Self-criticism put into context

Players transition through times of varying degrees of form throughout their careers. When players are enduring a difficult period for whatever reason they may experience fragility in their confidence, and their reaction to errors or poor performances may be more negative compared with periods when their self-belief is high. Consequently, on-field and off-field reactions occur in response to the frustration of mistakes or dips in form. The on-field reaction can be more immediate, physiological and emotional (physical tension, agitation, lack of focus). The off-field processing can involve post-morteming (mental replaying; Gkika et al., Reference Gkika, Wittkowski and Wells2018) and cognitive reflection. Further, owing to the nature of the modern game, mistakes are repeatedly scrutinised by the media, peers and ‘experts’. In order to develop the current argument simply and clearly, three potential responses to criticism are illustrated. The first response attributes the blame for the mistake internally, the second externally, while the third describes a self-compassion approach.

1. (a) Self-critical response: players can blame themselves exclusively for the error in ways that are self-attacking and persecutory (Gilbert, Reference Gilbert2020). Their criticism may go beyond the details of the mistake, extending to dysfunctional comments about the self. The player may start to engage in a range of negative cognitive biases, including magnifying the error and its relevance to the self. The typical types of thinking one might see include: ‘It was all my fault we conceded; the manager is going to drop me; I hate myself; I can’t face my team mates’, etc. Such thinking may precipitate undesirable coping mechanisms, such as avoidance, under/over-training and alcohol misuse.

2. (b) Blame/attribution: the players displace or deflect their mistakes towards a third party (team mate/coach). In the short term this may preserve self-esteem, but it can create resentment within the team. It also prevents the footballers analysing the causes of the error, their degree of responsibility for it, and learning lessons for the future.

3. (c) Self-compassionate response: the player accepts that mistakes are part of the game. As the mistake was not intentional, their responsibility as a professional athlete is therefore to learn from it, rather than to engage in excessive self-blame or punishment. Indeed, they recognise they cannot change the past, but can only strive to be better in the future; the player can influence and exercise control over the future but not the past. The ability to use this strategy can often depend on the external support that the athlete receives from trusted sources (e.g. coaches, team therapists, family and friends) as well as previous experiences of using self-compassion cognitions.

Over time, the frequent use of strategy (a) can lead to negative consequences in terms of emotional and psychological illbeing (e.g. shame, fear of failure, passivity, objectified body consciousness, negative automatic thinking, worry, anxiety and depression), ultimately concluding in failure or developing a sense of inadequacy and/or self-hate. Moreover, negative automatic thinking, worry and self-criticism will maintain the athlete in an undesirable physiological state (e.g. heightened heartbeat, body tension), leading to sub-optimal performance (Ceccarelli et al., Reference Ceccarelli, Giuliano, Glazebrook and Strachan2019). The long-term effect of strategy (b) is a lack of appropriate self-reflection, and thereby the inability to learn from one’s errors. In contrast, the use of strategy (c) assists the athlete to accept their mistakes and maintain a balanced view of themselves and their abilities. It will also reduce engagement in negative thinking, worry and self-blame (Ferguson et al., Reference Ferguson, Kowalski, Mack and Sabiston2015; Gilbert and Procter, Reference Gilbert and Procter2006; Mosewich et al., Reference Mosewich, Crocker, Kowalski and DeLongis2013; Neff, Reference Neff2009; Reis et al., Reference Reis, Kowalski, Ferguson, Sabiston, Sedgwick and Crocker2015). Its use will help create positive coping strategies and self-care, which will in turn help maintain a more balanced physiological state (Kim et al., Reference Kim, Henderson, Best, Cunnington and Kirby2020a; Kim et al., Reference Kim, Parker, Doty, Cunnington, Gilbert and Kirby2020b). In the longer term, this strategy will help the athletes improve and maintain their wellbeing and mental health (Walton et al., Reference Walton, Baranoff, Gilbert and Kirby2020). In order to employ a self-compassion approach, the player is required to make themselves sufficiently ‘open’ to the influences of compassionate cognitions and thoughts, which can be generated either from within the self, or from external sources (Gilbert, Reference Gilbert2020). Such receptiveness is a key process and therefore it is helpful for athletes and coaches to be made aware of the importance of this feature, because there may be a negative tendency for some athletes to ‘put-up’ barriers (Gulliver et al., Reference Gulliver, Griffiths, Christensen, Mackinnon, Calear, Parsons, Bennett, Batterham and Stanimirovic2012). To a degree, the barriers may be a feature of the highly competitive environments that the elite sports people are working within, in which criticism towards the self and others is common-place; thus it requires support and coaching to counteract (Basran et al., Reference Basran, Pires, Matos, McEwan and Gilbert2019). As an example of some of the cognitions that need to be overcome, researchers have observed that some young athletes associate ‘self-criticism’ (i.e. being ‘hard’ on oneself) with their sporting successes (Ferguson et al., Reference Ferguson, Kowalski, Mack and Sabiston2014). Athletes also express concerns that showing too much self-compassion may diminish their sporting ‘edge’, and that adopting a kind and caring self-attitude would be letting themselves ‘off the hook’ (Ferguson et al., Reference Ferguson, Kowalski, Mack and Sabiston2014). Gilbert and colleagues have explored the reasons why some people struggle to use self-compassion, and why they prefer to use self-critical styles of thinking (Gilbert, Reference Gilbert2020). Gilbert and colleagues have developed self-report scales to assess both the use of self-criticism and a related concept they refer to as ‘self-reassurance’ (Gilbert et al., Reference Gilbert, McEwan, Matos and Rivis2011).

Compassionate approaches

Carraça and colleagues’ (2019, 2020) use of compassion in athletes comes from an ACT tradition which promotes the use of mindfulness, acceptance and psychological flexibility (Tirch et al., Reference Tirch, Shoendorff and Silberstein2015). They argue that using compassion leads to greater honesty and allows the athletes to take responsibility for their own actions (Carraça et al., Reference Carraça, Rosado, Magalhães, Ferreira and Serpa2020). They believe that the use of self-compassion leads to more helpful solutions both for short- and long-term wellbeing, allowing past experiences to prevent the same difficulties happening in the future (Gilbert, Reference Gilbert2020). Research suggests that compassion encourages personal improvement (Ferguson et al., Reference Ferguson, Kowalski, Mack and Sabiston2014), instead of causing complacency, denial or avoidance (Barczak and Eklund, 2018; Mosewich et al., Reference Mosewich, Sabiston, Kowalski, Gaudreau and Crocker2019). Being self-compassionate can also reduce the negative affect people experience when they encounter obstacles in their progress towards their goals (Hope et al., Reference Hope, Koestner and Milyavskaya2014). A comprehensive review of the use of self-compassion in performers (athletes, dancers, actors and musicians) was recently undertaken by Walton et al. (Reference Walton, Osborne, Gilbert and Kirby2022). Walton and colleagues identified a number of studies in which athletes perceived the ability to be self-compassionate as critical in responding to adversity (Ingstrup et al., Reference Ingstrup, Mosewich and Holt2017) and to be crucial in the development of mental toughness (Wilson et al., Reference Wilson, Bennett, Mosewich, Faulkner and Crocker2019). For athletes who choose to use self-compassion, one of the first steps is to acknowledge the stress they are constantly under, both on and off the pitch, and recognise the criticism that they may have to bear coming from coaches, fans and team-mates. Moreover, it requires athletes to admit when a mistake had been made and respond in a way that does not compromise performance and, most importantly, does not affect their mental health. In a study of women athletes who employed compassion strategies they described self-compassion as the use of ‘big picture thinking’ (recognising that the present moment is part of a larger goal, and maintaining a balanced perspective). The athletes also viewed the strategies as helping them to be optimistic, and enabling them to avoid trying to control the uncontrollable (Frentz et al., Reference Frentz, McHugh and Mosewich2019). A review by Carraça et al. (Reference Carraça, Serpa, Palmi and Rosado2018) examined 26 articles on the topic of mindfulness in the field of elite performance; the authors included self-compassion approaches within the broad umbrella of ‘mindfulness’. Two of these studies specifically focused on self-compassion techniques – Mosewich et al. (Reference Mosewich, Crocker, Kowalski and DeLongis2013) and Awamleh et al. (Reference Awamleh, Mansi and Ermely2014). In the former randomised controlled trial (RCT) study, psychoeducation sessions were given to a group of 31 females athletes prone to self-criticism. The programme was effective in terms of managing self-criticism and ruminations, reducing concerns for mistakes. Mosewich et al. found that their 7-day intervention programme helped the athletes foster self-compassion, leading to the development of better coping strategies to deal with negative events in sport. The Awamleh et al. study examined the impact of a 12-week mental skills programme, composed of self-compassion and mindfulness training on a group of 32 female university gymnasts. The results showed increased levels of self-compassion as assessed on the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, Reference Neff2003).

Research also suggests that the use of self-soothing and compassionate strategies have a positive impact on the immune system, increasing parasympathetic nervous system activity (Pace et al., Reference Pace, Negi, Adame, Cole, Sivilli, Brown and Raison2009). Regular use of self-compassion exercises (see Walton et al., Reference Walton, Osborne, Gilbert and Kirby2022) increases general wellbeing by increasing the heart rate variability (index of a healthy body; Krygier et al., Reference Krygier, Heathers, Shahrestani, Abbott, Gross and Kemp2013), and improving the person’s physiological reactivity to stress (Cosley et al., Reference Cosley, McCoy, Saslow and Epel2010; Kim et al., Reference Kim, Henderson, Best, Cunnington and Kirby2020a; Kim et al., Reference Kim, Parker, Doty, Cunnington, Gilbert and Kirby2020b). Such parameters are commonly used in elite sports, especially in football, to assess players’ readiness to perform, train and their overall injury risk. Therefore, helping athletes to master their physiological states by a means of self-soothing could have important impact on their day-to-day performance and availability to compete. Moreover, accessing a compassionate state facilitates the activation of the prefrontal cortex of the brain which is the area of the brain involved with mentalisation and problem-solving (Klimecki et al., Reference Klimecki, Leiberg, Ricard and Singer2014; Liotti and Gilbert, Reference Liotti and Gilbert2011; Thayer and Lane, Reference Thayer and Lane2000). The use of these skills is fundamental for footballers, and other athletes, to be able to adjust their performance during the match, but also in the aftermath of a game. The review by Walton and colleagues on the use of self-compassion in performers also provides a useful set of transcripts detailing how to conduct self-compassion interventions (Walton et al., Reference Walton, Osborne, Gilbert and Kirby2022). The transcripts were not designed to be used within any specific sport or profession, but demonstrate the use of breathing, body-posture and imagery in the development of a self-compassionate mindset. In the next section we will examine similar transcripts that have been used in empirical studies with professional footballers.

Self-compassion in football

Carraça and colleagues (Carraça et al., Reference Carraça, Serpa, Palmi and Rosado2018; Carraça et al., Reference Carraça, Serpa, Rosado., Palmi Guerrero and Magalhaes2019; Carraça et al., Reference Carraça, Rosado, Magalhães, Ferreira and Serpa2020) have undertaken a number of empirical studies on the use self-compassion approaches in footballers, and they were one of the first groups of researchers to undertake empirical studies within a major European professional football league. Their work is influenced by ACT perspectives, with themes of acceptance and psychological flexibility being strongly promoted (Tirch et al., Reference Tirch, Shoendorff and Silberstein2015). According to Carraça, self-compassion can help players to accept difficulties, especially during periods of harsh self-criticism. Self-kindness can often build courage and willingness to engage with what is occurring ‘in the moment’. Carraça believes that in order to stay engaged in such activities, athletes need ‘courage’ to able to be kind and compassionate to themselves. In a 2019 waiting-list controlled study (Carraça et al., Reference Carraça, Serpa, Rosado., Palmi Guerrero and Magalhaes2019), 28 elite male footballers of the Portuguese professional second league partook in a training programme called MBSoccerP (total n = 58). Carraça’s 8-session MBSoccerP contained mindfulness, acceptance and compassion-focused sessions, incorporating training in: non-judgemental thinking, empathy, distress tolerance and compassionate motivation. The results showed that the compassion elements of the training produced lowered levels of psychological distress, anxiety, and reduced levels of self-criticism. Examples of the instructions from the compassion element of the program are outlined in Boxes 1 and 2.

The example in Box 1 is a generic exercise that can be easily adapted by athletes of all sports (also see Walton et al., Reference Walton, Osborne, Gilbert and Kirby2022). In Box 2, however, there are examples of exercises taken from the MBSoccerP programme which have been shown to be particularly useful for footballers (Carraça et al., Reference Carraça, Serpa, Palmi and Rosado2018). The strategies assist the players to be ‘focused in the moment’. The examples in Box 2 present exercises to be deployed at three different phases of a football match: at the start of the game; taking place kicks; and dealing with confrontations and disputes.

Based on the ideas of Carraça, and the work of others discussed in this paper, there are seven key points for footballers to consider when employing self-compassion techniques:

1. (1) The footballers need to be encouraged to recognise and name the effect of setbacks on their mood (e.g. sadness, anger) and physiological reactions (e.g. stomach churning, muscle tension). They should develop acceptance and the ability to tolerate (‘remain with’) these states without immediately turning the experiences into problems that need to be dealt with. Moreover, mistakes should be framed not as isolated events but rather as ‘commonly’ experienced setbacks and a natural part of playing football (Neff, Reference Neff2003).

2. (2) Players need to be reminded of their personal strengths and previous successful coping experiences, as well as their own worth beyond sport. Thus, any potential excessive self-criticism needs to be counter-balanced.

3. (3) The footballers should be helped to recognise the negative impact that self-criticism has on their physical and mental health in the short- and longer term.

4. (4) Potential resistances and fears in using self-compassion should be explored and validated (Gilbert, Reference Gilbert2010). It should be explained that self-compassion should not be in any way associated with ‘looking for excuses’, ‘weakness’ and/or ‘laziness’, instead it has the potential to increase performance (e.g. by helping athletes to have the courage to deal with failure; Turner et al., Reference Turner, Chadha, Davis, Deen, Gilmore, Jones, Goldman and Terjesen2022). King and colleagues have explored the various ways irrational self-critical beliefs are formed and maintained in athletes using a REBT perspective, and they also discussed how the beliefs may be disputed (King et al., Reference King, Turner, Plateau and Barker2022).

5. (5) Compassion should be explained as the intention to use honesty and fairness in judging the footballers’ own performances and the desire of not losing sight of their sporting goals. Compassion must be framed as a way of improving performance, not hindering it.

6. (6) Exercises should be taught to facilitate compassionate self-soothing states and help regulate the footballers’ autonomic nervous system before and after a competition. Among these, there are deep breathing and imagery exercises of receiving compassion (see Gilbert, Reference Gilbert2010) which have soothing effects on internal states of activation and help to access more helpful thinking styles (see Boxes 1 and 2).

7. (7) It is important that coaches, physiotherapists, team doctors and other backroom staff are aware of the problems associated with destructive self-criticism. According to Ingstrup et al. (Reference Ingstrup, Mosewich and Holt2016), coaches need to be trained to give constructive feedback in order for athletes to develop self-acceptance even when making errors (Frentz et al., Reference Frentz, McHugh and Mosewich2019).

As a consequence of this narrative review of the area, it is suggested that the work of Carraça and others should be incorporated within the training portfolios of clubs to enable their players to cope better with criticism, both internal and external. Such training should ideally be delivered by clinicians with the appropriate expertise, experience and certification (e.g. Health and Care Professions Council registration in the UK). The wider use of self-compassion and similar approaches have the potential to improve players’ wellbeing and health, both in the long- and shorter term, and may serve as useful preventative and protective factors against common mental disorders.

While there is evidence that self-compassion can be effective with footballers, there will inevitably be barriers to introducing concepts like compassion to players. It has already been noted that mental health issues are often not discussed due to features like stigmatisation and perceptions of being weak or self-indulgent (Confectioner et al., Reference Confectioner, Currie, Gabana, van Gerven, Kerhoffs and Gouttebarge2021). The authors of this article, some of whom are currently working directly with elite footballers, suggest that the barriers could be reduced by refining the terminology, making the language more palatable to players. Furthermore, it would help if the outcomes and intentions of the clinical approaches were directly linked to performance goals or injury prevention. Such performance-based goals would also achieve greater buy-in from managers, coaches and other support staff.