World Cup post tournament depression warning

With the World Cup over psychologists have warned that up to 40 per cent of British football fans could develop PTD (Post Tournament Depression).

Recent research has shown that during the 2010 World Cup, the average British male thought about football 43 times a day, watched nearly 30 hours of the sport on TV and spent over £400 on World Cup merchandise and entertainment.

After studying the behaviour of football fans and the survey findings, renowned psychologist Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic has categorised the World Cup as a genuine addiction for many men and predicts a widespread emergence of men suffering from PTD.

Dr Chamorro-Premuzic said: "We saw early signs of this in patients when England were first knocked out of the World Cup, but expect it to worsen now that the tournament has ended.

"One of the biggest issues is that many people won’t recognise the Symptoms of PTD, which can range from boredom to clinical depression, all dependent on the severity of one’s addiction".

It has been estimated that up to four million football fans in the UK may experience some level of PTD in the weeks following the World Cup final. To help combat this, Dr Chamorro-Premuzic has produced a downloadable guide, which is hosted on the zavvi.com website.