Sadness for Sale...

Hello Fellow Hedonists,

Recently, I've noticed a resurgence of articles and books that celebrate sadness. For instance, the book, The Loss of Sadness, points out that the way major depressive disorder (MDD) is defined takes no account of personal circumstances. This, of course, is patently false. Nonetheless, to diagnose a person with MDD, the person must must display at least five of the following nine symptoms over a two-week period (the five must include at least one of the first two symptoms):

1. depressed mood;
2. a lack of interest in activities;
3. change in appetite or weight;
4. insomnia or hypersomnia (excessive sleep);
5. a physical slowdown;
6. loss of energy;
7. feelings of worthlessness or guilt;
8. inability to concentrate and make decisions;
9. recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.

The authors of the book (Allan V. Horwitz and Jerome C. Wakefield) argue that these symptoms happen naturally to a healthy person after a stressful event, and without that context being specified, the authors conclude: "Contemporary psychiatry has inadvertently characterized intense normal suffering as disease."

Hyperperexia and Hypothermia happen naturally in certain circumstances, but we alleviate these symptoms because the costs outweigh the benefits. Our natural responses to a virus or infection often threaten our health. Often, our natural responses to stress also threaten our health. Arguing that we should live with these symptoms because they occur naturally is simply silly.

Mark Rapley argues that we must demedicalise misery. According to Rapley, depression is merely another word to describe being "unbearably sad, so sad that you can't leave the house and you don't think life is worth living. I call that what it is: unbearable sadness. I see nothing wrong with using substances to make yourself feel better." Apparently, psychologists are as vulnerable to silly semantic disputes as us philosophers.

When it comes down to brass tacks, it has been shown that unbearable sadness kills, and always has, no matter what you call it. So, when Rapley says, "the drug industry has made us believe that, when we feel sad, we have something fundamentally wrong with us that needs correcting" I cringe. You 'medacalise' a condition in order to understand it; in order to diagnose and treat it. One could easily argue we have a moral imperative to medacalize misery. After all, doing so can help prevent unnecessary suffering and death, which is obviously, one might argue, a morally good thing.

When an English professor lambastes the attempt to annihilate melancholia, I'm disturbed. MDD is an affective disorder and it is literally a disease insofar as it presents an immanent threat to your physical health. Positive Psychology attempts to make mentally healthy people happier. Doing so might turn out to be ocassionally misguided. So, denounce positive psychology if you will, but be aware that it might help prevent suicide, and please, consider the real world consequences of authentic misery before you compose an ode to it in order to make a buck. After all, unbearably sad people can't write books, organize conferences, or perform monologues. Often enough, truly depressed people kill themselves instead.

                                                                                     Excelsior!

                                                                                     C.L.Sosis

P.S. The Psychology of Happiness and Satisfaction blog has a post on Seligmans efforts to use positive psychology to alleviate depression.