So unless your hiding under a rock this week, you're watching at least some of the Olympics. And you're aware that Simone Biles has bowed out this week, because of the "yips, twisties, not being able to know up from down."
People think it's psychological.
It's not. It's neurological. It's in her ear. And it's know as the vestibular system. In Biles case, its evincing dysfunction. Will it heal? Or should she be looking for her next act? With athletics, with sports, with everything--you never know when your song is over and you need to learn a new tune. Occupational surety is as secure as a fiddler on the roof.
As many as 1/3 of Americans will experience some form of vestibular dysfunction as adults. Perhaps as mild as occasional dizziness, imbalance, vertigo, imbalance, uncoordinated movements, lack of equilibrium, anxiety, etc. It impacts on one's spatial abilities--the sense of where you are in time and space.
Vestibular function is fragile--it diminishes with age, with strokes, and with the repeated blows that gymnasts suffer while practicing. Gymnasts soar high and land hard. With each thud, they are dealing a blow to this fragile system.
Simone Biles has vestibular problems. She has anxiety because she doesn't have a good diagnosis and this realization came in the most public way. Everyone is commenting and talking disrespectfully. She never prepared for this--it stunned her as well as others. She doesn't know her prognosis--will her abilities recover or should she look for her act?
Worse comes to worse--people will learn about vestibular dysfunction and rehabilitation.
This is why psychologists hate me--does she need psychotherapy? Perhaps. But only after ruling out the vestibular issues and as an adjunct to discussing how her life has turned to dust by a tiny little place deep in the inner ear.
UPDATE: As we all know by now, Biles had opted to blame the recent tragedies/deaths in her family for the yips. And performed an extremely conservative balance beam competition which resulted in her earning a bronze.
But did you watch--bounce--can you hear her feet hitting the beams? Bounce-can you hear her hands hitting the beam. Thwack, Thwack. It must be like getting hit with a ruler back in the nasty days when teachers routinely did that to unruly (get it) students. Thwack, Thwack. Eight hours or more a day, every day for years. Plus falls. You wear your body out. You wear out your nerves--not as in---you're getting on my last nerve. As in--your central nervous system, the axons and dendrites which transmit messages to and from the brain. Your vestibular nerves, which tell you up from down, left from right, where you are relative to others.
But like the rest of us, Biles has the right to ignore good advice and go with what she wants. Look how that worked out for Michael Jackson.