Over the last four or five weeks, we have been exploring the topic of happiness. It is fair to say that the guru on the topic is Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania. In his 1998 Presidential address to the American Psychological Society, Dr Seligman challenged his colleagues to focus on the things that go right in human nature rather than what goes wrong.
Dr Seligman came of age in an era when Freud ruled the roost and BF Skinner and his behavioralism were au courant. According to Dr Seligman, both Freud and Skinner took an overly determinist approach to human behavior. In the Gospel of Freud (as Seligman sees it), our present and futures are governed by our past. We are literally prisoners of our earlier traumas and buried memories. Thinking barely enters into it.
Similarly, according to Skinner, our behaviors are conditioned by our environment. We essentially react rather than act. Thinking barely enters into it.
Freud and Skinner were responding to the fallacy that we are rational beings governed by rational thinking. A simple look at the world around us offers ample evidence that the two have a point, but, obviously they went too far.
Dr Seligman was heavily influenced by Aaron Beck, founder of cognitive therapy, based on the simple proposition that - by reframing issues to reflect reality rather than imagined catastrophe - we could indeed think our way to wellness. But how do you define "well?" Ah, there's the rub. As Dr Seligman told his colleagues in 1998, psychology and psychiatry are so preoccupied with the negatives that they have basically lost sight of their real mission.
Here's the deal: You are depressed. You seek meds or therapies to "undepress" you. Then what? Mainstream psychiatry and psychology are content to leave us in a state of "undepression," then fend for ourselves.
Dr Seligman is the founder of "positive psychology," which focuses on mental wellness rather than mental illness. Over the years, with his colleagues, Dr Seligman has established a scientific basis for what goes right rather than wrong. Yes, we may be smart about avoiding what can go wrong, but it also makes sense to plan our lives to optimize what can go right. The discipline is now taught as a graduate course at UPenn.
In 2002, Dr Seligman published the best-seller, "Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment." A few weeks ago, I finally got around to reading it. From the first page, I realized it was going to take me a long time to get through the book, notwithstanding its easy readability. Every paragraph is loaded with nuggets of insight, which means no quick skimming.
I will be referring to Dr Seligman quite a bit in shareposts to come - whether writing about happiness or not. In the meantime, let's close (for now) with this intriguing proposition:
In his book, Dr Seligman cites data that indicates that the incidence of depression in the US has increased ten-fold since 1960 (as well as striking at a much earlier age), in sharp contrast to every objective indicator of well-being (such as purchasing power) greatly improving over the same period. Dr Seligman suggests that part of the cause may be that our society is good at building shortcuts to pleasure.
