Case study shows flow enhanced and somatic anxiety decreased in an elite dart thrower, suggesting psychological skills training can boost performance.
We report on a case study of an elite international-level dart thrower who reached out to the first author with hopes of decreasing his somatic anxiety symptoms and increasing his chances of experiencing flow during high-stakes competitions. Specifically, we describe the intake, need analysis, case formulation, and intervention delivery process and evaluation. The intervention program helped the client improve his performance (i.e., average points per game), experience more microflows, and decrease his somatic anxiety (i.e., hand shaking) symptoms. Proactive interventions and ongoing psychological skills training are recommended for professional athletes immersed in highly competitive settings.
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Filho et al. (2025) studied this question.
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