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

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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

#101

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

ranger_danger wrote: post #95
NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not the world, I just live in it. It might be a mess, but that mess mostly doesn't affect me. The few ways in which it does can be effectively mitigated by anyone who puts in even the tiniest bit of effort. For that matter, nothing much stops me from carving out my own little world where I can clean up what mess it is, and live there. But to do that I'd have to admit to myself that I can't change the greater worl…

> But to do that I'd have to admit to myself that I can't change the greater world Do you though? Can't we believe that change is possible, but also choose not to act on it? Not saying that's right or wrong, just that it's possible.

[flagged]

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

#102

Post by aristofun »

Americans have an amazing trait to make money and marketing bullshit out of almost any idea, however great or silly it originally is.

In the process they usually spoil and dumb down it to the point of making no sense (but making more money).

Happiness? Fine! Well sell that.

Happiness is overrated? Even better! Let’s wrap that and shove it down the throat of different focus group.

This is just brilliant.

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

#103

Post by bulbar »

joshmarlow wrote: post #23
bensyverson wrote: post #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 general…

A few years ago I read a claim that the word 'happy' is relatively young - ~500 years old - and that translations of others words into 'happy' are somewhat approximate. My takeaway is that (presuming the argument is correct) that much of human striving is probably better described with specific words (as you suggested - joy, accomplishment, fulfillment, excitement, etc). For most of human history, most people probabl…

The German word for happy "glücklich" derives from the German word for luck "Glück". Could also be the other way round, idk.

Instead of saying "being lucky" we therefore say "having luck" instead. However, "glücklich" is commonly used in both contexts: "I bin glücklich" (I am happy) is very common as well as "Ein glücklicher Zufall" (A lucky coincidence). It's kind of implied by the language that a lucky coincidence makes you happy.

Makes sense to me that this might even be the origin of the term and the underlying emotion it described. Even hundreds of thousands years ago, people have been lucky from time to time which triggered an emotion: Happiness.

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

#104

Post by xtiansimon »

bensyverson wrote: post #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 general…

> “happiness" as a goal

More joy and less suffering is my goal.

Is that better, vis-a-vis suffering as the alternative.

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

#105

Post by pamcake »

bulbar wrote: post #103
joshmarlow wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few years ago I read a claim that the word 'happy' is relatively young - ~500 years old - and that translations of others words into 'happy' are somewhat approximate. My takeaway is that (presuming the argument is correct) that much of human striving is probably better described with specific words (as you suggested - joy, accomplishment, fulfillment, excitement, etc). For most of human history, most people probabl…

The German word for happy "glücklich" derives from the German word for luck "Glück". Could also be the other way round, idk. Instead of saying "being lucky" we therefore say "having luck" instead. However, "glücklich" is commonly used in both contexts: "I bin glücklich" (I am happy) is very common as well as "Ein glücklicher Zufall" (A lucky coincidence). It's kind of implied by the language that a lucky coincidence…

It makes a lot of sense that "happy" is opposite to "disappointed".

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

#107

Post by Brian_K_White »

limagnolia wrote: post #76
Brian_K_White wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. It's certainly not a goal. And even if it can somehow happen, soneone could be resigned or drugged, it's different from something like "happy to die". This question itself seems to be a perfect example of the point that the word is worse than meaningless. Worse because people use it like it has a useful meaning. One can die in a state that has a lot of the qualities or features that overlap with other states that…

What is your definition of happy?

Ambiguous, mutable, and context-sensitive.
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