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Emotions often run high at sports events and giving vent to them can easily cross the line into verbal abuse. Familiar images are coaches screaming at athletes, athletes getting in other athletes' faces, and fans jeering athletes when they miss a play.
"Verbal abuse is mean-spirited, scathing, and relentless in its goal of causing harm," said Robert Burton, M.D., a psychiatric consultant to the Chicago Bears, at APA's 1998 annual meeting in Toronto. The symposium was cosponsored by APA and the International Society for Sport Psychiatry.
Verbal abuse in sports is particularly humiliating and damaging because it's done in a public arena, said Burton, who is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago.
Further, he said, "The imbalance in age and authority between a coach and player can amplify verbal abuse."
The effects of verbal abuse on the victim include anger, which can prompt verbal abuse of the perpetrator; increased aggression sometimes leading to violent behavior; depression; withdrawal from the team; and substance abuse, according to Burton.
Players on the same team may respond differently to verbal abuse. While some may become demoralized and depressed, others may become angry and overly aggressive. The end result can be morale problems and diminished performance, said Burton.
"However, athletes with sufficient ego-strength and support from significant others such as family members or peers will recognize that the abuse is unhealthy and decide whether to withdraw from the team and even leave the school."
Burton recalled a college coach with a reputation for being verbally abusive commenting about one player's decision to leave the team and transfer to another university. " 'I don't know why people wouldn't support us, with what we've done here and our kids have done. If you can't support what we've done here, you've got to be a moron,' " Burton quoted the coach as saying.
The public also tends to blame the athlete when the athlete decides to leave the team. "We need to educate the public that leaving an abusive situation is a sign of strength, not weakness," he observed.
Spectators may prefer not to complain about abusive behavior in sports because "it offers them a vicarious release from their pent-up frustrations accumulated from living in an overly crowded, competitive, and impersonal society," Burton observed.
Moreover, no authoritative or knowledgeable group has opposed or argued against such behavior. "Sports psychologists have attempted to rationally argue that such behavior is contrary to optimal performance and to the student athlete's stated goal of having fun. However, based on our clinical knowledge, psychiatrists can argue that verbal abuse is unnecessary and harmful on many levels. As physicians, we do not want to condone, endorse, or promote this behavior in any way, shape, or form."
Burton noted optimistically that some coaches including Larry Byrd and Phil Jackson "don't rant and rave at their players, but rather engage them and motivate them to want to win a championship. They seem to recognize that the costs of abuse outweigh the potential benefits."