From Depression to Happiness
Erick Messias, MD, MPH, PhD
Arkansas VP/Medical Director
Beacon Health Options
erick@empsychiatry.com
Plato
(427-347 BC)
Studied under Socrates
Founded the Academy
Tutored Aristotle
The safest general characterization of the
European philosophical tradition is that it
consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.
Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality,
p. 39 [Free Press, 1979]
Aristotle
(384-322 BC)
Studied under Plato
Founded the Lyceum
Tutored Alexander
Aristotle Insights into Happiness
• Until then the concept of happiness was tied
to the concept of pleasure – Hedonist View
Aristotle Insights into Happiness
• Aristotle proposed that happiness is the
expression of Arete (virtue/excellence) –
Eudemonic View
What do we need to be happy?
What do we need to be Happy?
Aristotle’s Answer
• Bodily Needs
– Health
– Vitality
– Vigor
• External Goods
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–
–
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Food
Drink
Shelter
Clothing
• Goods of the Soul
– Knowledge
– Friendship, Love
– Art
• Abraham Maslow’s Answer
How do we go about being happy?
Aristotle’s List of Virtues
Deficit
Happy Medium
Excess
Cowardice
Courage
Recklessness
Insensibility
Temperance
Intemperance
Churlishness
Friendliness
Obsequiousness
Humorlessness
Wit
Buffoonery
Slothfulness
Physical Fitness
Fanaticism
Timidity
Confidence
Arrogance
Miserliness
Generosity
Vulgarity
Can we talk about Virtue
without stating a war?
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•
•
•
•
•
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Confucian Virtues
Taoist Virtues
Buddhist Virtues
Hindu Virtues
Athenian Virtues
Judeo-Christian Virtues
Islamic Virtues
Can we talk about Virtue
without stating a war?
• Wisdom – creativity, curiosity, Openmindedness, Perspective
• Courage – Bravery, Persistence, Integrity,
Vitality
• Humanity – Love, Kindness, Social
Intelligence
• Justice – Citizenship, Fairness, Leadership
• Temperance – Forgiveness, Humility,
Prudence, Moderation, Self-regulation
• Transcendence – Appreciation of
Beauty, Gratitude, Hope, Humor, Spirituality
The Idea of Optimal Experience (Flow)
The Idea of Optimal Experience (Flow)
Characteristics of Flow
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
confront tasks we expect to complete
must be able to concentrate
clear goals
immediate feedback
deep but effortless involvement
sense of control
concerns for self disappear
sense of time diminished
Some Philosophical Thought Experiments
Not IRB Approved
Aristotle’s Deathbed Test
• Imagine you are in your deathbed. Now, as
you review the final draft of your curriculum
vitae, what in your record will cause you to
look back on your life with a sense of
satisfaction?
• In other words, how do you really want to
measure the worth of your life?
Aristotle’s Deathbed Test
• The measure of whether a man or woman is
truly happy – is the degree to which one is
free of deathbed regrets about his or her
unfulfilled potential
• Clip from Papillon
• Existential Exercise: Write your own obituary
Conclusions and Summary
• Since Aristotle there has been a tradition of Arete
(Virtue/Excellence) Based Happiness
• Virtues and Excellence need to be nurtured and
celebrated – Good Habits
• Recent research in positive psychology and
intelligence measurement has contributed to an
expanded view of these constructs
• What’s your role in it? For yourself and for your
patients/clients
From Depression to Happiness
Erick Messias, MD, MPH, PhD
Arkansas VP/Medical Director
Beacon Health Options
erick@empsychiatry.com
EXERCISES AND PRACTICES
Gratitude Diaries
(count your blessings)
• McCullough, Emmons, 2003: Expressions of
gratitude once a week for 10 weeks, better health,
happiness 3 weeks later compared to: baseline
control condition, a complaint condition
• Lyubomirsky: 1 time a week write down what
you’re grateful for, boosts in happiness; every day
gratitude practice, no effects
• Gratitude diaries promote
– Reduced blood pressure
– Better peer relations in kids
– Boosts in test scores for kids
Emmons, 2008
Narrative
See Expressive Writing Exercise Handout
• Write about strongest emotions of trauma, or the
facts of the event
• Traumas studied: bereavement, divorce, holocaust
survivors, 9-11 victims
• Effects: increased well-being, enhanced immune
function, reduced visits to health center, reductions
in anxiety, depression
• Narratives about positive self
Laura King
Contemplation
Alan Wallace: Genuine Happiness
• Attention
– Breathing
• Settle into relaxed posture
• Focus attention in between what you’re looking at and eyes
• Breathe 21 times
• Attend to movements of lungs
• Mindfulness
– Of body
• Imagine attention as curved surface
• Move this attention up and down body
• Be mindful of sensations throughout body
• Loving Kindness
– Bring to mind a person who is dear to you
– Imagine person’s sufferings, yearnings
– Wish for person’s happiness
– Extend to another person, broadening circle of care
Positive Psychology Interventions
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Have a beautiful day
Gratitude visit
Strength date
Fun versus Philanthropy
Six Interventions to make you Happier
• Have QUIET TIME
– There are apps for it PowerNap HQ
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Practice Gratitude: send out Thank You notes
Schedule workouts and Just Do It
Shut off your phone when hanging out
Write about negative experiences regularly
– Improve resilience by narrative
• Volunteer
– (check out http://www.volunteermatch.org/)