Founder and President, Learned Excellence for Athletes
The Myth of the Violent Athlete
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.
Few things get more attention in the media than when an athlete transgresses. Psychologist Abrams will discuss the realities of violence in sports, the dynamics that may contribute to angry outbursts and athlete entitlement, and what to do to prevent and treat these dangerous behaviors.
This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by Student Senate, Psychology Club, Psi Chi, and the Wellness Center. This program was also initiated by the Clarke Forum’s student project managers.
Biography (provided by the speaker)
Dr. Mitch Abrams earned his bachelor’s of science from Brooklyn College (Pre-Med & Psychology) and earned his master’s of science in applied psychology and his 
doctorate of psychology (Psy.D.) in clinical psychology from C.W. Post/Long Island University. He received specialized training in family violence, the treatment of trauma and anger management. His dissertation demonstrated the effectiveness of an anger management program for male athletes and he has been working with anger and violence (including dating/sexual violence prevention) with athletes since. His private practice has clinical, forensic and sport psychology services where treatment focuses on anger management and the treatment of trauma stemming from various forms of abuse. Further, he is the president and founder of Learned Excellence for Athletes, Abrams’ sport psychology consulting firm.
With the Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), he is the Chair (and founder) of the “Anger & Violence in Sport” Special Interest Group (SIG). Dr. Abrams is also on the program review committee for AASP’s Annual Convention.
He has lectured at national conferences and conventions, is often solicited by the media to discuss sport psychology issues, and writes an ongoing sport psychology blog entitled Sports Transgressions for Psychology Today. Dr. Abrams contributed to The Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine edited by Lyle Micheli (2011) by writing the sport psychology entries on anger management and imagery in visualization. In addition, in 2010, he released his book: Anger Management in Sport: Understanding and Controlling Violence in Athletes. He also co-wrote the chapter on “Anger: How to moderate hot buttons” with Dr. Bruce Hale in Dr. Shane Murphy’s Sport Psych Handbook.
A licensed psychologist in NY and NJ, Dr. Abrams is also a member of APA’s Divisions 47 (Sport & Exercise Psychology), Division 46 (Media Psychology) and Division 41 (American Psychology-Law Society), as well as the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. He oversees mental health services for five of the state prisons in NJ as he is clinician administrator for University Correctional Health Care, which is part of Rutgers. He co-coordinates the forensic track of the pre-doctoral psychology internship program where he is actively involved in training young psychologists. Finally, he has been adjunct faculty at C.W. Post/Long Island University, Brooklyn College and Fairleigh Dickinson University; and currently is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Video of the Lecture