Psychological interventions for competitive anxiety and emotional regulation in athletes: a quality-appraised, mechanism-oriented systematic review

  • Eval Edmizal 
    Universitas Negeri Padang
    Indonesia
  • Amirzan Amirzan
    Universitas Jabal Ghafur
    Indonesia

Abstract

This systematic review adheres to the PRISMA 2020 framework to synthesize psychological interventions for competitive anxiety in athletes, addressing the fragmented nature of prior research. Following a search of Scopus for English literature covering anxiety, emotion regulation, mindfulness, relaxation, breathing, imagery, and self-talk across 865 initial records, studies were screened and evaluated using FICO criteria. Ultimately, 50 studies published between 2021 and 2026 met all quality standards for final analysis. The findings reveal that mindfulness-based interventions—particularly programs like Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement—deliver the most stable and consistent effects in alleviating both cognitive worries and physical tension. Additionally, multi-week imagery and relaxation techniques yield reliable improvements, while multi-module comprehensive programs further enhance psychological resilience and self-confidence under pressure. These insights provide coaches and sports psychologists with evidence-based foundations for pre-competition preparation, while future research should prioritize large-scale randomized controlled trials, standardized anxiety measurement tools, and extended long-term follow-up monitoring.

Keywords
  • Competitive anxiety
  • Emotion regulation
  • Mindfulness
  • Mental skills training
  • Athletes
Lisensing Information
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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