Temazepam

Mental Health Nursing has, in the past, published articles that suggest following a football club is good for your mental health - for better or for worse. But Gerard Donaghy disagrees and he has the evidence base to back up his arguments

When I was still with my parents, I would occasionally suffer the ignominy of defeat while watching the so-called beautiful game of football on television, at which point my mother would utter the immortal, ignorant adage: 'Sure, it's only a game'.

No. It's very much more than just a game. Now my wife has to suffer my brooding presence as I trawl silently around our home in the wake of defeat. Yet at least she realises that offering the false hope of 'It's only a game' provides no solace.

She doesn't understand why I despair on such occasions, but at least realises that I have to, and leaves me grappling with my thoughts until I feel ready to face people again.

And why does it affect me so much? Well, for every fan, it's the - usually lifelong - process of aligning yourself with a side who you then must abide with through thick and thin. When you support a team you feel a part of it. There are 11 men on the field playing for you and the outcome has a direct effect on you, and, vice versa, - your support affects the result.

Perhaps that's why when your team wins the high is great, but when you lose you're prone to a gamut of emotions.

Guilt, that perhaps your support was lacking, normally in the form of 'It's my fault they lost as I didn't don my lucky 1996 away shirt'. Meanwhile as my better half will testify, obsessive compulsive disorder is a regular occurrence during televised games. For example, if environmental circumstances change and my team duly scores, I must then ensure everything stays as it was when we scored, as that random set of circumstances must surely have been 'good luck'. This scenario usually involves my wife entering the room and then not being allowed to leave until the game is over, or leaving the room and then not being permitted to return.

Anger is another common emotion. Anger at your team as you feel they didn't do enough to win and the emotion is intensified when you contemplate the humiliation you will face as a result of the taunts from your peers, and in some cases, complete strangers.

When a defeat has serious ramifications (such as Celtic's recent last gasp title loss to Rangers), the ensuing spiral of despair is, in my experience, comparable to the end of a long-term relationship.

Even had we won, I was particularly looking forward to a summer of relaxation, when each Saturday wouldn't see me become a bag of nerves, dominated by thoughts of whether or not my beloved Celts would manage to clinch victory away to the likes of Inverness Caledonian Thistle in their bid for league glory.

Well, so much for participation in sport being beneficial for our mental and physical well-being. Research shows that supporting a football team should carry a health warning. A study in Holland reported a significant increase in the number of fatal heart attacks and strokes among Dutchmen on the day the Netherlands were eliminated by France in Euro 1996(Witte et al, 2000) while similar research conducted in the north of England showed fans at club level are resigned to their fate - especially if you're a Sunderland supporter (Kirkup and Merrick, 2003).

And spare a thought for the Scots. A study published in the Scottish Medical Journal showed a huge increase in admissions to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary with football related problems during the 1998 World Cup. The afflictions ranged from a fan rushed to hospital suffering an asthma attack after watching his side lose 3-0 to Morocco, to a fan - sporting a full Scotland strip - who was found unconscious after having overdosed on temazepam. He required treatment for psychosis when he said the Scottish squad was talking to him through his television screen (BBC online, 2005)

I await the new season with obvious trepidation. MHN

References

BBC Online (2005) news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ health/414881.stm (Accessed 26 May 2005)

Kirkup W and Merrick DW (2003) A matter of life and death: population mortality and football results. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (57) 429-432

Witte D, Bots M et al (2000) Cardiovascular mortality in Dutch men during 1996 European football championship: longitudinal population study. British Medical Journal (321) 1552-155

Gerard Donaghy is assistant editor of Mental Health Nursing

Copyright Community Psychiatric Nurses Association Jul 2005
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