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Depressive Thinking Can Be Contagious
http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/24/depressive-thinking-can-be-infectious/
Depressive Thinking Can Be Contagious
April 24, 2013
<snip>
Researchers studying a group of college students found that certain types of depressive thinking can spread from close-living roommates like a lingering flu.
<snip>
The researchers found that hopelessness was not contagious among roommates — but rumination was. Hopelessness focuses on the content of one’s own thoughts, which are likely deeply embedded and related to other perceptions about the self, and therefore might be less likely to influence the way other people think. Rumination, on the other hand, is a process that is probably easier to mirror by adopting the same focus on negative ideas or attention to sadness, as well as the constant discussion about this darker perspective.
Interestingly, depression symptoms themselves were not contagious: simply having a roommate with symptoms of the disorder did not increase risk of developing the mental illness. But those who picked up a ruminative style of thinking from their roommates during the first three months of school had more than double the number of depressive symptoms of those who either weren’t exposed to this perspective or didn’t adopt the rumination three months later. And the risk was magnified if they experienced high levels of stress.
The study also found, however, that healthy thinking was also contagious. “Those assigned to a roommate with a more positive thinking style developed a more positive style themselves whereas those assigned to a roommate with a negative style became more negative,” Haeffel says. The study could not determine what made a particular roommate’s style more likely to dominate and influence, rather than be influenced.
<snip>
Depressive Thinking Can Be Contagious
April 24, 2013
<snip>
Researchers studying a group of college students found that certain types of depressive thinking can spread from close-living roommates like a lingering flu.
<snip>
The researchers found that hopelessness was not contagious among roommates — but rumination was. Hopelessness focuses on the content of one’s own thoughts, which are likely deeply embedded and related to other perceptions about the self, and therefore might be less likely to influence the way other people think. Rumination, on the other hand, is a process that is probably easier to mirror by adopting the same focus on negative ideas or attention to sadness, as well as the constant discussion about this darker perspective.
Interestingly, depression symptoms themselves were not contagious: simply having a roommate with symptoms of the disorder did not increase risk of developing the mental illness. But those who picked up a ruminative style of thinking from their roommates during the first three months of school had more than double the number of depressive symptoms of those who either weren’t exposed to this perspective or didn’t adopt the rumination three months later. And the risk was magnified if they experienced high levels of stress.
The study also found, however, that healthy thinking was also contagious. “Those assigned to a roommate with a more positive thinking style developed a more positive style themselves whereas those assigned to a roommate with a negative style became more negative,” Haeffel says. The study could not determine what made a particular roommate’s style more likely to dominate and influence, rather than be influenced.
<snip>
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