This is an interesting discussion.
How does chess affect your mental health?

must be careful not to play too much. Balance in life is key for Mind/Body health. few take care of own bodies, result sometime mental illness.
Seriously, if you are more focused on playing chess than on other aspects of life.... like living it, then sure your going to go nuts, but if you do, don't blame it on chess. Blame it on your own self.

you may need to cut back on the nuts you nibble, Annabelle
Ohhhhh but I LOVE nuts!!!!! hahahahahahaha

Last one year I play a lot,for club,team,individual-tournaments,watching online tournaments,books etc. aproximetly 7 hours per day and I become paranoic.I wasnt before.Not sure its from chess but I doesnt have reasons actually to be paranoic.

Oh no!!!!! Hope u r feeling better :) I guess now u know to stay away from NUTS
You shouldnt stay away from real love.

How does chess affect your mental health?
BEFORE AFTER
Fischer's sanity %:
10% of insanity caused by torture in the Pasadena gaolhouse, 20% by going crazy over new shoes, 30% by having a sponsorship deal with Gilette be kyboshed by New York merchant bankers with names like Goldstein and Goldberg, and the last 40% of insanity is due to miscellaneous factors including astrological influence, numerological life path numbers, trying to learn Russian to read their chess books, and innate crackpot factors that increased with age, fame and egotism.
I shouldn't be taking you too seriously here but just as a FUN FACT addendum, Fischer didn't "try...to learn Russian to read their chess books" he did learn Russian (and on his own apparently) well enuff to read Russian chess literature. I don't recall reading that he was fluent enough to either speak or understand oral Russian communications.
I was on yahoo answers and someone said it could cure Alzheimer's.
Another alumin(i)um-related claim.