Visualizing victory: the role of imagery in empowering athletes battling obsessive-compulsive disorder

Abstract

Abstract Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is one of the most common mental health disorders that can make activities of daily life more challenging, as well as adversely impact wellbeing. OCD is an anxiety disorder that presents as uncontrollable and unsolicited thoughts, mental images, and sensations, followed by obsession over them and an irresistible need to complete compulsive behaviors in attempt to challenge them and find relief. It causes fear of both one’s own thoughts and the world around them. OCD shows its place in the athletic realm where it can impact an athlete’s mentality, attention, behaviors, and goal orientation, which may potentially hinder the enhancement and proficiency of their skills and abilities, and create more difficulty for maintaining stability, responding to internal and external stressors, and exhibiting competency. Mental imagery techniques provide fundamental tools and coping mechanisms that can aid in the management and treatment of OCD; strengthening control of the mind and body and reducing the prevalence and severity of symptoms by enabling more attentiveness, enhancing executive functioning, promoting more effective responses to stressors, and benefiting personal growth. This paper first discusses OCD symptoms, characteristic identifiers, pathophysiology, diagnostic criteria, prognostic expectations, epidemiology in the general population and athlete population, pathogenesis in athletes, as well as the possible challenges associated with OCD and the potential to overcome them. Secondly, this paper defines mental imagery, the role of imagery as therapy, and how imagery can be used to combat OCD. This paper concludes with the review of imagery-based psychotherapy for OCD and educational sport psychology imagery-based interventions for OCD that can support the wellness of an athlete with OCD, encourage their development, and make them more equipped to achieve success.