Bob Fancher is internationally known for his psychological expertise. His book, Cultures of Healing: Correcting the Image of American Mental Health Care, has been used in classes at Princeton, Columbia, Rutgers, and other colleges and universities. Bob is a BCA recognized billiards instructor. Bob is the author of the book, Pleasures of Small Motions: Mastering the Mental Game of Pocket Billiards. which can be found at Amazon.com. Bob Fancher's column "Dr. TBob, Pool Shrink" was originally written for American Cueist magazine and is now available exclusively here at AzBilliards.com. Bob has just started writing a monthly column, "Mind Game," for Billiards Digest. Previous months columns are available here.
	Overcoming Narcissistic Pool Player Disorder One of the "A" players at Amsterdam Billiards East laid out the balls as if they had just been broken in a game of nine ball, without anything going down. He asked Jim Brunning, one of the true gentlemen who frequents the room, "How many times out of ten could you run this table." Jim thought about it a minute and said, "Maybe four." "But it's an open table! You oughta be able to do it at least nine," the guy explained. "You could probably do it nine," Jim answered, "because you're a true A player. I'm a true C player. Just because I look good some of the time doesn't mean I'm always good. I screw up." That kind of honesty is something to admire. It's one of the reasons Jim is a beloved figure around Amsterdam. Unlike some folks, he is always encouraging, he loves to help less experienced players, and he never lords over anyone his alleged expertise. Jim does not suffer what I call "narcissistic pool player disorder," NPPD for short. NPPD resembles the mental illness called narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). For a person with a narcissistic personality disorder, the most important task is propping up an inflated self-image. The problem is that the self-image bears only passing resemblance to reality. Lacking a firm basis in reality, the self-image is unstable. It tends to collapse with some frequency, plunging the narcissist into depression, defensive anger, and despair. NPPD is similar. If you suffer from NPPD, you have an inflated image of your ability, and you spend a lot of energy (and talk) convincing yourself and everyone else that it is true. You also spend a good bit of time depressed, irritated, and dejected about your game, because you rarely play as well as your self-image predicts. Getting over NPPD requires an honest, accurate sense of your ability. But an honest self- appraisal not only eliminates the dangers of NPPD. It also has its own positive virtues: It increases the probability that you'll enjoy your play, and thus that you will reach your real (as distinct from imaginary) potential. Let me explain by way of illustration. A few years back, I started keeping a pool journal. That it was a very humbling experience. To my immense chagrin, I found that, computed over a month's time, my average run from the break in nine ball was only about three balls! Sure, I would break and run out some times. Sure, I had plenty of five and six and seven ball runs. But the journal does not lie: My average was three. Not what I expected. On the other end of my game, I had thought that I get out from the five ball about ninety percent of the time. Whoops! I found, in fact, that I got out from five less than thirty percent of the time. How could such dismal information possibly have made me enjoy the game more? Simple: This information "resets" what I call the "threshold of satisfaction" and "the threshold of praise." The threshold of satisfaction is the point you have to reach to be satisfied with yourself. The point at which you say, "That was all right. Not bad at all." The threshold of praise is a step beyond that: The point at which you can say, "Wow, that was nice. Cool!" Whenever your play crosses one of these thresholds, you feel good. When you have an accurate sense of your ability, you can set these thresholds at reasonable levels. Your thresholds can be set at levels you have real chances of reaching. Thus, you will feel satisfaction and delight more frequently. Furthermore, if you know your real level of play, you increase your chances of improvement. Equally important, you will be able to set wise, reachable goals. To set goals, you need to understand what education psychologists call "the zone of proximal development." In plain English, that means you can reach a bit higher than where you are, but only a bit. You have to reach up, then wait until you have made that "higher" point the norm, before your "zone of proximal development" will extend higher. Knowing your real level of play, you can set goals within your zone of proximal development, rather than one within your wildest pipe dreams. We know scientifically that people learn faster this way. With reasonable goals, along with reasonable thresholds of satisfaction and praise, you will enjoy your play (and your practice) a lot more. That makes it more likely that you'll stick with it. Suppose you learn that you can get out from the five ball thirty percent of the time. A reasonable goal might be to get out from the five thirty-five percent of the time in three months. As a result, you stop being mad at yourself, and wasting energy making excuses, every time you fail to get out. Instead, you keep a journal, and you notice as you move up to thirty-two percent, then thirty-three, etc. "Wow, I see that over time I'm moving up," you can reasonably, realistically say to yourself. You feel good about your progress, not bad about your failure to fulfill illusions. With an honest self-appraisal, you will no longer chase amorphous, unreachable goals. Your practice and your play will be intelligently structured toward reasonable standards, not pipe- dreams. You will put time and energy into analyzing your game instead of wasting them inventing excuses and beating yourself up. You will be happy with your performance more of the time. 'Sounds like a recipe for improvement, to me.   All copyrights are owned by Bob Fancher. No duplication is allowed without his permission.