, it is important to understand how you are appraising your injury and how that is impacting your emotions and behaviors.
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