Happy Danes and Miserable Brits?

A researcher has put together a map of happiness in the world. The map shows that Denmark is the No. 1 destination. Health levels, prosperity and education were the strongest determinants of happiness. Money might not guarantee happiness, but it does make a significant contribution when it is spend on healthcare and education. It probably comes as no surprise that Zimbabwe and Burundi come bottom: oddly enough, the USA is placed at 23 and UK at 41 out of 178 countries.

The researcher makes some interesting comments about why countries appear in the places that they do. He remarks that Asia showed up poorly despite the strong sense of family and collective identity. However, I would speculate that questions that emphasise subjective wellbeing are not culturally appropriate in several countries. Although there is some mention of lower levels of happiness in countries with large population, the examples cited seem to relate more to high population density than large populations (they may overlap but are not necessarily synonymous).

Of course, according to a recent item in The Guardian, happiness is over-rated. Happiness does seem to be a red-rag that precludes discussion of the benefits that it confers. Apart from novels and philosophical/religious speculations about the spiritual ennoblement that suffering gives us, where did we develop the idea that lessons in how to develop our mental and physical fortitude would reduce us to the blandly chipper, annoying others with our mindless cheer and groundless optimism? We can't eradicate sadness or adversity: they are a natural part of life's rhythms. But, for some people, it does seem as if we can do something about our ability to cope with such circumstances.

Would resilience be a better term? Back to the map of happiness, I can understand how both healthcare and education can help to develop resilience and create a greater variety of employment opportunities.

I read impassioned defences of the wonderful insight and art that springs from depression. I'm sure that somewhere, there are commentators who lament the passing of childhood illnesses that brought the high rates of childhood mortality that gave us poetry from the likes of Ben Jonson. I'm borrowing the form of that argument from somewhere that I can't recall at present. I shall have to look up my records.

I've consulted my notes. I was thinking about Kramer's excellent essay: There's Nothing Deep About Depression. I enjoyed the entire essay and agree with the conclusion.

To see the worst things a person can see is one experience; to suffer mood disorder is another. It is depression -- and not resistance to it or recovery from it -- that diminishes the self.

Beset by great evil, a person can be wise, observant and disillusioned and yet not depressed. Resilience confers its own measure of insight. We should have no trouble admiring what we do admire -- depth, complexity, aesthetic brilliance -- and standing foursquare against depression.