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A proposal to classify happiness as a psychiatric disorder (1992)

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

11–20 of 107 posts

Re: A proposal to classify happiness as a psychiatric disorder (1992)

#13

I'm assuming this is some kind of jab at the general propensity of psychiatry to classify most things as disorders, rather than a serious proposal. If anything, I think the problem has gotten worse since this was published. (Then again, maybe happiness has also gotten more rare since 1992?)

I had to check if it was April Fool's Day

Re: A proposal to classify happiness as a psychiatric disorder (1992)

#15

it's Catch-22. the world is such a mess that if you're happy, you must be delusional.

hard disagree. I think you can be happy about some things and not about others, and it's not so black-and-white.

Replace 'happy' with 'neurotic' and you got it!

Re: A proposal to classify happiness as a psychiatric disorder (1992)

#16
post #14

This reminds me of this old gem from The Onion: FDA Approves Depressant Drug For The Annoyingly Cheerful [video/NSFW/2:06] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd4tugPM83c

A similarly useful article:

More U.S. Children Being Diagnosed With Youthful Tendency Disorder https://theonion.com/more-u-s-children-being-diagnosed-with-...

Re: A proposal to classify happiness as a psychiatric disorder (1992)

#17

Ahh 1992. At the time he probably didn’t know he needed to add a /s or he’d be taken seriously in our delusional future.

Or was the nineties, so it would have been a “not!” or a “psych!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhIdbRp6xeg

Re: A proposal to classify happiness as a psychiatric disorder (1992)

#18

Ahh 1992. At the time he probably didn’t know he needed to add a /s or he’d be taken seriously in our delusional future.

Or was the nineties, so it would have been a “not!” or a “psych!”

“… on Opposite Day!”

Re: A proposal to classify happiness as a psychiatric disorder (1992)

#19
Ha, this is fun. But there's a kernel of truth to it. The problem with American culture specifically is that it treats "happiness" as a goal, rather than a fleeting feeling that is probably better described with a more specific word (joy, accomplishment, excitement, satisfaction, contentment). Our culture leans on this so hard that people start to think there's something wrong with them if they're not feeling generalized happiness most of the time.

That's just not how life works.

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