DSS MANUAL

The Dialectical Sports Skills (DSS) Manual is an all-in-one resource for mental health and performance. Distinct from clinical-only or performance-only protocols, its curriculum integrates multidisciplinary methods into a single, dual-use system applicable across sports personnel. It functions as a skills workbook for athletes, a treatment guide for clinicians, a toolbox for consultants, and a sport psychology primer for medical professionals.

Organized into two sections accordingly, each chapter addresses a central clinical or performance topic, and each page presents related skills with an accompanying worksheet. The modular design enables customized care and training plans, allowing content to be flexibly sequenced.

Manual Contents

MENTAL HEALTH

Foundation
• Theory • Dialectics • Mindful Focus

Commitment
• Ambivalence • Self-Monitor

Treatment
• Diathesis–Stress • Radical Acceptance • Distress Tolerance • Emotion Awareness • Alternative Thinking • Alternative Action • Cope Ahead

Specialty Treatment
• Harm Reduction • Exposure Therapy

ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE

Basic Training
• Motivation • Confidence • Physiological Intensity • Performance Anxiety • Routines • Imagery

Interpersonal & Team
• Communication • Conflict • Team Dynamics • Diversity

Well-being & Recovery
• Athletic Wellness • Injury • Sleep • Travel • Eating • Retirement