Happiness Part II of III

Some Highlights:


Part II began with the case study of William Moyers - son of legendary journalist Bill Moyers. William grew up under ideal circumstances but it still wasn't enough. He turned to mood and mind altering self medication with Drugs and Alcohol and eventually to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) after hitting rock bottom. Since Alcohol is legal and deeply ingrained in our culture, many people become "Dependent" (8%) and another 5% drift further into the category of "Abusive". The effects of Alcoholic "Dependence" and "Abuse" are devastating to the individual, their families, loved ones, and to society. AA is a peer based support group that offers daily meetings in just about every city and town in the nation. Social Support or Fellowship is the key to AA's success and this was the point of the case study. Social interaction and support are key elements to attaining and retaining "Happiness".


Stephen Rowell was Dr. Gilbert's next case study subject. Steve suffered a great misfortune - A balcony collapsed. He would have been safe but for another individual's desperate grab. Steve suffers from nerve damage, debilitating seizures, and relentless emotional distress especially paralyzing anger. With the help of a Therapist and a five week class helping him to detach from an unproductive negative point of view, Steve alleviated his stress and anger. The key was "Forgiveness" - a letting go of the desire for revenge and ill-will toward the one(s) that have wronged you. The result for the forgiving individual is a great reduction in depression, stress, anxiety, and anger, as well as greater physical improvements, and more hopefulness. The ability to forgive is essential to "Happiness" since an unforgiving psychological and emotional attitude is effective at blocking the opportunity to achieve "Happiness".


Dr. Gilbert now turned his attention to another important element related to "Happiness" - our personal strengths. This is the realm of "Positive Psychology" where we focus and capitalize on our strengths. The basic idea revolves around character development by identifying one's strengths and then using them over and over again thereby improving not only them but also one's confidence and self-esteem. The resulting individual's psychology and emotional grounding is more solid and capable; subsequently, better equipped to handle challenges. This technique, requiring more scientific research and testing, seems to improve the individual and contributes significantly to their "Happiness". West Point employs "Positive Psychology" technique training for their cadets. A case study was also presented regarding a person undergoing long term unemployment.


Maintaining well-being is crucial to "Happiness" and Meditation seems to be an excellent technique to partially accomplish this. Meditation is a mental exercise that strengthens the capacity to remain connected to the present moment of experience. It does this by strengthening and stabilizing one's attention. Researchers are continuing to document evidence that Meditation has positive effect's on health and well-being. There is much more research to be done. A case study of an individual undergoing cancer therapy was presented.


Social Relationships - Family, Friends, Lovers, Community are critical to "Happiness". The closer the relationship the more critical it is. The case study involved a husband and wife who lost their 18 year old daughter to the West Virginia Tech. shooter. These parents suffer an incalculable grief and found a way to channel that grief into a positive consequence by dedicating themselves to a passionate cause their daughter championed. By incorporating college students in their cause and the social relationships thus established, both with the students and the beneficiaries of their altruism, enabled them to heal and achieve a sense of normality.


The Framingham Heart Study formed the basis of Dr. Gilbert's next point. It contains 6 decades worth of data on over 15,000 people. When researchers analyzed this data with regard to the social networking aspect of "Happiness", they discovered that "Happiness" may be as contagious as the "Common Cold". It can actually travel from person-to-person and farther than anyone previously imagined. In fact, our "Happiness" depends, in part, on whole clusters of people we don't even know. The degree of "Happiness" a person conveys is extended as far as our friend's-friend's-friend and affects their emotional state at least in part. We are the most social animal on the planet and "Happiness" is like a contagious connecting thread.


A surprising result of scientific research is that "Happiness" increases as we get older. The caveat being acceptable health. There is a graphical "U-bend" to "Age" and "Happiness". When we start out on adult life, we are on average, pretty cheerful. Things go downhill from youth to middle age until they reach a nadir commonly known as the "Mid-Life Crisis". As we move towards old age, we lose things - vitality, mental sharpness, and looks. We gain, however, what we spend our lives pursuing: "Happiness".