Is it true that Chess increases Depression?

Well I guess it all depends on the player. Too much of anything is good for nothing...so if you are a compulsive chess player...and not very good, then you will be beaten pretty often...now that can be very depressing.

Also...life is about balance. We need to get outside and do other stuff as well...join the world so to speak...don't be a chess addict...not healthy.

I think chess is therapeutic - taken in moderation - like, say, brandy

Speaking from experience chess keeps my mind engaged on the game and therefore less inclined to think depressing thoughts.

The person above that stated "makes no difference if you win or lose" is absolutely correct.

Playing the game and competing with the idea of playing a decent game is all the reward I want.  I recently started getting back into OTB tournaments after a very long lay off because losing was depressing especially when you lose a gam to a 9 yo.    Now my attitude is to compete and play not worry about the win or loss. 

Fish oil also helps!! 

In Sept I will attend the Southwest Open in Corpus Christi, Texas.  On my 10 point "fish oil" scale it will be a 10.  It is a very big tournament and if anyone here will be there I hope we play and good luck.

Chuck

Especially if you have squeaky fish!

Having to "quit" is also depressing.

 I believe that you are speakng in jest.

Looking at the question seriously I think that a professional chess player has the organisational intelligence to order life so that clinical depression is not a problem. You don't have to play chess everyday of your life, and you don't have to invest in winning. You can go on hoiiday when you choose. Chess is not the be all and end all of life.

People in all walks of life suffer from mental illness and what you do may not be a major factor in whether you get depressed or not. I consider that how stressful your work is is a stronger factor.

I think that the greater danger is becoming obsessive-compulsive. The compulsion to play makes you incapable of doing anything else.

I want to be a grandmaster. I have meagre chess skills  and  I have difficulty dealing with chess players. I do have a BSc Degree in Psychology.

Respect.

I have a B.Tech. degree in Electronics & Communications Engineering. I just want to understand how the logical structures of Chess are integrated to complete a Game, or AI attempt to understand human thought process within digitally sampled time periods.

 I believe it!...I'm no professional chess player and I feel it when I play just a friendly game! It's definitely something that can affect you psychologically/mentally; especially if you are very competitive (like me) and do not like to lose, and I've been doing a lot of those lately.

Dude, just quit already. You don't need to make up all these excuses.

I can see how it could increase depression. It can get like any thing that you do a few times and it's great (winning a tense game, meeting great people from different countries through chat). The more you do it, the less you feel the same feeling as the first few times but you keep going. Similar to an addict 'chasing the dragon'.

The main remedy of depression is activity, excercise. Chess is really the opposite of this. So in this way as well, it can be seen to increase depression. (If it is not balanced out in your day to day life.)

It's a valid theory. I don't understand why some people are bashing at this post.

I did not find any studies directly addressing the relation of chess and depression in PubMed. However, I found these publications:

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"Hopelessness Is Associated With Decreased Heart Rate Variability During Championship Chess Games"

http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/65/4/658

Psychosomatic Medicine 65:658-611 (2003)

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"Study of change in brain activity due to blood flow while playing Shogi (Japanese chess)."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20552948

Honda N. Electromyogr Clin Neurophysiol. 2010 Apr-Jun;50(3-4):137-48.

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The second article leads me to believe that chess would likely have a similar effect (like Shogi) on brain activity due to blood flow. It is widely known in the medical community that decreased blood flow in certain parts of the brain, as well as activity, have a close association with depression.

(Google this: blood flow depression)

However, this study did not address whether or not the subject was winning/in a hopeless position/ or neither, just the fact that the subject was playing Shogi.

"Two subjects play the game, and the cerebral blood flow of only one subject is measured, since the capacity of the equipment is limited. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: When the subject does decision-making for a matter of chance during the game, the right side of frontal part (Fp2) proves more activity than that of left side (Fp1), and proves that the activity of both parts of visual field (O1, O2) communicates each other. The present study with use of OT is highly useful for observing brain activity during play of shogi game."

Addressing the first article above, in a hopeless game the heart rate (correlated with blood flow) is decreased. The article specified that the subjects analyzed were "championship" players. It may be flawed to compare the heart rate of an average player to that of a professional player.

Based off of this information, I am inclined to believe that chess HELPS in avoiding depression due to increased brain activity. However, it might contribute to depression if you tend to play tough opponents and lose a lot of games.

Chess keeps the insane sane. Just ask Morphy and Fischer.

Perhaps some people get depressed when they play chess (though to those people I think they're doing something wrong), but for me it's the opposite effect. At the moment I'm depressed but it's chess that cheers me up, makes me forget about bad things temporarily while concnetrating on winning. Probably like beer.

I could see how it could if you were a very addictive personality.

Winning at chess is kind of a high...it feels great.  That could lead to playing A LOT....to try and chase that high.  If you focussed on the high of winning and not actually playing your best you would naturally start losing.  This could turn into a vicious cycle and lead to depression.

I can somewhat relate to this study/topic.  Taking in some considerations.  I am new to chess, very much like to play it, not all that great, access chess.com on my palm pre plus, access chess.com on my notebook from VZW that only sports a 9" screen cutting off A and H, so I end up losing a lot of rooks, knights, and Queens.

This all adds to my frustration (depression? I don't know...).  I can become a better player with the right tools, but I like playing so much, I don't slow down to obtain, use those tools...

So moderation is certainly key and this is why I stopped open seeks.  Down to under 20 concurrent matches and when they are done, I am done.  I will pick up some books, a physical board, and look to a cohort for mentoring.

THEN I will pick up my mobile devices that allow me to have a per move rate of 1 hr 53 min and get that GM title =)

Everything should be balanced!

i noticed when playing chess before bed i can't sleep very well!

And you play chess all day before a computer screen, i am sure that will cause depression, but if you play for 2 hours  i think it is a mental exercise good for the brain.

 I dpn't understand the jargon. I think I get your meaning. I think that human intellegence and artiical Intellegence are two different things. The differences would make a good essay topic on a degree level psychology course. i won't write one here. Some pyschologists do use the computer analogy to delve into understanding how the brain works. Analogies only go so far. We are not machines. We are human beings and that is why we get depressed. Machines don't have emotions. We seek out our own food and water.  Machines only 'live' if we feed them, and thay only stay in good condition if we care for them. Machines are pampered.

I remember that a grandmaster once said, "Grand masters are not automatons."

 I imagine that most professional chess players care most about drawing because that way they all get a slice of the action, and then there's books and teaching and playing lots of rabbits at once, like a boxer at a fairground taking on allcomers. Chess is a source of income to some people and I imagine that it's PDH to make living. 9 dimes in, 10 dimes out, depressing. 11 dimes in, 10 dimes out, happy making.

Nothing is good or bad except thinking makes it so.

Have you ever purged food, because you had overeaten in depression after you had lost a game of chess?