Sports Related Anxiety Disorder: How to Recognize the Symptoms & What to do Next
One of the most common social anxiety disorders to manifest in the month of October is Sports-Related Anxiety Disorder (SRAD). This condition was first recognized by children watching their parents lose it over referee calls at their soccer game. It then presents itself later in life when one gains allegiance to their local sports franchises. SRAD is quite common during October due to the high volume of professional sporting events taking place during this particular month.
Symptoms may include, but are not limited to:
- - Profuse sweating or pacing whilst watching a sporting match.
- - Shouting at players, announcers, coaches, referees or opposing fans through TV screens, knowing they cannot hear what is being said.
- - Increased heart rate.
- - Fear of seeing friends & family who may support opposing teams.
- - Obsessive reading of websites and publications related to the sport in question
- - Refusal or inability to even watch a play or end of a game for fear of it not going your team’s way.
Once you know you or a loved one is beset with this illness, there are, thankfully, some steps one can take to help mitigate this condition.
First, limit sports viewing to once or twice a week. This will help with the physical symptoms by putting less stress on the heart. Watching alone is not as fun as watching in a crowd, but is also helpful. In this way, one is not embarrassed by the sweat stains or cowardice when turned away from the screen.
Second, do not participate in any Fantasy Sports leagues. It’s hard enough when you have a vested interest in one team’s fate, but caring about all of the games only increases SRAD. Football is the worst offender in creating SRAD cases, in that the stakes and social punishments tend to be high when one is not successful.
Lastly, watch your alcohol intake while you are viewing a game. Make sure to hit the sweet spot of getting a nice buzz and having fun without tipping the scale toward drunken belligerence. All of those symptoms mentioned above are just going to be exaggerated by the booze, and it’s not worth breaking things or pissing off friends & family when the SRAD kicks in but good.
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