Can hanging out with a happy bunch of friends prevent depression?

We shouldn’t avoid friends who whine a lot, are in a state of depression, or have a pessimistic view of the world. Why is that, you may ask?

A new study suggests that happiness is contagious, but depression isn’t. Recent research from the Universities of Warwick and Manchester suggest that having positive social networks greatly relieve stress and help prevent depression from taking hold in the first place.

With World Health Organization (WHO) statistics recording more than 350 million people affected by depression, the issue has become a rising concern. Researchers pointed out that the key to figuring out how to treat and prevent depression is to understand the social processes that drive it.

Placing more than 2,000 American adolescents under this study, the researchers used methodologies that measure the spread of mood within social networks in the same way they’d track an infectious disease. Their findings say that healthy, positive moods are contagious, but depression isn’t. The research proposes that having enough friends with a healthy mood can halve the probability of developing—or double the probability of recovering from—depression over a six to 12 month period.

Moreover, researchers emphasized that depression isn’t “contagious” because depressed individuals have a tendency to withdraw and thus exert less influence on their circle of friends. However, it is a different scenario for happiness. Positive mood spreads more easily because of the concept of mimicry of happiness among friends.

Furthermore, researchers reiterated that promoting friendships between adolescents can reduce both incidence and prevalence of depression. The idea isn’t new, but it underlines the need to support adolescents whose social networks are weak or non-existent.

In the press release, paper co-author Dr. Thomas House highlighted that society should encourage friendships to develop among the youth (for example, providing youth clubs) so that these kids will have enough friends with more positive moods to ward off depression.