Dummy spits happen from time to time, especially by athletes in high-stakes situations. What is a dummy spit? It’s an adult imitating a child spitting the pacifier, it’s a brain snap; an adult tantrum; a lost temper; or a burst blood vessel (figuratively speaking). A dummy spit is a sudden display of anger or frustration in a childish manner—usually aggressively.
Head
of sports psychology at Condor Performance in Sydney, Gareth Mole, says that
athletes who blame the dummy spit on a normal release of aggression are talking
garbage—he says it’s a convenient fiction. He says it’s about lack of control;
a lack of controlling one’s own aggressive impulses. He says “a brain snap doesn’t
exist.” He calls it “an experience of overwhelming emotion.” Others call it an
abrupt disproportionate reaction to an event that didn’t go as planned.
Tom
Denson, a senior lecturer in social psychology at the University of New South
Wales maintains that people can learn to control sudden impulses of anger. He said
that American scientists have shown that after two weeks right-handed people
who trained themselves to use their left hand were less likely to have a brain
snap—i.e by retraining the mind it can be reprogrammed to adjust to unusual or “out-of-the-norm”
situations. Gareth Mole maintains that training in mental skills that teach
people to remain focused under extreme stress can help athletes calibrate
aggression in line with the demands of their sport (or career).
Bo
Hanson, coaching consultant and director of Athlete Assessments, says that “the
combination of a trigger, a strong emotion, an automatic reaction and feelings
of regret” are the sequence of events known as an Amygdala Hijack. Hanson says
the brain snap can be controlled by identifying (for each individual) the
trigger points so that the brain can be reprogrammed to respond in a more
effective manner.
Gulrukh
Tausif says trigger points could be indicative of another underlying problem,
such as bottled-up frustration, feeling trapped in a no-win situation, trouble
at work or home, or repressed emotions. In
a non-stressful situation, the thalamus in the brain (that acts as an “air
traffic controller”) directs an impulse to the cortex for processing. The
signal is then sent to the amygdala where peptides and hormones are released to
create an appropriate emotion or action. In stressful situations, the thalamus
has a different reaction, says Hanson. It reacts to the potential threat by
bypassing the cortex (the thinking brain) and the signal goes straight to the
amygdala. The amygdala reacts based on previously stored patterns—such as
flight, fight, or freeze. The Amygdala Hijack is when it leads a person to say
or do something harmful or out-of-control. Therefore Hanson says that practiced
patterns can de-escalate stressful outbursts. Even while the outburst is
happening, something can be done because the flood of electro-chemicals does
not persist—they dissipate in only three to six seconds. Hence taking deep
breaths can be enough to calm down the dummy spit.
(http://www.athleteassessments.com/articles/the_amygdala_hijack_brain_snap.html)
MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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