Depression: Happiness Is Contagious - More Friends Lowers Depression Risk, Study Shows

Fortunately, researchers have found that depression is not contagious. And what's even better is that, as the saying goes, happiness seems to be. Furthermore, happiness could potentially treat depression and even prevent it in certain cases.

In this recent study, researchers gathered data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (NLSAAH)on moods of 2,194 teenagers in 7th through 12 grade 1994-1995 school year. The participants of the NLSAAH were followed periodically throughout their lives, most recently in 2008. During this time, they used a mathematical model to help determine what the participants' moods were like among their friend groups.

"We've found that a healthy mood amongst friends is linked with a significantly reduced risk of developing, and increased chance of recovering from, depression," Frances Griffiths, a professor at the University of Warwick, said in a press release. "Our results offer implications for improving adolescent mood. In particular they suggest the hypothesis that encouraging friendship networks between adolescents could reduce both the incidence and prevalence of depression among teenagers."

Furthermore, researchers found that healthy moods spread and were shown to cut the probability of developing depression in half and even double the probability of recovering from depression in a six- to 12-month period. Lastly, researchers found that teens with more friends were twice as likely to recover from depression than those with fewer friends.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via The Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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