Posted on 07/26/2006 4:35:49 PM PDT by sergey1973
If the pursuit of happiness was once an ideal in American life, the entitlement to happiness may now have replaced it. Since the late 1980s, when psychotropic drugs first came on the market, grateful Americans have been lining up at the counter.
Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Wellbutrin and a host of other antidepressants have been embraced as practical solutions to everyday unhappiness. More than 15% of Americans now use one of the above. Needless to say, they are not all clinically depressed. Whereas Sigmund Freud once described the goal of psychotherapy as "transforming hysterical misery into ordinary unhappiness," many doctors now see it as their duty to eradicate ordinary unhappiness completely.
Ronald W. Dworkin's "Artificial Happiness" is a fierce indictment of this wishful thinking. An anesthesiologist with a doctorate in political philosophy, he is in a rare position to offer a serious critique of the medical establishment and its influence on American culture. Rather than simply deploring the over-prescription of antidepressants, Dr. Dworkin tells the story of a fascinating turf war among doctors, psychiatrists and members of the clergy over the fate of the American brain. More generally, "Artificial Happiness" examines the implications of a new class of "artificially happy people" and raises important questions about the function of doctors in a democracy.
(Excerpt) Read more at hudson.org ...
I disagree with many points in the article. Religion has always been about health. Dietary proscriptions are one of the universals. Salvation translates directly to health.
Happiness as a goal comes from the level of affluence we now enjoy. Historically, worrying about the next day's meal, whether it will rain, and who has what disease were the normal course. Now we have the leisure to contemplate our place in the universe along with the accompaning anxiety of that contemplation.
The important thing is that these people aren't doing drugs.
Yes, a good marriage helped me a great deal as well.
And when I say "cure", I don't mean that there are no ups and downs. But I know what to do with them. And they are not like before; like comparing a 5 mile deep chasm with a ditch you can jump over. There are also many natural therapies (many just plain common sense) that can help with depression and the like. I use them and help counsel others as well.
Doctors have turned into pharmaceutical engineers.
BUMP
Thanks. Every step forward in the right direction is good, and engenders enthusiasm and encouragement to go more steps forward.
Being the wellwisher of others is another way of trying to live the Golden Rule. I fall short as do all fallen souls but God within everyone's heart will show us our shortcomings when we want to see them.
Just talked to a young friend today, who is struggling with a variety of problems, and encouraged her to realize that her own health - physical, mental and spiritual - is really in her own hands. Not that others can't help but she has to take the steps to want to improve, and then actually do the work. And learning to tolerate the unavoidable vicissitudes life offers is part of the secret of happiness.
Methinks people need a certain amount of misery in their lives. Without it, they can't recognize what's good!
Witness our culture: on the whole, everything is good ... abundance of food, stuff, opportunities, peace, etc. Our cup runneth over. Yet people complain about how bad things are - things nowhere near as bad as in the past, and much of it invented just so there's something to complain about.
A boss once asked me how I could be so incredibly calm and unphased about darn near everything at work (while he was freaking out over one thing after another). I replied "I've spent some time studying self-defense - after serious consideration of how to deal with people trying to kill you, everything else really isn't that upsetting anymore."
Sorry it took me so long to answer you but out of town until last night. You are an inspiration and I would like to share your post with the child I mentioned. He needs hope. Thank you.
If anything I've been through can help someone else realize that there is hope for him too, I'd be happy. There is hope for everyone who doesn't have organic brain damage. And even then. I read "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" by the guy whose name I can't remember. There was one patient who was so neurologically damaged (how, I can't remember) that he was unable to have any kind of a normal life or relationships at all. And yet he found happiness when singing in the choir at church. Although his brain more or less extremely impaired, he could experience the happiness that comes from glorifying God in song.
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