PBS has aired two of three episodes this week, third is tonight on Happiness.

There's a commonly held view that physcology is spurious and a nebulous science (if at all a science); mental health treatment is a crapshoot, and its practioner's are well intentioned at best, charlatans at worst.

If your views lean towards this, have they been challenged/ moved by watching this series?

If you have experiences w/ some of the treatments presented, have they been positive? Among the issues to date are Reactive Attachment Disorder (failure to bond), Aspergers (socialization), PTSD, Emotional regulation (anger, phobias, depression, anxiety).

Some other treatments methods I'll throw out for discussion:
EMDR, Neurofeedback, prayer, others?

 

I've experienced depression to the point of taking anti-depressants for about 8 months. I also saw a marriage and family counselor. Both helped me. Prayer did too.

 

I am very interested in this subject material. I'm sorry I've missed this series. I'll try to catch this tonight and hope they have a rerun. Thanks.

 

Im almost always happy, are things perfect nope not even close. But I just know that it could always be worse and with that knowledge I almost always

 

I suppose one of the underlying premise of the series is that many 'disorders' have a strong physiological component, and can be scientifically understood and treated. I wonder how the skeptics view this science, and does this series make a compelling argument to encourage those have been suffering to seek help.

Depression in particular has a clock ticking...the hippo is shrinking over time and the ability for the brain to repair itself diminishes. Then again, time automatically doesn't seem to make anything better.

 

I found the path to happiness a long time ago. It didn't involve science, merely self.

Everyone has their own path but happiness is an obtainable goal.



fltsfshr

 

I hope the happiness segment will not disappoint me. I view happiness as a road which is paved with endless stones of grateful for this and grateful for that. As such, one cannot truly be happy without first being grateful. Corny, ha?

 

I believe that optimism is a (if not the) key to happiness. How you become an optimistic (glass half full) person, I haven't a clue. But I know that, for me personally, just having a positive attitude that things will work out somehow usually means they do. I feel for those who struggle, however.

 

 

^^ That's a good one. I ascribe to the contention that optimism is like stacking building blocks. The more often one has been able to achieve a desired outcome, the more likely one is to be optimistic about future challenges. If one is able to analyze options objectively, then one is more likely to also achieve a desired outcome. It does support the notion that optimism is about being able to exert control and even manipulate the outcome to one's liking. As such and by deductive reasoning, it makes sense that optimistic people would also be mostly happy.

As a counterpoint, pessimists are people who are hapless, rife with failures, and often feel hopeless. The latter most often are not happy and rely on cleverness, rather than normal methodology, to achieve their goals.

Or on my part,