Belief That Mental Illness Can Be Contagious Contributes To Isolation [NPR.org]

Many illnesses are contagious. You'd do well to avoid your neighbor's sneeze, for example, and to wash your hands after tending to your sick child.

But what about mental illness?

The idea that anxiety, autism or major depression could be transmitted through contact may sound crazy — and it probably is. There's a lot we don't know about the origins of mental illness, but the mechanisms identified so far point in other directions.

[For more of this story, written by Tania Lombrozo, go to http://www.npr.org/sections/13...ributes-to-isolation]