Lonliness- You Get it From Crowds

Well, maybe not crowds, but you can catch it from others. According to LiveScience the other day:

Loneliness, like a bad cold, can spread among groups of people, new research finds.

While a runny nose might spread through handshakes, people likely catch the loneliness bug through negative interactions. A lonely person will be less trusting of others, essentially "making a mountain out of a molehill," said study researcher John Cacioppo, a psychologist at the University of Chicago. An odd look or phrasing by a friend that wouldn't even be noticed by a chipper person could be seen as an affront to the lonely, triggering a cycle of negative interactions that cause people to lose friends.

The upshot: A lonely person is likely to lose touch with another person, who in turn gets cut off from others, and both end up on the fringes of a social group.

So, stay away from negative others to not get lonely? Or something like that. Actually, it makes sense, I think. Maybe.

Anyway, I found the idea interestingly paradoxical- you catch loneliness from others.