The Effect of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) on Anxiety and Physical Performance in Athletes

The effect of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) on anxiety has been investigated in the subject area, but the effect of EMDR on exercise anxiety and performance is very low. The purpose of this study was to investigate the Effect of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) on Anxiety and Physical Performance in Athletes. The research was a quasi-experimental design with pre-test post-test design and experimental and control groups. The statistical population of the study was Karate and Taekwondo martial arts athletes. The sample was selected based on entry and exit criteria of 30 people. The tools used in this study include the CSAI-2 Competitive Anxiety Inventory and the Digital-Pinch / Grip Analyzer MIE electronic dynamometer. Inferential analyzes of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test were used to measure the normal distribution of data. In the inferential statistics, independent t-test and dependent t-test were used. The significance level of 0.05 Data was analyzed using SPSS version 24 software. The results of this study showed that Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing on anxiety has a significant effect on athletes (P<0.001). Also, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing has a significant effect on physical performance in athletes (P<0.001). It seems that Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing affects the reduction of anxiety and increase the performance of athletes. Therefore, it is recommended that more research is done to further generalize the results.