By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Loneliness is like a disease -- and what's worse, it's contagious.
Although it may sound counterintuitive, loneliness can spread from one person to another, according to research being released Tuesday that underscores the power of one person's emotions to affect friends, family and neighbors.
The federally funded analysis of data collected from more than 4,000 people over 10 years found that lonely people increase the chances that someone they know will start to feel alone, and that the solitary feeling can spread one more degree of separation, causing a friend of a friend or even the sibling of a friend to feel desolate.
"Loneliness can be transmitted," said John T. Cacioppo, a University of Chicago psychologist who led the study being published in the December issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. "Loneliness is not just the property of an individual. It can be transmitted across people -- even people you don't have direct contact with."
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