Knicks Mania gives New Yorkers anxiety as psychologist shares diagnosis for Game 3 blues: Manic episodes

The city is in a state of anxiety.Knicks Mania is a certified contagion spreading stress across die-hard fans and bandwaggoners alike as part of a mental health frenzy one psychologist is diagnosing as a collective “manic episode.”sContributing to the tension after a tough Monday Game 3 loss to the San Antonio Spurs is the anticipation of the team’s long-awaited return to the NBA Finals, the fact the team is baked into the Big Apple’s DNA and the still-lingering pandemic loneliness, Dr.Ryan Fuller tells The Post.“Without question, moods are contagious and this is in the air.

Everyone is going to be getting some some experience with it,” said Fuller, the executive director of New York Behavioral Health.“Anytime we’re with this excited, physiologically our, nervous systems are going to be wound up.We’re gonna have lots of energy, our fight or flight system actually is taking off.

And so we’ve got all this energy and our muscles want to move and we’re social creatures.”According to Fuller, the “collective mental health impact” is being boosted purely because of how long it has been since the Knicks had a chance at clinching an NBA title.The team’s last Finals appearance was in 1999 — and the boys haven’t brought home a championship was 1973.The “anticipatory anxiety” is at an all-time high, and much more intense than if Knicks fans were more accustomed to the witnessing their team make it through the playoffs, he explained.“People are anxious about the game because they’re afraid we’re going to lose, but they’re also excited.

And if you look physiologically, anxiety and excitement look very, very similar,” Fuller said.“If you’re really, really, really excited and you’re being bombarded with dopamine.”A symptom of these bursts of brain hormones is the wild behavior by fans whether the Knicks win or lose, he explains.Huge brawls broke out after the Knicks won the first two series games last week as well as follo...