Mood of a nation: The Roy Keane affair goes much deeper than just a sporting tragedy. It has become a national issue affecting both young and old alike. Roisin Ingle reports

Nobody has died. Roy Keane said it himself. Tell that to the depressed people who for the past few days have been calling the Samaritans in search of a sympathetic ear as they try to come to terms with the devastating soccer saga. Now that Keane has finally decided not to travel to Japan, things are likely to get even busier.

According to a spokesman, most of the callers hail from the former skipper's home city of Cork but, to be fair, the rest of us can't stop talking about it either. Even the ones who before Keane was banished from the World Cup hadn't the remotest interest in the beautiful game are switching off Big Brother 3 in favour of Bigger Egos 2002. This is reality that really bites. And even though the episode is now at an end, our obsession with it is likely to continue.

On the street, in the pub, on the phone, on the radio; always a nation of talkers, suddenly we are a nation of irate taxi drivers, with opinions on everything from sports psychology to conflict management expressed, it seems, in an attempt to make sense of the collective trauma.

And that's just the adults. Inevitably, younger people are disappointed, shocked and confused by the turn of events. There are reports of children who can't sleep for worry.

One concerned father rang The Irish Times newsdesk at 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning looking for an update with which to placate a nine-year-old who couldn't settle because of his anxiety over the Irish team.

Elsewhere, a mother is woken by her sobbing 15-year-old at 7 a.m. He has just heard the latest headlines. It marks the first time in his life that he has got up to listen to the news.

Their parents can be found in pub corners, looking grim-faced as the latest twist in the tale flashes up on their mobile phones. At the Horseshoe Bar in the Shelbourne Hotel yesterday, a barwoman said the majority of conversations that were taking place there centred around the Keane debacle.

And is it any surprise that the real life soap opera that was Roy Keane's television interview gave RTÉ twice the viewing figures normally achieved by programmes such as Fair City?

The ESB has confirmed that electricity surged by four per cent after the programme ended - usage had decreased as families huddled around the television - the equivalent of the average electricity used by 45,000 homes. The Irish Times website registered more hits in the hour after the affair broke than it did in the same period after the Twin Towers tragedy occurred. It is currently receiving one million page impressions a day.

While comparisons to the mass outpouring of emotion witnessed in Britain in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death may be far fetched, the memorial wreath for Irish soccer placed outside the FAI office in Dublin this week had echoes of that phenomenon. Merrion Square, where protests were being planned and petitions signed, has become our Pont de l'Alma in Paris. And a nation, which had been praying for a miracle, now mourns.

Professor Stephen Mennell, director of the institute for the study of social change at UCD, says the controversy has touched so many people because the collective identity of the population has been dented by events.

"While it differs in many ways from the national hysteria that followed Diana's death, the spontaneity of the national reaction is reminiscent of that period," he said.

"What sociologists call the 'we image', the collective identity, has taken a battering. There is a lot of emotion invested in an event such as this and now that our chances of doing well are diminished, the deeply emotional reaction is understandable," he said.

The advice from the Samaritans is that it is good to talk. Press Officer Paul O'Hare said people shouldn't be embarrassed if they are feeling stressed or down about Keane's decision not to rejoin the squad.

"Our advice would be not to bottle it up but talk it through with friends or family. If you are feeling anxious or depressed the worst thing to do would be to ignore it," he said.

There was advice for children too. Paul Gilligan director of the ISPCC, said it was only natural that younger people were upset but that there was a positive side. "It is a great opportunity to talk to children about the nature of conflict, about disappointment. There were always going to be ups and downs in the World Cup. Parents can encourage their children to think of it as a game rather than a major life issue," he said. And maybe, in time, children can help their parents understand that too.