Circus Psychology: An Applied Guide to Thriving Under the Big Top

151 Pages·2022·4.019 MB·English

by  Fleur Van Rens

Circus Psychology
The lives of circus artists can be mentally and physically demanding.
Circus Psychology: An Applied Guide to Thriving Under the Big Top
is an evidence-based guide to nurturing the mental health of circus
artists while enabling them to perform at the peak of their capacities.
This book is organised into three accessible sections: mental health
in circus, optimising the circus environment to facilitate thriving, and
mental skills for thriving in circus. The frst section introduces general
mental health concepts, and provides insight into the mental health
of circus artists, the stress process, and the role of psychological re-
silience and perfectionism in mental health. The second section of-
fers insight into motivation and engagement in circus, the features of
a psychologically safe circus environment, and advice on psycholog-
ically supportive talent development environment. The fnal section
explains, applies, and provides practice material for mental skills, in-
cluding goal setting, self-talk, mental imagery, arousal regulation, and
visual anticipation.
Written by Dr Fleur van Rens, a circus artist and lecturer in sport
psychology, this book is an essential resource for those passionate
about the mental health of amateurs and professionals in the circus
industry.
Dr Fleur van Rens is a circus artist and a lecturer in sports psychology
at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia.

Circus Psychology
An Applied Guide to Thriving
Under the Big Top
Dr Fleur van Rens
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Fleur van Rens
The right of Fleur van Rens to be identifed as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Van Rens, Fleur, author.
Title: Circus psychology : an applied guide to thriving under the big
top / Fleur van Rens.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifers: LCCN 2022018105 (print) | LCCN 2022018106 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032266343 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032266435 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003289227 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Circus performers—Mental health. | Circus
performers—Psychology. | Circus—Psychological aspects.
Classifcation: LCC GV1826 .V36 2023 (print) | LCC GV1826
(ebook) | DDC 791.3092—dc23/eng/20220624
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022018105
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022018106
ISBN: 9781032266343 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032266435 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003289227 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003289227
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
Contents
List of fgures ix
List of tables xi
List of boxes xiii
About the author and illustrator xv
Preface xvii
Acknowledgements xix
SECTIONI
Mental health in circus 1
1 An introduction to mental health 3
The mental health continuum 3
Common mental illnesses explained:
depressive disorders 4
Common mental illnesses explained: anxiety disorders 5
Eating behaviour: disordered eating and
eating disorders 7
Support for people who are experiencing
mental health problems 9
Talking about mental health and providing support 10
Cultural sensitivity and mental health: a
global perspective 13
Summary 14
Reference list 15
vi Contents
2 The mental health of circus artists 17
Emotional states of stress, anxiety, and
depression in circus 17
The role of psychological resilience in the
mental health of circus artists 19
Disordered eating in circus 20
(Psychological) predictors of injuries in circus 21
Mental health consequences of injuries in
circus artists 22
Perfectionism and mental health 24
The mental health benefts of circus for
recreational artists 26
Summary 28
References 28
3 Stress, mental health, and performance in circus 32
Understanding stress 32
The Stress Process 32
The stress process: stressors in circus 34
The stress process: appraisal 36
The stress process: stress response and
behavioural consequences 37
Balancing stress and recovery in circus 38
Summary 39
References 39
SECTION2
Optimising the circus environment to facilitate thriving 41
4 Engaging circus students 43
Understanding motivation 43
Nurturing intrinsic motivation using
self-determination theory 44
Fulflling the need for autonomy in circus 46
Fulflling the need for relatedness in circus 47
Fulflling the need for competence in circus 50
How a circus artist’s attributions affect motivation 51
Summary 53
References 53
Contents vii
5 Creating a circus environment that nurtures
psychological well-being 55
Nurturing self-confdence in circus artists 55
Body objectifcation in circus 57
Clothing and body objectifcation in circus 58
Body objectifcation and social media 60
Mirrors and body objectifcation in circus 61
Coaching circus to nurture well-being 62
Consent in circus 63
Summary 67
References 67
6 Sustainable talent development in circus 70
Understanding talent development 70
The importance of holistic talent development 71
Skills transfer in circus talent development 73
Developing mental health literacy in circus 74
Mental skills training for circus artists 75
Summary 76
References 77
SECTION3
Mental skills for thriving in circus 79
7 Goal setting and self-talk in circus 81
Goal types in goal setting 81
Effective goal setting using the SMARTS
principle in circus 83
Understanding self-talk 85
Swapping thoughts in circus 88
Summary 88
Exercise answers: are these goals
SMARTS? 89
References 89
8 Mental imagery in circus 91
Understanding mental imagery 91
Purposes of mental imagery for circus artists 92
Testing and building your imagery ability 93
viii Contents
Creating effective mental imagery scripts for circus 95
Example of a motivational imagery script
for relaxation 97
Summary 99
References 99
9 Relaxation and arousal regulation in circus 101
Understanding arousal and arousal regulation 101
Types of arousal-regulation strategies 103
Somatic arousal-regulation strategies for
circus artists 104
Mind to muscle arousal-regulation
strategies for circus artists 107
Creating circus shows with the optimum
zone of functioning in mind 110
Summary 111
References 112
10 Psycho-perceptual motor skills and visual anticipation
in circus 115
Attention and motor skill execution in circus 115
The relevance of perceptual motor skills and
visual anticipation in circus 116
Testing and training visual anticipation in circus 117
The impact of psychological skills on perceptual
motor skills in circus 119
Summary 120
References 120
Epilogue 123
Index 125
Figures
2.1 Percentage of circus artists experiencing
normal, mild, moderate, severe, and extremely
severe emotional states of stress, anxiety, and depression 18
3.1 The stress process. Illustration by Sharon Krisanovski 33
4.1 E xamples of competence, autonomy, and relatedness
in circus. Illustration by Sharon Krisanovski 45
7.1 Positive, negative, and instructional self-talk.
Illustration by Sharon Krisanovski 86
9.1 The inverted U relationship between arousal and
performance. Illustration by Sharon Krisanovski 102