A proposal to classify happiness as a psychiatric disorder (1992) • Hacker News Board

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

#71

Post by Brian_K_White » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 5:07 PM UTC

limagnolia wrote: post #65

joshmarlow wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've not read Aristotle directly but translating eudaimonia was an example in the book that I mentioned. The argument was that eudaimonia is often translated as happiness but that doesn't make sense in contexts where we talk about a soldier dying experiencing eudaimonia (suggesting a loose translation).

You don't think it possible for some one to die happy?

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 people call happy, but that doesn't make them equal or equivalent.

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

#72

Post by doubled112 » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 5:09 PM UTC

autoexec wrote: post #66

_doctor_love wrote: post #61

> It is proposed that happiness be classified as a psychiatric disorder and be included in future editions of the major diagnostic manuals under the new name: major affective disorder, pleasant type. In a review of the relevant literature it is shown that happiness is statistically abnormal, consists of a discrete cluster of symptoms, is associated with a range of cognitive abnormalities, and probably reflects the ab…

I'm guessing that it's just a joke, but I'll admit that it reads like something you'd expect from somebody who doesn't know the difference between "sad" and "depressed" and thinks that there's some vast conspiracy to medicate people for normal human emotions. I'd bet this is smugly shared all over facebook by ignorant people who think that things like depression or ADHD don't exist.

If I count on my fingers, just the ones I know the parents, I'd guess 7/10 kids in my neighbourhood have some sort of diagnosis or suspected diagnosis.

To be honest, I'm also starting to wonder if we aren't medicating people for normal human emotions.

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

#73

Post by xyzelement » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 5:11 PM UTC

I find the word "happy" is unfortunately overloaded and confusing - and in its confusion makes it hard to know how to achieve the state.

I think other languages have more shades for this much like eskimos have many words for snow.

For example in the Jewish tradition the word "nahas" is something like the satisfaction of watching the children you raised become excellent parents of their own.

Another word "simha" could be translated as "happy occasion" but really is only used for positive lifecycle events (birth, marriage, etc)

In modern English we would probably use "happy" for all these but it's unfortunate that we'd also use the same word for triviality like "I am happy jerking off in my basement"

The beauty of "nahas" and "simha" is they point us towards a sustainable and deeply meaningful way to be "happy" - to achieve significance in our lives that makes us feel good because things are deeply good.

"Happiness" does not act as a guidepost in the same way. I believe it actually comes from the same root as "happen" - a sort of vagarity you hope to stumble into but aren't sure how to work towards.

Don't get me started on the English word "love" lol.

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

#74

Post by autoexec » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 5:16 PM UTC

doubled112 wrote: post #72

autoexec wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing that it's just a joke, but I'll admit that it reads like something you'd expect from somebody who doesn't know the difference between "sad" and "depressed" and thinks that there's some vast conspiracy to medicate people for normal human emotions. I'd bet this is smugly shared all over facebook by ignorant people who think that things like depression or ADHD don't exist.

If I count on my fingers, just the ones I know the parents, I'd guess 7/10 kids in my neighbourhood have some sort of diagnosis or suspected diagnosis. To be honest, I'm also starting to wonder if we aren't medicating people for normal human emotions.

What do the parents you know say when you tell them that they're medicating their children for normal human emotions? My guess is that they could give examples of things that aren't actually normal which caused them to seek out a professional in the first place.

In previous generations children with corrective lenses were rare, and kids used to fear being made fun of and being called "four eyes" for wearing glasses to school. Recently it's gotten a whole lot more common for kids, even toddlers, to wear glasses. It might be tempting to think that Big Eyeglass was treating people for normal human blurriness, but it's more likely that eye glasses, and eye care more generally, has gotten more accessible and that more kids getting the care they need and recent environmental factors are contributing to the increase in kids needing glasses (and needing them at younger and younger ages).

It's the same with mental health issues. We have increased awareness of mental health, reduced stigma around seeking and receiving treatment, improved treatments, a better understanding of various conditions and how to diagnose them, and recent environmental factors that may be exacerbating problems if not inducing them.

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

#75

Post by notlenin » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 5:23 PM UTC

jongjong wrote: post #57

8bitsrule wrote: post #31

The way to happiness is to stop chasing it. Never mind all the ads ... It isn't 'out there somewhere'.

Yeah. I achieve happiness by not caring about anything too much. Nothing matters, ultimately. This is a universal truth. Once you internalize that, everything seems small. You can appreciate things more. These days I enjoy just having the time to stare at the clouds for a few hours at a time. I would honestly prefer to watch paint dry than going to work though. The only thing I kind of want in my life is UBI because…

happiness is very linked to unexpected surprises.

I personally have been experimenting what basically amounts to a Christian version of Bhakti Yoga [0]

basically "wow, thanks God/Jesus, this is wonderful, I love you, you're awesome, thanks for X, Y, Z, etc". If you can stay in that mood of gratitude and occasionally add in a lil "and if I could get an A or B that would be great, but no worries if not", and... in my belief system/experience, the desired outcome happens somewhat effortlessly :)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhakti_yoga

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

#76

Post by limagnolia » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 5:23 PM UTC

Brian_K_White wrote: post #71

limagnolia wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't think it possible for some one to die happy?

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?

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

#77

Post by IAmBroom » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 5:29 PM UTC

xyzelement wrote: post #73

I find the word "happy" is unfortunately overloaded and confusing - and in its confusion makes it hard to know how to achieve the state. I think other languages have more shades for this much like eskimos have many words for snow. For example in the Jewish tradition the word "nahas" is something like the satisfaction of watching the children you raised become excellent parents of their own. Another word "simha" could…

> ...much like eskimos have many words for snow.

... which is a stereotyped myth, like most of what we were taught about indigenous peoples everywhere.

Turns out English has MANY more words for "stream of water on land" than Inuit has for snow. Inuit has multiple nuancing endings - but English has snow, snows, snowy, snowlike, and so one.

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

#78

Post by IAmBroom » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

thewebguyd wrote: post #40

tss93 wrote: post #27

The critique feels valid to me. There’s a tendency in modern psychology/media to pathologize the average human baseline: if you’re not consistently optimistic and thriving, something must be wrong with you, or at least you need to be in a pursuit of this. But constant happiness isn’t realistic, it’s like a desire to be permanently high. From my own experience I’ve landed somewhere near the Buddhist framing: the healt…

> healthy default is just calm and neutral, with happiness and sadness coming and going away. This is a very healthy attitude, and people often miss it. Every feeling/emotion/state of mind is impermanent. It will come and go on its own, its biology and there's nothing you can do about it. It's trying to "cling" to a specific state, forever, that leads to our own suffering. The moment you've move from "I feel happy" t…

Almost as if there were some middle-path that was best...

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

#79

Post by fsckboy » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC

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…

you can't experience Latino culture without thinking that they treat happiness as a goal, it's sort of like you're applying a Germanic/Protestant/Puritanical filter to Americans

also I don't think the more subtle distinctions between happiness and contentment is something people can be expected to maintain in their everyday speech at every moment. That's just not how language works.

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

#80

Post by thewebguyd » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #70

fwipsy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect you would agree with this: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/unhappy Even if feelings are temporary you can still have them more or less often. When somebody says they are happy, of course it does not mean they are experiencing bliss all the time; it means that the relative frequency of positive emotions is high and the relative frequency of negative emotions is low. I think a lot of people assume it's not poss…

I have often felt conflicted about happiness and what we should strive for in our lives. It is true that most people seem to think happiness is the ultimate goal for life. They say they just want to be happy, that they just want their kids to be happy. Often times, though, it seems almost circular in logic; any time you pushback against the idea of happiness or why being happy all the time isn’t always good, people w…

> I have often felt conflicted about happiness and what we should strive for in our lives.

It's the striving itself that is the source of our suffering & dissatisfaction

The reason its hard to articulate what we want is we are conditioned to think of our life as a series of targets to hit, but that striving is where we suffer. Maybe you target wealth, then you look for happiness, then you look for meaning, and it doesn't end.

Life is like a fire, you don't ask the fire what its goal is.

> We want to do hard things that make us work and that hurt a bit and frustrate us, because there is a sense of satisfaction when you persevere.

Even with this, making satisfaction the goal will turn it into another struggle or commodity to be consumed. We like hard things because the intensity forces us to be present. The striving mind stops worrying about the future or the past and you are fully present with the task at hand.

Once you can get out of the way of yourself, you realize we don't actually want a better experience, we just want to stop being distracted from the one we're already having.