Having happy friends is good for your health

A recent study conducted by Professor Frances Griffiths, at Warwick University Medical School, found that a healthy mood amongst friends leads to a lower risk of developing depression and an increased chance of recovery from the illness.

Using the Markov model, a similar method used when tracking the spread of infectious disease, the study observed more than 2,000 adolescents in a network of US high school students. Individuals were classified as either having depressive symptoms (low mood) or not being depressed (healthy mood) according to the score cut-off associated with a clinical diagnosis of depression. By tracking the spread of moods, the researchers were able to see how the student’s moods affected each other.

The depression did not spread amongst friends but the good moods did!

Depression is currently a major public health concern. Globally, 350 million people are currently affected by depression. According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, one in five people become depressed at some point in their life. Student life can be extremely stressful and the transitions you make when coming to university can make you more susceptible to developing depression. As many as 29% of students may experience some mental health issues during their studies. However, this study has found that having as little as 5 friends with a ‘healthy mood’ can halve the probability of developing depression.

Having approximately 10 friends with a ‘healthy mood’ double the chance of recovering from depression over a 6-12 month period. Currently, depression costs the NHS upwards of £8 billion per year. Edward Hill, the lead author of this study, suggests that encouraging strong social networks may be a low-risk, low-cost way to reduce depression. He states that his “results suggest that promotion of any friendship between adolescents can reduce depression since having depressed friends does not put them at risk, but having healthy friends is both protective and curative”.

An author of the paper, Dr Thomas House, implies that this study shows promise for more ‘cheap, low-risk social interventions’ to treat depression. He thinks that by encouraging social networks within individuals, we may reduce the instance of depression. “As a society, if we enable friendships to develop among adolescents (for example providing youth clubs) each adolescent is more likely to have enough friends with healthy mood to have a protective effect.”

So the key message to take from this, freshers, is to take a few weeks to socialise, before you let work stress you out.

Get to know the people in your flats, on your course and in societies. It may even protect your mental health.

If you ever need mental health help, there are many services on campus for you. Nightline is a free, confidential service that provides you someone to talk to. You can call them 9pm-9am on 024 7652 2199