Can You Overdose on Happiness?
nautil.us
Can You Overdose on Happiness?
1–10 of 65 posts
Re: Can You Overdose on Happiness?
#2Interesting yet disturbing. On the one hand, a possible treatment for severe treatment resistant depression, which would relieve the misery of many thousands of suffering individuals. On the other, a possible gateway to the sci-fi concept of wireheads ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirehead_(science_fiction) ) or a mechanism to involuntarily pacify dissidents or other disaffected members of society.
I'm really not sure what to think.
Re: Can You Overdose on Happiness?
#3An LD50[1] for a happiness level? I don't think so.
OD'ing in sense of "my happy chemicals are depleted so now I need to recover a bit", suuuure :)
Re: Can You Overdose on Happiness?
#4I kind of skimmed the article, but it did remind me of another one I read about babies. Once a baby gets to the point they express emotions, they will look at their parents and fill with so much joy, their sub-conscious forces them to look away so they can calm down and don't hurt themselves.
Re: Can You Overdose on Happiness?
#5You can, but most people have a built-in defense mechanism for dealing with excessive happiness; they indulge invented troubles and make themselves miserable. Some large fraction of contemporary news headlines are attributable to this phenomenon; most people aren't actually clever enough to invent their own troubles so they adopt the invented troubles created by others.
Re: Can You Overdose on Happiness?
#6Happiness and suffering are tow sides of the same coin. They follow each other closely. Overdose of happiness will lead to an equal amount of suffering. Better to be indifferent to either and focus on equanimity, peace and harmonY.
Re: Can You Overdose on Happiness?
#7Happiness and suffering are tow sides of the same coin. They follow each other closely. Overdose of happiness will lead to an equal amount of suffering. Better to be indifferent to either and focus on equanimity, peace and harmonY.
This is very true, contentment and acceptance are two more worthy goals to aim for. I find them easier to relate to and more fundamental.
My Yoga teacher used to say that it's useless to tell someone to relax, it's like telling them to not think of a pink elephant.
Re: Can You Overdose on Happiness?
#8"Why not allow patients to set their own moods to suit their own circumstances and desires?"
Can't most people to some extent do that?
Re: Can You Overdose on Happiness?
#9You can, but most people have a built-in defense mechanism for dealing with excessive happiness; they indulge invented troubles and make themselves miserable. Some large fraction of contemporary news headlines are attributable to this phenomenon; most people aren't actually clever enough to invent their own troubles so they adopt the invented troubles created by others.
I also have this view. Curious whether you know of any resources to read up on this some more? It's one of those things that's hard to search for.
Re: Can You Overdose on Happiness?
#10An LD50[1] for a happiness level? I don't think so. OD'ing in sense of "my happy chemicals are depleted so now I need to recover a bit", suuuure :) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_lethal_dose
Sounds like MDMA abuse.