Is watching football making you depressed?

As the football season draws to a close, most of us will be left feeling apathetic, drained or possibly frustrated. Some will be recovering from shock and feelings of anguish and anger. Even those whose season is yet to finish – awaiting cup finals and play­off games – still stand a reasonable chance of experiencing that boney finger of despair jabbing at their guts. Then, waiting in the wings, there's the World Cup, a rollercoaster of emotions which almost always ends in disappointment.

None of these feelings are new to the seasoned football supporters, but there seems to be growing evidence to suggest that, for a number of people, the low points associated with supporting a football team are edging toward clinical depression.

Steve Pope runs a psychotherapy centre in the north west and he has seen a sharp spike in football matters appearing as triggers and causes of depression amongst his patients. “If you are depressed, then your team losing can intensify that,” he explains.

“There are some for whom the weekend has been entirely ruined purely by football. Would they have been arguing and brooding if their team had won? No.”

'A club can become an extension of one’s own

_identity'

Pope has close ties with the town of Blackpool and their recent ascent into the Premier League and the subsequent fall was as hairy a ride as its well­known wooden coaster. “When Blackpool got promoted the town enjoyed a massive feelgood factor,” Pope explains. “Fans, money, media attention was centred on the town and people's self esteem was raised as a result. Then, when things started to slide and Blackpool were relegated, you saw a town in mourning.”

For many, a loss associated to a team's fortunes can be intense yet shortlived. As daily life seeps back into view, the memories of the game are contextualised and dealt with. But for some, it takes on a deeper significance. “When Steven Gerrard slipped during that Chelsea game, you could feel this massive, emotional shockwave,” Pope explains. “I am not a Liverpool fan myself, but even I found it devastating. That one moment, which has been relived thousands upon thousands of times, will be causing severe depression amongst many supporters, leaving them unable to concentrate at work, with relationships wobbling under severe strain. There could also be secondary points of friction, embarrassment and aggression as a consequence. A fight may break out between husband and wife over who takes the bins out, but essentially it goes back to Gerrard's slip. If he hadn't fallen over, the argument would never have happened.”

The numbers of fans suffering from depression issues caused by or related to football is unknown, but what is conclusive is that the notion of what it means to be a "football fan", our level of engagement with the game, has changed dramatically since the start of the Premier League. John Williams from Leicester University is an expert in fan behaviour:

“Media coverage of football has become much more pervasive, extending well beyond the limited context of sport and involving many more commentators – on blogs, phone­ins, dedicated sports channels. At the same time other traditional identity sources – family, community, politics, religion and place – seem to be in relative decline. Perhaps for some people their own identities are more tied to their local clubs as a result. A club can become an extension of one’s own identity, especially for men who find little status or satisfying identity in work or family. I was at Crystal Palace v Liverpool and a few Liverpool fans seemed to be suffering depressive attacks right there.”

Former Manchester United manager David Moyes endured a miserable season (AFP)

The expanded media coverage means losses are amplified; mistakes are analysed in forensic detail. With no way of avoiding them, those feelings of loss can easily turn into embarrassment and anger. “Football has intensified,” Williams says. “There is no escape now from hurtful post­mortems, which can go on for days. This has the impact of binding in more non­attenders and highlighting dissatisfaction – Talksport seems to exist on stimulating fan unhappiness. I think there is also the ‘democratisation’ of debate about the game which has extended the notion that everyone’s views have equal weight. We are all 'experts' and this is very powerful and keeps exchanges alive but leads to more conflict.”

With John Terry and Luis Suarez both bursting into tears in the past week or two, it's clear that for all concerned football is a more emotional business than ever. The sense of theatre has been intensified year by year, as the clubs and TV companies try to convince that it matters more and more. The message is: this game of football really matters. You must have an emotional stake in it, otherwise you're not part of the collective conversation.

Phil Banyard of Nottingham Trent University has studied the effect of failure on football fans. “Football has become a powerful, emotional driver," he says. "I think in the modern age we commodify emotion, whether it's music, politics or sport. It's engineered so we can feel. In football we are gambling with our emotions. The all­consuming media surrounding it leads to an increase in intrusive thoughts and nurtures the notion that we are the sport. Some fans are truly experiencing almost pathological levels of upset, obsession and anxiety.”

Of all fans able to cope with failure, Manchester City fans are traditionally football's grand masters (if you erase the last few seasons), yet even their fans experience problems with coping, at a time when seemingly everything has turned to roses. Scott, 23, sought treatment for depression after Liverpool beat City 3-2 at Anfield; a dramatic that swung the title race in Liverpool's favour. “I was distraught that night,” he explains, “feeling as low as I ever have. I couldn't get out of bed for work. I couldn't talk to family or friends. It sounds totally irrational, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. Every time I turned on the radio or TV there was more and more reaction to the game. There was also that feeling that however bad I felt, I knew there were Liverpool fans feeling elated. That made the hurt even harder to handle.”

Another supporter, Alistair Moncrief, writes a blog, All Or Nothing, which combines his musings on football with mental health issues. In one of his posts he explains how his relationship with his team was virtually terminated after a bout of clinical depression. “Honestly I was a bloody nightmare. My mood for the forthcoming week was almost entirely dependent upon the weekend's result. I fell out with friends, I left nights­out early (sometimes of my own accord, sometimes not). There were players I idolised and there were players I despised (and I truly did despise them).”

Through Moncrief's battle with his depression he learnt to deal better with footballing stress, but at a cost. His ability to detach and contextualise football meant that it left him completely empty. The bad times had gone, but so had the good. “What this means," he says, "is that I now watch games with a sort of detached indifference. Moments that in years gone by would have elicited a howl of disapproval are met with a shrug of acceptance, moments that would have had me leaping from my seat and embracing random strangers are now celebrated with a clenched fist (at most).”

For some, of course, you need to experience the lows in football, as in life, in order to fully appreciate the highs. But is there something masochistic at play here? Are football's defeats and disappointments of football part of the game's lure?

Phil Banyard suggests so. “Are football fans deliberately seeking out this stress and misery? Is football being used as a way of dealing with life, much in the way that horror films are viewed to lessen the stress of reality. The seeking out of pain and fear?”

Most supporters are able to deal with that pain quickly and rationally. But does it become more difficult the more you invest emotionally in yourr team? If football takes on the role of family or lover in someone's life - and certainly there are some of us who spend more time and money on our clubs than our partners - then the feelings of despair that come with defeat are going to be more akin to those of losing in love.

In more severe cases, it will feel like grief. As one anonymous fan on a football messageboard put it recently: “I can honestly say that I have felt less emotion at funerals than I did watching QPR get relegated." His love for QPR had become all­consuming, he explained, that the only way he felt able to move on with his life was to kick the football habit completely. "My mental wellbeing was hinged upon well­paid strangers who didn't even know I existed. Surely, that's not healthy.”

HOW TO COPE WITH FOOTBALL DEPRESSION

“Though my problems are meaningless, that don't make them go away.” Neil Young, On The Beach

ACCEPT YOUR IMPOTENCE

Football fans have very little control over what happens on the pitch. Remind yourself of this. Just remember that every time your team wins, there are a set of supporters smarting from defeat.

Fans tend to dwell on defeat whilst experiencing the downward spiral of depression oblivious to the times when things went well.

DIVERT

Choose something that always makes you happy and budge the football from your brain. Watch a film, go for a swim, listen to your favourite album. Just add some perspective and context. It works.

Even watching a film set in an exotic location can divert thoughts from a rain­soaked terrace to a much happier place.

SOCIALISE

Internalising the feelings of despair is not advisable; likewise talking to someone who has no understanding of your pain might not be the best move and many cite that comments made by football-indifferent partners often spark severe anger. Try and chat one­on­one with a fellow fan. Twitter and Facebook can often increase the frustration and conflict whereas a cup of tea with a fellow sufferer can really help share the load.

SEEK HELP

Football depression has traditionally been viewed as a short­lived emotional shift, but it the feelings persist or increase, then seek some professional help. If it is making you depressed, then it's as real as any other mental health concern.