Social Anxiety in Baseball Revisted

This is part one of a two part series on anxiety disorders in sports.

This past week marked the arrival of the 2010 Major League baseball season.  And as with last year, this season already has three developing stories of athletes dealing with Social Anxiety. › Continue reading

Tags: Athletics, Baseball, Dontrelle Willis, Emily Kuchar, Health, Khalil Greene, Social Anxiety / Social Phobia, Sports, Zack Greinke

Cy Young, Zack Greinke, and Social Anxiety

Baseball’s best story of 2009 just got better.

As reported in a previous entry here (July 2, 2009), major league baseball has in recent years seen a spike in the number of players reporting symptoms of Social Anxiety.  Perhaps the most noteworthy example of this trend is Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals, who missed much of the 2006 season due to his struggles with the condition.

What a difference a few years makes. › Continue reading

Tags: Baseball, Cy Young, Kansas City Royals, Social Anxiety / Social Phobia, Zack Greinke

Social Anxiety / Social Phobia Research

Anyone who has ever been socially rejected or had their heart broken knows that it really hurts.  And now, researchers at UCLA have discovered evidence of a biological basis for this pain.  It appears that people with a variation of a specific gene are not just more sensitive to physical pain, but also more sensitive to social pain. › Continue reading

Tags: Anterior Cingulate Cortex, Anterior Insula, Brain Research, Mu-Opioids, Rejection Sensitivity, Research, Social Anxiety / Social Phobia, UCLA

Social Anxiety in Baseball

Anyone who reads the sports page of their local newspaper knows that there have recently been a number of professional baseball players who have been sidelined due to being diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder.  Just this past week, Khalil Greene of the St. Louis Cardinals was placed on the disabled list (DL) for the second time this season due to Social Anxiety.  He had previously been listed on the 15 day DL starting on May 29th of this year.  When he first came off the DL and returned to play in mid-June, he appeared to have responded well to the time off, as he hit home runs in his first three games.  Unfortunately, he soon started to experience batting problems, and was returned to the DL after going 1 for 17 in his next five games. › Continue reading

Tags: Baseball, Depression, DL, Dontrelle Willis, Khalil Greene, MLB, Social Anxiety / Social Phobia, Zack Greinke