Is it true that Chess increases Depression?

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Sometimes the manager just sits there and reads all the comments on the threads, it's hilarious!

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Good point. You don't want to get involved with the needy.

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 That clips too long and dull. Also, I hate those shows that pretend to be human interest but is really just a modern day freak show. All the chat and then the big 'reveal' shot.

The person that did this reveal shot had obviously watched a fair few movies. They go for the moving camera over the shoulder reveal shot. Really empathetic stuff, heart warming. I'm so warm and fuzzy I'm gonna plant a tree and adopt something that has been ostracised. Pure pish man.

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It's important to talk to your pieces. 

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/talk-to-your-pieces

I hypothesise that chess could be a cure for depression if the medicine is adminstered in the right way. Perhaps the game could be used as a form of occupational therapy, or perhaps the exercise of learning the moves could be a way of training a disorganised mind. In the grand scheme of things games are not important, and paradoxically that is why they are very important. In the usual course of events, nobody's supposed to get killed at the chessboard. Only the pieces fight and die. Being only a pawn in the game doesn't matter on the chess board. A tense situation on the board is not important. A tense situation in the Gaza strip is. I wish that I understood these ideas better.

Now can I cut some of you off at the pass. Perhaps someone will suggest a queen a day at night would be a good cure for depression. Sounds good to me.

I definitely have problems with losing and rating. Perhaps I care a bit too much, but that doesn't minimize the fact that the more that number of losses increases and the lower my rating becomes, the worse my self-doubt becomes. I am a logical person and I use intelligence, logic, and strategy in my everyday life. When I continuously lose a game that relies on these three skills, it makes me question if my everyday habits are worth pursuing.

It certainly doesn't help when I continuously find opponents who love to rub their wins in my faces.

I could get into more detail about why repeated losses makes me feel depressed, but I am honestly so afraid of being attacked in this forum and having people say that my mindset is false and minimizing my feelings, because that's what people seem to love to do.

I hope you were not sandbagging, looking at your ratings....and you wrote all that without tongue in cheek.

These days, one never knows for sure.....

Mental illness is something some people have or will eventually have no matter what they do in life. Does chess cause depression? I doubt it! It may trigger the depression that is already lurking in some people who would probably become depressed if they had done something else anyway. I have Social Anxiety Disorder because of my Deafness which means I Hate social gatherings of any kind. In chess tournaments talking is Not Allowed, awesome, which works great for me. I do think about Bobby Fischer and his Mental illness and I believe he had something that was already in him even before he taught himself how to play chess. It may be possible that whatever Bobby Fischer had Chess May have saved him from being worst off. Therefore, chess could be a form of positive treatment for a lot of people.

Haha, I just haven't played in every category yet, and some I haven't played more than a game or two in. No sandbagging here! Also no tongue-in-cheek either. I've had low self-esteem issues my entire life. It's just something that I deal with

A+ level trolling Miss Natalia

I dont know if it increases it. But for sure, when the depression hit me I start to lose nearly all my games even against very, very weak players. I do realize they are much below my level and I still lose. When I try to concentrate very hard no matter what I still lose or reach a shameful draw. Thats why I have periods where I beat much stronger opponents and where I lose 10s of games in a roll against weak players. Chess is heavily affected  by your mental health. Thats a sure thing.

I think it was Soviet Grandmaster Nikolai Krogius who said that chess increases the net amount of sadness in the world because losing hurts more than winning feels good.

It doesn't necessarily increase depression. Chess just attracts people who are more susceptible to depression. Just an opinion. 

i feel severly depressed after loosing a bunch of games. i feel like dying. it feels humiliating, like all the world is laughing at you and that you are so worthless there is no point in living on. 

Playing chess is like gambling or gaming. So, yes.

CCCP = Chess Can Cause Pain

Perhaps you mean Mrs. Zhdanov?

It increases happiness

I was thinking it's just the opposite. I think it attracts eternal optimists. Especially people who play a lot. I've seen two people play, and one side loses a lot, but wants to keep playing. Always thinking the next game is going to be better. 

Yes