Suicide By Seligman Summary

In his article "In Pursuit of Happiness: Better Living from Plato to Prozac," Mark Kingwell describes how there has been many debates on the meaning of happiness for many years yet still a singular, justifiable definition eludes society. The pursuit to define and understand happiness has invited several debates, questions, arguments, and suggestions alike. In 1996, a hand full of genetic and behavioral studies suggest evidence that one’s achievable degree of happiness is genetically decided, with evidences showing that no achievement will change your happiness, you are either happy or you’re not. Some studies demonstrated a correlation between dopamine levels in the brain and expressions of personal satisfaction, while others indicated that

In Happiness: Enough Already, Sharon Begley makes a case for the modern views of happiness and sadness by providing different professional opinions on the the happiness industry, some believe happiness is the sole purpose of life while others believe it is equal to sadness. Jerome Wakefield, a professor at New York University, is approached by many students with complaint concerning their parents’ opinions on dealing with depression, which consist of antidepressants and counseling. Ed Diener, a psychologist, at the University of Illinois, raised to question the idea of a national index of happiness to the Scottish Parliament. Eric Wilson, a professor, at Wake Forest University, tried to embrace becoming happier but ended up embracing the importance

Fifty volunteers, who were residents of this village, were selected to follow an intensive happiness training during twelve weeks. Six “happiness experts” made them do various exercises, like hugging one another, preforming biodanza and laughing for absolutely no reason. At the end of the experiment, their level of happiness increased by 33 percent. However, Eric asked himself if it is possible to change of the psychological climate, so he called Richard Stevens. Stevens said it is possible, with time and money.

Then the passage goes on to talk about what happiness is and how science cannot be used to define it. The routes to happiness are to increase positive emotion, the pursuit of ‘gratification’, and giving life meaning. It also talks about finding flow like Csikszentmihalyi talks about in his story, which is what I use to find out what gives me happiness. Next, the passage talks about Interventions to Nurture Happiness. We have designed and used interventions for each of the three routes to happiness.

Introduction: In 2011, famous American psychologist, Marsha Linehan, removed herself from solitude and spoke out about her struggle with a mental illness, expressing feelings of “being in hell” and memories of being in an institute of living at age seventeen. Although psychologists and mental health experts seem to be one of the strongest assets to society in a mental aspect, they tend to struggle with mental illness more than the general population. Linehan 's confession, was a shock to many, and it should come as a surprise that she is one of many mental health professionals that lives with a mental illness. Although psychologists struggle with mental health issues more than the general population, it may be helpful to their profession.

In the book “The Art of Happiness”, the author utilized the thought of Buddhist, which defined the happiness

Happiness is something humans have been pursuing for centuries. The quest for happiness is so cemented in the minds of human beings that it has been used as a method of control, and as a weapon against others. Humans are moths, ever drawn to the distant flame of joy. Over the past year I have learned much about this pursuit that has plagued humans for millennia. Pieces of literature like The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men and The Devil and Tom Walker all explore this pursuit in unique and diverse ways.

Happiness is a rite of passage to everyone no matter what cost. It can be extremely difficult to take someone’s happiness away, but it can be done. For example, in the book “Anthem” by Ayn Rand, Prometheus’ happiness is stripped from him in a futuristic society focused around similarity and compliance. Similarly, this unfortunately can happen as we are currently witnessing in Communist countries. Rand describes taking away individuality by forcing everyone to use “we” instead of “I”.

People miss the fact that happiness comes from within. In an attempt to find joy – we must also be cautious about over excessive desire to acquire material objects and wealth. There is a delicate balance that must be reached between the pursuit of happiness, satisfaction, and contentment. While there are many conditions that fulfill ones emotional wellbeing, happiness and how we acquired it, depends upon the

Pogosyan, based her reading of Oishi and Gilbert, states, ¨[w]ithin the framework of psychological research on happiness, a happy person is characterized as someone who ´has pleasant feelings most of the time and feels satisfied with his/her life overall´¨ (p.1). Marianna Pogosyan used psychological research as proof to back up her claims about happiness. In the article she also summarizes, ¨[p]eople across cultures consider happiness as one of their most cherished personal goals. Even national campaigns and movements are being launched for building happier societies¨ (Pogosyan). The author proves that in diverse cultures happiness is still a big part of each culture and that cultures are searching for happiness by making movements and campaigns to do so.

Why not unite to build a stronger force and fight against both physical and mental health crisis in the world? This paper attempts to explain the valid reason(s) psychologists and primary care professionals attempt to understand establishing their collaboration and it’s benefit to be gained as an excellent union for both the old and new physical and mental health issues that arise every day, diseases which can be fought with two of the most powerful medical world giants; Primary care; a patient 's main source for regular medical care, ideally providing continuity and integration of health care services, along with the Psychology the study of the human mind and its

On the contrary, the acquisition of a good life should rather focus on achievement of an overall balance between an individual with the surrounding world, with practice of fostering good relationships with others and self cognition. The positive development of psychological wellbeing therefore will lead to enduring happiness, which is the ideal outcome of a good

In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the concept of happiness is introduced as the ultimate good one can achieve in life as well as the ultimate goal of human existence. As Aristotle goes on to further define happiness, one can see that his concept is much different from the 21st-century view. Aristotelian happiness can be achieved through choosing to live the contemplative life, which would naturally encompass moralistic virtue. This differs significantly from the modern view of happiness, which is heavily reliant on material goods. To a person in the 21st-century, happiness is simply an emotional byproduct one experiences as a result of acquiring material goods.

A collection of philosophical, religious, psychological and biological approaches had attempted to define happiness and analyze its connections. Researchers have found that about 50% of people happiness depends on our genes, based on studies of identical twins, whose happiness was 50% correlated even when growing up in different houses. About 10% to 15% is a result of various measurable life circumstances variables, such as socioeconomic status, marital status, health, income, and others. The remaining 40% is a combination of intentional factors and the results of actions that individuals deliberately engage in to become happier. Studies have also found that most of us are born with a fixed “set point” of happiness that we fall in throughout our lives.

At the end of everyone’s lives, the goal appears to be about attaining happiness. Describing how to obtain happiness has been an issue that was debated in the past but is still talked about now . In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle expands on his view of happiness and he focuses particularly on how reason helps recognize and pursue what will lead to happiness and the good life. I feel that Aristotle’s philosophies on happiness are important works within the field of philosophy and he considered one of the………of it . In this paper, I will explore Aristotle’s beliefs regarding happiness then compare and contrast them to those of Martin Seligman.