Rituals are commonly seen among basketball players’ visits to the free throw line. Fans might say these rituals are NOT as agonizing as baseball players making their routine visit to home plate 3-5 times a game. I recently heard a broadcaster ask “Does the player need to adjust his batting gloves on both hands several times after a ball that he didn’t even swing at?” When they aren’t doing it for show, athletes perform rituals as a way to bring structure and organization to their implicit memory, emotional energy, and motivation. While some rituals can be annoying or gross (like chewing and spitting tobacco), these rituals actually help the mental faculties of the athlete. In some cases, sports psychologists encourage developing rituals.
It is not uncommon for married individuals who rely on rituals to remind their spontaneous spouses to do “the same thing each time” in order to not lose the keys. Of course, how this is communicated determines the extent of whether or not this becomes a source of conflict in the relationship. Rituals prevent overwhelm and multi-tasking from causing emotional flooding, or simply prevent distractibility to the point of losing track of the keys. By the way, educational researchers have shown that people just don’t multitask well. In interviews, asking about multi-tasking may be a common general question (perhaps, a soft ball question), but the bottom line is that multitasking is really a myth. Cognitively, it just doesn’t happen in a smooth way. It is actually better to not multi-task (contrary to popular belief) and just focus on one thing at a time. Rituals help with focus and concentration in the midst of distractions.
One of the essential treatment tenets for helping individuals with ADHD is actually helping them to develop rituals. ADHD encompasses a wide range of problems including hyperactivity, restlessness, and difficulty solving problems. In children, ADHD is commonly associated to relationship problems and learning problems. In adults, ADHD is associated to depression and increased alcohol consumption (among other things). Rituals actually help ADHD. One of the things that happens in cognitive behavior therapy is that therapists help clients with ADHD develop appropriate rituals.
In contrast, rituals only reinforce problems for individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD has become common household nomenclature and has become popularized in pop culture and media. According to research (Antony, Downie, & Swinson, 1998), the most common type of ritual is checking (80.7%). The next most frequent compulsive behavior is washing and cleaning (63.7%), followed by repeating (55.5%), ordering and arranging (40.1%), counting (35.2%), and then hoarding (28%). These rituals help individuals relax, but they actually increase anxiety.
It is interesting to see how depending on one’s unique personality, disposition, and sets of problems, rituals can help or hurt (particularly long-term). Generally speaking, anxiety treatment usually involves reducing ritual engagement.
References
Antony, Downie, & Swinson, (1998). Diagnostic issues and epidemiology in obsessive-compulsive disorder. In: R. P. Swinson, & A. M. Martin (Eds.), Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Theory, research, and treatment (pp. 3–32). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
It is not uncommon for married individuals who rely on rituals to remind their spontaneous spouses to do “the same thing each time” in order to not lose the keys. Of course, how this is communicated determines the extent of whether or not this becomes a source of conflict in the relationship. Rituals prevent overwhelm and multi-tasking from causing emotional flooding, or simply prevent distractibility to the point of losing track of the keys. By the way, educational researchers have shown that people just don’t multitask well. In interviews, asking about multi-tasking may be a common general question (perhaps, a soft ball question), but the bottom line is that multitasking is really a myth. Cognitively, it just doesn’t happen in a smooth way. It is actually better to not multi-task (contrary to popular belief) and just focus on one thing at a time. Rituals help with focus and concentration in the midst of distractions.
One of the essential treatment tenets for helping individuals with ADHD is actually helping them to develop rituals. ADHD encompasses a wide range of problems including hyperactivity, restlessness, and difficulty solving problems. In children, ADHD is commonly associated to relationship problems and learning problems. In adults, ADHD is associated to depression and increased alcohol consumption (among other things). Rituals actually help ADHD. One of the things that happens in cognitive behavior therapy is that therapists help clients with ADHD develop appropriate rituals.
In contrast, rituals only reinforce problems for individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD has become common household nomenclature and has become popularized in pop culture and media. According to research (Antony, Downie, & Swinson, 1998), the most common type of ritual is checking (80.7%). The next most frequent compulsive behavior is washing and cleaning (63.7%), followed by repeating (55.5%), ordering and arranging (40.1%), counting (35.2%), and then hoarding (28%). These rituals help individuals relax, but they actually increase anxiety.
It is interesting to see how depending on one’s unique personality, disposition, and sets of problems, rituals can help or hurt (particularly long-term). Generally speaking, anxiety treatment usually involves reducing ritual engagement.
References
Antony, Downie, & Swinson, (1998). Diagnostic issues and epidemiology in obsessive-compulsive disorder. In: R. P. Swinson, & A. M. Martin (Eds.), Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Theory, research, and treatment (pp. 3–32). New York, NY: Guilford Press.