In an article recently published in the British Medical Journal, researchers examined the extensive Framingham, Massachusetts data from 1983 to 2003 that looked at a social network of over 4,000 people and their neighbors, acquaintances, friends, and spouses (who actually had less effect on happiness than friends!).  Approximately 50,000 social ties were represented on the questionnaires the subjects filled out. The BMJ study concluded that there was a group happiness factor, that “peoples’ happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected.  This provides further justification for seeing happiness, like health, as a collective phenomenon.”

Critics of the study quickly pointed out in another study published in the same journal that other environmental factors the subjects had in common may have caused the effects of apparent contagious happiness.

Here is my take:

*   The Framingham data was compiled mainly to study heart disease, but reanalyzing it now to look for social networking clues is interesting. This analysis may lack a certain observer bias. The original researchers who compiled the information could not be influenced since they did not have “happiness” in mind.
*   On the other hand, data obtained about happiness by questionnaire are often weak, and further studies would have to be done before any firm observations could be made. It is quite possible that the perceived socially connected happiness may be another factor that the subjects had in common.
*   But it is certainly interesting to consider that happiness, like worry, may be infectious. In my book “False Alarm; the Truth About the Epidemic of Fear,” I looked at the effects of transmitted worry on the negative health of our society. It is reasonable to consider the opposite – that if those around you are happy and have a positive attitude, you may be less likely to become stressed and ultimately ill. This phenomena could involve emotional as well as hormonal triggers.

The expression “be happy, be healthy,” could end up being more than just a gratuitous expression.

Dr. Marc Siegel is an internist and associate professor of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine. He is a FOX News Medical Contributor and writes a health column for LA Times, where he examines TV and movies for medical accuracy. Dr. Siegel is the author of “False Alarm: the Truth About the Epidemic of Fear” and “Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic.” Read more at www.doctorsiegel.com

Yesterday, Neil Entwistle greeted his conviction for murdering his 27-year-old wife Rachel and their 9-month-old daughter Lillian Rose with a subtle shaking of his head, with no tears, no yelling out in disbelief, no terror, no collapse. 

The man whose mask of amiability and success had dissolved on January 20, 2006 –  revealing a killer capable of shooting his wife and his child pointblank with a Colt .22 –  was wearing the mask again.  He could have reacted the very same way to news that the dry cleaner didn’t have his shirts ready or that the Lakers had lost the NBA finals.  

Entwistle has had a long experience wearing what the great psychologist Hervey Cleckley called “the mask of sanity.”  He impressed teachers in his working class neighborhood in England, was one of the few to go on to college, landed a job as a computer programmer, won the love of a pretty woman, maintained friendships for decades and impressed neighbors with his intelligence and seeming success here in America.

When reality didn’t sustain his desire to be seen as smart and affluent, he tried to reinforce the mask with a kind of psychological Crazy Glue.  He lied about making a small fortune in Internet businesses that were really shams offering others the false promise of easy money and better sex (two things, it turns out, he dreamed about having himself).  He lied to friends, even after the murders, about owning the home he rented in Hopkinton, Mass.  He pretended to be happily married and satisfied with his family life when he was really addicted to porn and on the prowl for sex with strangers through AdultFriendFinder.com.

But like every web of lies, Entwistle’s could not be sustained.  The truth always wins.  His real limitations—interpersonally or emotionally or creatively or intellectually—translated into being unemployed, his shady businesses unsuccessful, and his financial situation perilous to the point of bankruptcy.  People weren’t “buying” Neil Entwistle.  He was about to be revealed as a failure.  Perhaps his wife had already learned that he was a fraud.  And that much reality he could not bear.  That made him want to clear the stage of the actors he had cast in leading roles in his fake life, to hit the “reset” button on the psychological cat-and-mouse game he was playing. 

Because the subsoil of Entwistle’s psyche is likely nothing more than chaos, a black hole of self-hatred and seemingly unanswerable questions (though they always are, with the right help) about whether he has any worth at all and any level of manhood to speak of, never mind the raw, sexual kind that he kept watching graphically play itself out on the Internet.

Men like Entwistle — the Scott Petersons of this world — feel like stripping their masks away is tantamount to killing them, because they believe those thin, synthetic disguises are all that keep them from dissolving into nothingness and feeling the full weight of unspeakable emotional turmoil, with roots that always reach deep into their pasts.

Neil Entwistle will be jailed for life.  But, as he showed yesterday in a Massachusetts courtroom where genuine sorrow and love resided in the hearts of Rachel Entwistle’s family, he won’t even be present in the cell.  His real self is but a distant echo in his mind and soul, very nearly as lifeless as his victims.

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatry correspondent for FOX News Channel and a New York Times bestselling author. His newest book, “Living the Truth: Transform Your Life through the Power of Insight and Honesty” has launched a new self-help movement. Check out Dr. Ablow’s website at livingthetruth.com.

With films such as “Juno” scoring well among critics and moviegoers last year and the media’s great attention to the birth Thursday of 17-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears’ daughter, many say teen pregnancy is being glamorized in the media.Keith Ablow, a psychiatrist and FOX News contributor, said factors such as these may have played into a reported pregnancy pact made by girls at Gloucester High School in Gloucester, Mass., where the pregnancy rate has quadrupled in the past year.

School officials were baffled at first, but they soon discovered nearly half of the 17 expectant moms had made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies, school principal Joseph Sullivan told Time.com.