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Don't Worry, Be Happy
The New York Times Book Review
By Marian Sandmaier
When I took the optimism test in Martin Seligman's provocative and useful
new book, Learned Optimism, I emerged as a "moderate pessimist." That
means that more often than not, I believe my setbacks will endure, that their
ill effects will seep into other areas of my life, and that they are all my fault.
The accuracy of the test results was verified by my irritable reaction: So why
rub it in? Having always assumed--in typical pessimistic fashion--that semigloom was my lot, to be nudged or tricked into temporary submission but
never truly conquered, I thought it pointless, or worse, to dwell on such a
depressing label.
It turns out that I am just the kind of stubborn naysayer the author is trying
to reach. Mr. Seligman, the director of clinical training in psychology at the
University of Pennsylvania, sets out to show that pessimism and optimism
are not fixed, inborn traits, but rather learned "explanatory styles"--habitual
ways we explain our troubles to ourselves. While a pessimist will
predictably construe a defeat as permanent, catastrophic and evidence of
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personal ineptitude, an optimist will interpret the identical misfortune as
temporary, controllable and rooted in circumstances or plain bad luck. Mr.
Seligman's optimistic message is that since learned behavior can be
unlearned, recovery from pessimism is entirely possible.
Not to mention highly advisable. Optimists, as Mr. Seligman documents, are
life's big winners. They do better in school, on the playing field and on the
job because they cheerfully persist in the face of setbacks, while equally
talented pessimists crumple and quit. (Mr. Seligman's own distinguished
career clearly owes something to optimism: when an important paper he
present at Oxford University was scathingly attacked by a respected
psychologist in the audience, he responded by inviting his critic to
collaborate with him on his next research project. The partnership resulted in
a major advance in cognitive theory--the discovery of a critical link between
a person's explanatory style and learned helplessness.)
If optimists sail through life, pessimists trudge. The author persuasively
shows that negative thinkers have weaker immune systems, come down with
more infectious diseases and face more major health problems after age 45.
They also are far more likely to suffer depression. Then Mr. Seligman takes
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the argument one provocative step farther--depression is in fact caused by
pessimism--and therefore can be cured by systematically reprogramming
one's thoughts.
This audacious claim is worth listening to. There is good evidence that
certain types of depression can be diagnosed and successfully treated from a
purely cognitive perspective. But Mr. Seligman undermines his case by
pushing it too far: he flatly refuses to acknowledge that nonbiological
depression may be caused or cured by anything beyond one's habits of
thinking. Offering only anecdotal evidence, he writs off the psychoanalytic
idea that depression is repressed anger, labeling this concept an "insidious
bit of nonsense." And a few pages later, he dismisses as merely
"fashionable" a substantial body of research linking high rates of depression
among women to conflicts about their sex roles.
One explanation of depression doesn't invalidate another, nor does one type
of treatment render all others useless. Indeed, a recent report issued by the
American Psychological Association notes that depression is currently
considered to be "a complex interaction of many factors" and advises
"practical eclecticism" in the treatment of depressed patient. Although
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revamping one's belief system is arguably a critical piece of any plan to beat
depression, it is still only a piece.
But for those who are not severely depressed--for the merely discouraged,
the controlled self-doubters--a schooling in optimism may be sufficient to
root out chronic negativity. For these people, the book offers a rigorous and
detailed program for literally changing one's mind--a method that relies not
on the power of positive thinking but on systematically fighting self-inflicted
slander. Since Mr. Seligman is too much the scientist to rely on personal
testimonials to make his point, I will offer one of my own: a few weeks ago,
in the grip of "can't do" gloom over a book I am writing, I grumpily tried his
method. While the process was neither painless nor brief, to my considerable
surprised it vaulted me out of my funk, and I remain funk-free at this
writing. So, fellow moderate pessimists, go buy this book--before you think
of a reason not to.
(Can you put a little symbol at the end of each article, like the Networker
does?)
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