A Contribution to the Psychology of Sport

The observations which form the material of this communication are derived from the analysis of a patient suffering from impotence, together with anxiety-states and depression. Owing to his feelings of inferiority, he is almost incapable of accomplishing anything in his profession or of entering into any social relations. There is only one way in which he can temporarily feel 'full power' and completely master the inner attitude which has its origin in his complexes. He does this by eagerly engaging in every possible kind of sport. During his analysis we have often been able to discover the relations between his interest in sport and his symptoms and to determine what were the impulses thus desexualized or sublimated and how he had succeeded in overcoming his castration-complex, that is to say, in making his activities in sport compensate for the inferiority feelings in which that complex expressed itself. Though such an investigation does not present anything new to the analyst, I think the material obtained is worth reporting, because the patient's early infantile experiences give us an insight into the mechanism of which the complexes made use in order to relieve the psychic apparatus through this particular outlet. This mechanism, in itself nothing new, does seem to me noteworthy in this connection, and I think it exhibits something of fundamental importance for the psychology of sport.1

During the analysis we had occasion more than once to deal with a dream which appeared in various forms and which had recurred since earliest childhood, always with the same content, accompanied by the most intense anxiety. A round object, a ball, a balloon, a circular building, a Roman column, a cloud of a round shape, a strange bird or something of the sort, was hovering above his head and threatening to fall down and destroy him. In the dream the patient sought in vain for help, and awoke with anxiety.

The analysis of this dream helped us to track down the symptoms to t