Study: Loneliness is Contagious

For many this time of year can be festive and heart warming, but for some it can be downright lonely.

For the last 35 years, Paul has suffered from loneliness. As a businessman, he had difficulty establishing personal relationships and sustaining a marriage. He believes this type of behavior could be contagious.

According to a new study, loneliness spreads across time through behavior. It is like a person infecting you with their negative attitude or energy.

Allina Psychologist Alan Steed says the loneliness study passes the credibility test.

"If you and I were friends and all of a sudden you begin to withdraw, I might begin to wonder what I did to cause that,” said Steed. “I might lose my confidence in my ability to maintain friends."

With 900 groups across 30 countries, Emotions Anonymous supports lonely people everyday. While Karen Mead of EA doesn't believe you can catch loneliness, she says one thing we can learn from the study is that we all need to work at relationship.

“The worst thing that people imagine is that the person is going to reject them so they have already gone through the worst thing that can happen they don't think about the best thing that can happen and that would be you are not alone anymore," said Mead.

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