Yer mental health is protected

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

It looks that most of ya will not need ma professional services.

FITBA CRAZY? NO CHANCE

Backing team keeps you sane

By Dave King

SUPPORTING a football team can help keep you sane - even if they're rubbish.

Experts say following a club wards off depression and reduces risk of suicide.

Scotland has one of the worst suicide rates in western Europe, with about 600 cases last year - 450 of whom were young men.

But psychiatrists believe devotion to a club helps fans, even if their team flops in big matches.

Alan Pringle, a lecturer in mental health at Nottingham University, said actually attending matches at grounds increased fans' sense of belonging and generally made them feel better about themselves and their lives.

He explained: "When you start looking at mental illness, you find that people feel rejected and cut off.

"But we found people who said that a football club gave them a sense of consistency throughout their lives."

Pringle told a conference in Glasgow he asked fans to keep diaries of their thoughts before and after a match.

He investigated the effects of anticipation of a big game and the result on their mental health.

Bert Moorhouse, director of football studies at Glasgow University, said fans felt they had a family in other fans.

He added: "Football is one of the few places were there is still a sense of community."

A spokesman for the Mental Health Foundation said: "Watching football provides an opportunity to express and release internalised emotion which men in particular find difficult to express in other ways."

[CaleyD]

Probably more truth in that article than a lot of people will give it credit for.

[Alex MacLeod]

Load of crap. Just need to look at Johndo MacKenzie for evidence. Insane is too tame a word to describe him. :003: :003:

[KingBeastie]

:dancing01: