Emily Chan
We know that illnesses like the flu or strep throat can be easily spread through droplets in the air or other means, but can mental health conditions like depression be “caught” from someone else?
Research suggests that depression can be contagious in a way. It may not work like a virus, but being around someone with depression could impact your mood and mindset.
Among adolescents, mental health disorders can be “socially transmitted,” according to an observational study. The finding makes some sense.
For example, when someone is doubled over with laughter, it might make you laugh, too. The opposite is also true. Seeing a friend in emotional pain can cause you to feel sad.
For over 30 years, researchers have looked into whether mental health disorders can be brought on by our social environment. Most of the studies had mixed results on the extent to which mental health issues spread within social networks.
The most recent study, which was conducted by researchers from the University of Helsinki in Finland and other institutions, analyzed data on 713,809 Finnish citizens born between 1985 and 1997.
The research team identified students diagnosed with a mental disorder by the time they were in ninth grade. They tracked the rest of their peers for any later diagnoses up to the end of 2019.
The team found that ninth-grade students with more than one classmate diagnosed with a mental health disorder had a five percent greater risk of developing a mental illness in the following years compared to students who had classmates without diagnoses.
The risk was especially high in the year right after exposure. Students with one diagnosed classmate were nine percent more likely to receive a mental health diagnosis of their own.
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