Chicago Bears: Therapy for a Chicago sports fan, session 4

“Why do I get so upset about this team? Why is it so important?”

This is huge progress, Tim.  What if I told you that that issue is a byproduct of a more significant problem?

Have you ever heard of the term- Sports Addiction?

Hmmm?… I know people who are addicted to alcohol… drugs… but sports?

You can be addicted to anything. For example, here’s a strange one — destination addiction. Most people think that’s normal, right? Or don’t even think of it as an addiction, but it is. It’s so routine that we aren’t aware of it.

I have a question for you: When you talk about “Bears Twitter,” how many times do you check it per day when you think something “big” may happen?

At least 20 times an hour.

20 times?

Yeah… I’m on the edge of my seat. It’s intense.

Almost too much, as you said. Could you call that “addiction”?

… What do I do about it then?

Good Question! I’m going to teach you something called Dialectical Behavioral Therapy– “DBT” for short. There are several layers to it, but can it help you reframe your perspective.

When you came in today, you said, “I was ready to scream. I almost burst a blood vessel” if the Bears traded for Carson Wentz.” Do you remember that?

*Nods*

Well, we are going to put DBT into practice.

First, as we learned before, let’s recognize and acknowledge your feelings.

Next, let’s be in the present moment.

Great — Now that we are here, we take the present moment and shift our perspective with the moment’s objective truth.

It will look like this:

Fact: “The Bears brought back Ryan Pace for next season.”

Truth: If we consider who the people are that made that decision, we really shouldn’t be surprised. And that’s OK”.

Or let’s say the Chicago Bears just traded for Carson Wentz a moment ago:

Fact: “The Bears traded for Carson Wentz.”

Truth: “The media had been talking about it for days. Life will go on.”

You try it with Wentz:

Fact: The Bears traded for Wentz two weeks ago.

Truth: This makes sense: He fits their offensive system and has connections to their current coaches.

Keep going!

I don’t know what’s going to happen from there. That’s scary to feel out of control, but life will go on.

Even better! You recognized your feelings and went even more in-depth with them, all the while staying in the present with the objective truth!

If the Chicago Bears take a Quarterback you dislike, instead of going for a full-fledged separation as you mentioned before, why don’t you take a trial separation taking a break from the team for a while? 

*Both Laugh*

We are out of time for this session. If there’s one Bear you could talk to in the organization right now, who would it be, and what would you say:

Mitch Trubisky, I want to see what the past four years were like for him. I also want to ask him if the “culture” of the Chicago Bears was as good as everyone made it seem.