Reaading this thread made me think of my son, Mike. He'll be 14 next week and a really nice, bright, polite kid. He's a very talented footballer (soccer, that is), he regularly wins Man Of The Match awards, and come the end of the season he always picks up one or more of the players/parents/managers Player of The Season awards. But every week, out on the pitch he beats himself up because he thinks he isn't good enough. If he tries something and it doesn't come off, he'll descend into a black mood, his body language changes and he stops contributing until he comes out of it. His team mates are always really supportive and try to encourage him, and he's never had anything but support and encouragement from his mother and me. He knows that when he goes into one of his 'stresses' he's just wasting energy that could be channelled positively, but he can't help it. He knows, on a rational level that he's a good player, maybe a very good one, but he'll still come off the pitch thinking he's rubbish if he hasn't lived up to his own standards. I really don't know how to help him, beyond talking through his feelings and giving him my love and support but I think that the football is just the most obvious manifestation of a deeper problem. And what really worries me is that he's recently started getting into playing the guitar.....