Are your Blue Jays blues a mental health issue?
What to do when the dopamine disappears
This time last week, we were donning head-to-toe Blue Jays outfits and making plans to celebrate a possible World Series win for the first time in 32 years. Oh, the streetlights we could have climbed.
As we know all too well, the Jays lost to the LA Dodgers, and everyone went home dejected. Some of us cried. If you’re still feeling forlorn, you may not be alone, and it may not be melodramatic.
Related: Torontonians still want their Blue Jays parade
“It’s not just a game,” reads a post by Barrie therapy practice Vox Mental Health. “There’s real psychology behind why fans across Canada feel heartbroken.”
The post goes on to explain that sports fandom is about attachment and belonging. “Research shows that fans who identify strongly with a team experience fluctuations in self-esteem that mirror the team’s performance,” it says. “When the team wins, we feel proud and uplifted. When they lose, it can feel like a personal blow.”
The neuroscience behind sports-induced heartbreak is interesting too. Biologically, our team losing can cause noticeable drops in dopamine and oxytocin.
“While it may seem paradoxical, the pain of loss in sports is part of what makes being a fan so profoundly human. The same emotional circuits that make defeat hurt are the ones that make connection, joy, and belonging possible,” reads the post by Vox Mental Health.
It closes by suggesting some positive next steps, including staying socially connected with others and finding healthy outlets to expend energy. Fortunately, it’s hockey season, and the Leafs shouldn’t make us sad at all.
Related: The pull-out couch Addison Barger slept on during the World Series is getting its own exhibition
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
