It’s easier to spread smiles than the blues, a study has found. According to researchers happiness can only spread because of factors like social contact with friends and family whereas depression, thankfully, cannot be passed on.
The results of the study also go on to say that having mentally healthy friends can help people to remain mentally healthy or even help someone recover from depression. The researchers at Manchester University and Warwick University studied more than 2,000 teenagers to see how their mood influenced each other. They discovered that while depression does not ‘spread’, having enough happy friends can reduce the probability of getting depressed by half.
Dr Thomas House, a senior lecturer in applied mathematics at Manchester University said, “Promoting friendship between adolescents would reduce cases as having depressed friends did not put others at risk,” as reported in the Daily Mail.
