Hi
On Fri, 27 Aug 1999, Rick Adams wrote:
> Richard P. Bentall in the June 1992 issue of
> Journal of Medical Ethics.
> "Happiness is a Psychiatric Disorder"
> Happiness meets all reasonable criteria for a
> psychiatric disorder. It is statistically abnormal,
No it isn't. Diener and other people have found that most
people, including people in some rather difficult circumstances,
tend to be happy.
> consists of a discrete cluster of symptoms, there is
So do innumerable other things that we don't call psychiatric
disorders.
> at least some evidence that is reflects the abnormal
> functioning of the central nervous system, and it is
I'm not sure what "abnormality" of the nervous system is being
referred to here, and what sense of the word "abnormality" is
being used.
> associated with various cognitive abnormalities; in
> particular a lack of contact with reality.
> Acceptance of these arguments leads to the obvious
> conclusion that happiness should be included in
> future taxonomies of mental illness, probably as a
> form of affective (mood) disorder. This would place
Don't disorders usually cause the person distress (not always of
course) and/or interfere with their capacity to function
effectively?
I'm not completely humorless, ... it just seemed that there were
some lessons to learn from this little excerpt.
Best wishes
Jim
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James M. Clark (204) 786-9757
Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax
University of Winnipeg 4L05D
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
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