Why Happiness Can Be Politically Dangerous

Submitted by tonyplant on April 29, 2006 - 11:12.

I recently wondered why some people can resent the happiness of others. Today, I've just come across an article that discusses the ideological dangers of public policies to promote happiness.

Happiness is dangerous territory... The science cuts across ideology. Progressive politicians enthusiastically embrace findings which suggest that the redistribution of wealth is good for our well-being...[T]raditionalists prefer the scientific papers showing that marriage (rather than cohabitation) has a hugely positive effect on happiness; and that God and the Boy Scouts add to the sum of human contentment while entertainment TV and multiculturalism tend to reduce it.

There is some uneasiness over the scientific support for happiness where it contradicts social politics or attitudes.

The chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, Trevor Phillips, does not shy away from the scientific evidence. "We've done work here which shows that people, frankly, when there aren't other pressures, like to live within a comfort zone which is defined by racial sameness," he told me. "People feel happier if they're with people who are like themselves. But the question is: what does 'like themselves' mean?"

Public policies to promote happiness can be fraught with ideological problems. What does this say about individual strategies to promote personal happiness? Maybe that even when you know the benefits of being on the other side and the distance is within range, the jump itself is still a leap of faith?

1 attachment | read more | 1 comment | resilience | happystance | happiness | community

Loss and Grieving: Study Shows That Spouses Are Resilient

Submitted by tonyplant on April 28, 2006 - 07:34.

AADT offers a brief overview of the book, Spousal Bereavement in Later Life. The book reports the findings of a study:

The Michigan team followed 1,500 couples over the age of 65, looked at the quality of their marriages and the effects on one after the other died.

Almost half said they had enjoyed their marriages but had been able to cope with the loss without much grieving.

Experts previously thought those with minimal grief lacked close attachment to their spouse or were in denial.

...Forty-six per cent of the widows and widowers in this study reported they had satisfying marriages...

Taken together, these findings provide strong evidence that men and women who show this resilient pattern of grief are not emotionally distant or in denial, but are in fact well-adjusted individuals responding to the loss in a healthy way.

I am disturbed that the 'expert' view (which was obviously not grounded in research) may have led to people being labelled as 'emotionally distant' or 'in denial' with whatever consequences there are for those labels. It's a remarkable instance of resilience being medicalised: and it's another take on my recent argument that happiness and resilience can themselves be stigmatised.

AADT is well worth visiting for the chance to watch an elegaic video that tells the poignant story of Alex after the death of his wife of 57 years. As AADT say:

1 attachment | read more | add new comment | resilience | marriage | loss | grief | bereavement

What Is Happiness: Why Can It Seem Offensive?

Submitted by tonyplant on April 27, 2006 - 16:02.

Why can declaring yourself to be happy carry overtones of being a dilettante, being in denial, callous or having no real problems in life? Both history and scientific research argue that present happiness consists of three elements: the meaningful life; the engaged life; and the pleasant life. Rather like the equilibrium in the accompanying illustration.

There are studies of Bangladesh that report that eight out of ten people there claim to be happy. The reports emphasises the great happiness and satisfaction that people derive from their family lives, despite great privations. The report is not an argument for the happiness-promoting qualities of great poverty. The study suggests that previous aid efforts in Bangladesh may have failed because the aid-providers were solely interested in promoting economic development of the individual. Aid-providers saw the grinding poverty and a rigid family and social hierarchy that they perceived as stifling: they did not look at the need to keep the institutions that contribute to people's happiness. And so, many of the aid-initiatives there have failed in their intent.

I had many apprehensions about an invitation to run Laughter Yoga workshops with homeless people. When I mentioned this to friends, the level of repulsion stimulated a rich stream of comments. To give you a flavour of the comments, some people seemed to have heard an announcement that I intended to order myself a feast, lock some homeless people in a cage, turn the fire-hoses on them, and then chow down, my appetite heightened by enjoyment in the sight of human suffering. However, I decided that it was up to others to be offended, or not turn up, or however they chose to respond. The centre where I ran the workshops had a choice of activities that their service-users could select. Homeless people did turn up to the sessions. They did enjoy themselves. Some of them said that it was their first opportunity to laugh in years. Others remarked that they rarely got to do anything as a group activity and they had appreciated that the laughter works best in a group.

3 attachments | read more | 2 comments | resilience | marriage | happystance | happiness

Grand Rounds 2:31 Is Up

Submitted by tonyplant on April 26, 2006 - 14:36.

Just a note to say that this week's edition of Grand Rounds, volume 2:31, is up. It is hosted by David E. Williams over at Health Business Blog.

David Williams is co-founder of MedPharma Partners LLC, strategy consultant to pharma, biotech, device, and technology enabled healthcare services industries.

There is an excellent assortment of posts on a rich variety of topics.

add new comment | Grand Rounds

Dr Serani's 6 Myths About Stress

Submitted by tonyplant on April 25, 2006 - 13:33.

 

Psychologist Dr Deborah Serani dispels six myths about stress in the hope of promoting greater understanding. It sounds a lot like being aware of the allostatic load of your life. I've borrowed this following explanation of allostasis from Dr. Salt's summary of a classic paper:

[stress has] many mechanisms, but among the most prominent are the manifestations of physiological stress responses as a result of living and working conditions, inter-personal conflict, as well as the sense of control of one’s environment and optimism/pessimism toward the future. "Allostatic load" refers to the cost of adaptation to a stressful environment, which elicits repeated and sometimes prolonged adaptive responses ("allostasis") that preserve homeostasis in the short run but can cause wear- and-tear on the body and brain. Functional symptoms and syndromes, decreased cognitive function during aging, abdominal obesity, increased risk for hypertension and cardiovascular disease, insulin-dependent diabetes and decreased immune responses are all manifestations of allostatic load.

We have powerful ways of modulating the harmful output of the stress response systems that include belief systems and behaviors. An important quote attributed to Dr. McEwen is, "We must also remember that the biggest problems for the human race in the future are those associated with our own behavior and misbehavior and the impact of the social and physical environment on our bodies and brains."

1 attachment | read more | 1 comment | unhappiness | stress | resilience | happiness | depression | anxiety | allostatic load | allostasis

A Breath Spa For Kids

Submitted by tonyplant on April 21, 2006 - 16:42.

I've just read about another UnLtd project: it is offering a breath spa for kids. The workshops are available for children with sleep-disordered breathing (a.k.a. snoring, sleep apnoea).

There is a research summary of sleep-disordered breathing that indicates that it is common in children with physical, emotional or behavioural issues. The project is set up to work on establishing healthy breathing habits for children to reduce the incidence of sleep-disordered breathing. If the techniques work, and the children stop snoring, it would be interesting to see if their other health outcomes improve.

I've participated in some of the pilot workshops for this project before at a pre-school and I had a great time (hey, I got to wear my Darth Vader mask). So, I've offered to run more laughter yoga and meditation sessions as part of the workshops so that the children can have an enjoyable learning experience. It will be interesting to see how this works out!

2 attachments | read more | add new comment | snoring | sleep | meditation | children | breathing

What Is The Scent of Happiness?

Submitted by tonyplant on April 20, 2006 - 14:45.

I think of Christmas when I smell mince-pies and Easter when I smell Hot Cross Buns. The scent of lilac takes me back to playing in my grandparents' shrubbery. "Wake up and smell the coffee!" captures the powerful association of smell with states of mind: a more notorious example is Colonel Kilgore's declaration that napalm "smells like victory".

Smells have many associations, some of which are cultural. Barbara Kingsolver frequently refers to the "smell of Africa" in The Poisonwood Bible and her characters contrast it with the olfactory sterility of the US. The same smells can evoke fond memories in some and nausea in others (I came across an example of this recently in the quirky site, I hate cilantro).

A selection of studies provides the following highlights about the intriguing links between olfaction, emotion, behaviour and memory:

• slot machine players in Las Vegas wagered 45% more in a pleasantly-scented room than players in a room without that scent addition [1].
• consumers in a scented room reported a significantly more positive impression of a pair of Nike shoes than consumers who examined an identical pair of shoes in an unscented room. A price survey revealed that one out of 10 consumers in the scented room would pay a purchase price of $10 more than consumers in the unscented room [2].
• a group of patients receiving MRI scans inhaled a vanilla aroma before the procedure: 63% reported reduced anxiety versus 5% of patients who received no intervention before the procedure [3].
• people could remember a scent and its related memory with 65% accuracy after a year. This finding was contrasted with visual recall, which returned 50% accuracy after only four months [4].

It would be interesting to see whether external stimuli such as smells could help people switch to a more resilient, resourceful state if they find themselves growing anxious or uneasy. Perhaps this might work in combination with biofeedback techniques. People might achieve a particular state of relaxation or resourcefulness that is confirmed by biofeedback results, and then have this associated with a particular smell. People might be able to reinforce this a few times and then use it independently in an appropriate situation.

read more | add new comment | resilience | happystance | happiness | cross-cultural

Stress, Anxiety and Depression: diverse findings from mice and stressed people

Submitted by tonyplant on April 19, 2006 - 14:18.

There is a lot of disagreement about anxiety and depression among professionals. Some argue that they are discrete categories. Others say that they tend to co-exist. There is disagreement about whether the anxiety that often accompanies chronic depression is a cause or effect of the illness.

Research in mice suggests that chronic stress as a precursor of anxiety may be a trigger for -- rather than a symptom of -- depression. People with depression typically have measurably higher levels of cortisol (stress-fighting, anti-inflammatory hormone), but researchers disagree whether this is a cause or effect of depression. The findings of the mouse research indicate that chronic exposure to cortisol may contribute to the development of depression.

The mice were acutely (24 hours) and chronically (17 to 18 days) dosed with their stress hormone. They mice were then given a common behavioural test for anxiety in animals: researchers measured how much time it took to leave a small dark enclosure for a brightly lit, open field. The research reports that the mice exposed to chronically raised levels of stress hormones were more hesitant less to explore their new environment and more fearful.

The research also indicates that the mice with chronic exposure responded with dulled reactions to being startled: an indication that their nervous system might be overwhelmed.

1 attachment | read more | add new comment | unhappiness | stress | resilience | happiness | depression | anxiety

Communication, explanation and understanding

Submitted by tonyplant on April 17, 2006 - 15:02.

Judges in the US are attending a programme of classes to educate them in the science and medicine that underlies the detection, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of disease. The programme is intended to help in the ajudication of medical malpractice cases.

In addition to acquiring a scientific knowledge base, judges said they learned that understanding physician-patient communication is key to interpreting complex medical cases.

Ohio trial Judge Lee Sinclair said he was particularly enlightened by a mock exercise in which a newly diagnosed cancer patient evaluated treatment options with several doctors, including a surgeon and an oncologist.

When the judges got together to discuss the conversation, “what you realized was everyone in the room heard things in a different way,” Sinclair said. “Often what you hear in medical malpractice cases is the physician saying he explained it to the patient and the patient saying it never happened.”

The insights are especially valuable in helping judges eliminate potentially frivolous lawsuits or find alternate ways to resolve legal disputes without going to trial, said Marvin J. Garvis, a Maryland federal judge.

I found this exercise interesting for a number of reasons. How many times have we heard someone say, "But I told you that", or "You never told me about that". Sometimes, we have been told information but the stress or shock of the circumstances under which we were told means that we don't remember. Sometimes, we retain fragments of the information, rather than its context.

read more | add new comment | gladwell | explanation | communication | cognitive behavioural therapy | charles tilly | CBT

Fish v. Drugs for Children And Criminals

Submitted by tonyplant on April 16, 2006 - 13:27.

 

When most of us think about Eating Our Way To Happiness we tend to think delicious doesn't exist on the same spectrum as nutritious. There are several T.V. advertising campaigns promising happiness in association with foodstuffs at present. Pop Quiz. Do you think that these foodstuffs are vegetables or confectionery? Nutrient-dense or nutrient-poor? How much truth is there in this advertising?

Does it matter? Well, according to research conducted in prisons, the nutritional profile of what we eat may matter a great deal. Physiologist Bernard Gesch had lead this research in UK prisons and is quoted as claiming that:

Research suggests that we may have seriously under-estimated the importance of nutrition for our social behaviour. Since the 1950s there has been a ten-fold increase in offences. How else can we explain that but by diet? It is not down to genetics. The main change over that period has been in nutrients.

Gesch's trials with supplements in a prison population indicated that inmates responded with a drop by more than a third in their level of antisocial behaviour (as measured by assaults and similar transgressions) relative to their previous records. For some, this raises questions about the link between diet and behaviour, and the link between violence and free will. Gesch was interviewed on the topic for the New York Times [behind a paywall] and argues:

4 attachments | read more | 7 comments | nutrition | happystance | happiness | gladwell | food | anti-depressants | ADHD