Revealed: How top scientists now think you can 'catch' depression and anxiety like you would a cold - here's how you can protect yourself

Revealed: How top scientists now think you can 'catch' depression and anxiety like you would a cold - here's how you can protect yourself By John Naish Published: 21:30 EDT, 1 July 2024 | Updated: 21:42 EDT, 1 July 2024 e-mail View comments Could misery be contagious? There's no doubt that the number of Britons complaining of low mood and depression-like symptoms, such as sadness and feeling helpless, is spiralling. The latest survey figures from the Office for National Statistics show one in six report moderate or severe depressive symptoms. This is 60 per cent higher than the previous three years.

This towering rise has been blamed variously on mounting mental pressures caused by the Covid-19 lockdowns and the subsequent cost-of-living crisis. But could snowballing rates of depression have another cause? Could depression be contagious — something that you can 'catch', much like a cold or flu ? That is the idea being suggested by psychologists in Finland , writing in the highly reputed journal JAMA Psychiatry. The number of Britons complaining of low mood and depression-like symptoms, such as sadness and feeling helpless, is spiralling The latest survey figures from the Office for National Statistics show one in six report moderate or severe depressive symptoms The team, led by Christian Hakulinen, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Helsinki, tracked the health records of more than 700,000 children for 11 years, from age 16.



Their analysis found that.