On the topic of happiness again. And why the heck not! As I am about to head north for a week to spend time with young people, carers, elders, community members, youth workers and artists…it’s worth thinking about. So here is a vid from Martin Seligman who seems to be leading the charge in terms of the happiness discussion. Take a look and see what you think.
There is much talk these days about happiness and just what it is that makes us happy. And there is much talk about positive psychology and through this the promotion and teaching of happiness, optimism, positive thinking. And interestingly the thinking goes kind of like this…imagine two people: one wins a million dollars on the lottery and the other gets flattened by a truck and ends up in in wheelchair. After a couple of years how happy is each of them?
Measure it on a scale:
1……………………………………to……………………………….100
Who is miserable at 1? Who is super happy at 100?
Yes there is the obvious answer, and yet maybe when we think about it the less likely one perhaps makes sense. And it’s that after a while these two peopole are equally happy. Interesting eh?
There are a few fellas talking about this stuff across the planet. One of them is Daniel Gilbert. I thought I would whack this video up here for your consideration. Here tis…oh…and just as a precaution I still suggest you avoid trucks though.
The following article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald August 11, 2008, and I thought it had something to say and was worth reproducing here so I contacted the author Raymond Seidler Addiction medicine specialist, Potts Point and asked him if if that was alright. He said ‘yes’ and so here it is. One of his titles on his website is ‘Street GP’. I knid of like that. Thanks for the borrow of the article Raymond.
‘ECSTASY JUST ANOTHER IN LONG LINE OF NATIONAL PASTIMES
World record hauls of ecstasy have occurred in Australia since 2004 but nothing approaches the 4.4 tonnes detected in tomato cans in June in Melbourne with a street value of $440 million. It seems that despite extensive education and interdiction, Australia’s youth have embraced this drug like no other. The market remains buoyant.
As a GP in Kings Cross, I have seen hundreds of ecstasy users over the past decade, and despite horror stories in the press most take this drug with impunity. The phenomenon of “Eckie Monday” (the weekend “come-down” from a binge requiring a medical certificate for work absence) is common. So, too, is the weight loss and lack of vitality in habitual users who dance themselves into exhaustion and grind their teeth in clubs all over Sydney.
Early mornings in the Cross provide a cavalcade of burnt-out E users heading home after an all-nighter. But for the most part they do not suffer serious medical problems. A few may develop overheating or hyperthermia and require a short admission for hydration with a litre of fluid or two intravenously in an emergency department. Seizures and drug-induced psychosis do happen, but at a very low rate. Even this outcome does little to dissuade users to quit their drug of choice.
Sure there are horror stories of PMA (para methoxy amphetamine), a cheaper, dangerous substitute for ecstasy causing sudden death, but this is so rare as to not affect demand. Ecstasy testing kits are now available over the internet. These testing kits are common in Europe outside clubs and should be encouraged here.
Young people are educated on the risks and dangers of all illicit drugs. Most schools now have excellent drug education programs covering all illicit drugs in Australia. Children use the internet to plug holes in their knowledge and successive government programs portraying ecstasy as a danger have done little to reduce ecstasy use in Australia.
Most young users have observed their friends taking the drug without adverse effects. Combine this with the boundless optimism of youth and an unshakeable belief that they are bulletproof and you have a recipe for an explosion in demand.
Drug use follows fashion cycles, and in many ways governments’ demonisation, with their horrific video footage, entrenches the inevitable generational warfare between the young and their parent’s generation. It is unusual in my experience for a young person to request treatment for ecstasy abuse unless they are dragged kicking and screaming by a concerned parent. They do not want treatment if their recreational use is limited to weekend recreation, and will show a therapist bored disinterest
Price is a keen indicator of availability and none of my patients ever complain of difficulty obtaining ecstasy. So we can conclude that despite these huge hauls by federal police and the national crime authority, significant stockpiling must occur around the country.
Drug trafficking will go on as long as there is demand. Australia has always been at the forefront of illicit drug use worldwide. In 1936 we had the highest use per capita in the Western world of cocaine and heroin. And now we appear to have won a gold medal for ecstasy. Very little has changed.
Raymond Seidler Addiction medicine specialist, Potts Point’
Ingrid Poulson has been in the news a little lately. In 2003 her then husband, murdered her father and her two young children.
I listened to an interview with her on Radio National (‘Life Matters’ 7th August 2008) and she sounded really lovely, really well, really positive. Pretty amazing. And she has written a book ‘Rise’ and I am only too pleased to say so. I have no idea if it[s any good but I intend to take a look. In the interview I was struck by a number of things. She said that when her children were killed she was ‘un-mumed’. And she asks: what are we without a role? She asks: if we lose our role do we lose our identity? Good questions I think.
She also said something along the lines that at one point she had been telling her story so many times to so many groups that: ‘I was…it was becoming a little bit too much of my story…I’ve really chosen to move on…’ This also seems a great comment about how to deal with tragedy.
Of her current partner she said that perhaps the radio interviewer could ask him to help her with children. So even after her experience of 2003 she wants more children. She says: ‘…it’s something I wouldn’t mind doing.’ Pretty impressive I thought.
And from the Sydney Morning Herald (August 9th 2008) I read that her idea of resilience is based on four ideas:
- Resolve (Giving yourself permission to survive)
- Identity (acknowledging your wins and embracing flexibility)
- Support (You cant do it alone)
- And everyday (eat well, get some exercise and don’t watch too much TV)
I think my top four would be:
- A sense of belonging
- Identity and a clear sense of self
- Good relationships
- A sense of being in charge of yourself
I wonder if we really differ so much? All the very, very best to Ingrid. An inspiration truly.
This is a bit of a development from the last thing I put up. The camp where most of us were young-ish…and some of us somewhat older. And good things happened:
And as our 5 day camp together came to a close I asked a question of a bunch of people of various ages ranging across 35 years. This is what I asked: What is the best thing in the world? And this is what they said:
Life
Music
Friends
Children
Life
Music
People
Life
Love
My daughters
So…how would you answer the question? What do you think is the best thing in the world?
This is the stuff that always worries me. The article in a widely read daily newspaper is called ‘Heaven and Hell’ and is about ‘Ice’, the crystalline form of methamphetamine. And I will assume the best of the journalist, that they were trying, in the course of doing what journalists do – which is to write articles – to be responsible in alerting us to the dangers of something in our society.
Yet I worry. One person talking of their use of ice said: ‘…you were instantly much, much higher. It’s hard to describe.’
The article goes on to say that a couple who had used found ‘…there was no hangover, no crash, no anxious-depressive speed comedown. It was the best of all worlds.’
The article also has a section which looked at the downside and this was called ‘The chilling facts.’
Chronic depression
Agitation
Severe paranoia
Proneness to acts of violence
The acceleration of apoptosis, or natural cell death…which…can result in…premature ageing.
So are we scaring people here, or just making them thoughtful? Would someone reading this reconsider using this or other drugs? What stands out for people as they read? Do we say to ourselves, as most of us do who get into cars, that (with considerable evidence to support our belief by the way) we will make it home safely?
I continue to worry about WARNINGS. Yes, we need to know what could await us if we do…X. And yes, we really do need information…and yet still people enter into relationships knowing that there is something like a 40% chance of that relationship ending up on the rocks. We continue in the hope that we will be happy, that our hearts will not be broken. That tragedy will befall us. That we are in the other group, the 60% who are make it. Or we tell ourselves that the risk is worth it.
Here is a footballer…with just a little damage…..
Concussion
Chipped tooth
Separation of joint in shoulder
Cracked ribs
Torn pectoral muscle
Externally rotated hip
Abdominal hernia
Shattered bone in finger
Snapped bone in finger
Cracked thumb
Bruised femur and tibia
Torn ligament
Hamstring sprains
Sprains
Bone erosion in ankle
Bone spurs in ankle
If we told him when he was younger that this would happen to him would he have continued? Well what do you think? I suppose we could point out this example to young players and they would ….do what? Stop playing? Or would they say to themselves…’it won’t happen to me.’ Or will they say: ‘It might happen…but it’s worth it!’
We really do need to be thoughtful about what we think might be useful.
So in June we went and did it again. The Beyond Empathy camp in Northern New South Wales. Many of the old crew, and some new crew. Around 50 or so of us, mostly yungins but some of us older ones to add something we hope. And we did a bunch of stuff. And the animoto video here gives you a pretty good idea of what that all was.
And if you can’t make that work for some reason or if you just prefer pics that don’t move about…here are some stills.
A very good experience of people working together, getting on, finding differences, finding the common ground…eating, talking, laughing, pushing boundaries a tad…all in all … a good thing.
So I’m listening to dear old radio national (The show is ‘Life Matters’ May 19th 2008) and I hear Martin Seligman and others talking about teaching Happiness (I added the capital H. It was radio after all) at a fairly flash school in Victoria. And the discussion scrolled through whether it was a good idea, whether most schools could afford the millions Geelong Grammar is spending on this, (the answer is ‘no’), whether there were down-sides, the place of parents in the whole process…a lota stuff. And Michael Carr-Gregg (well know psychologist) was saying that he was seeing kids with ’spiritual anorexia’ and who were filling the void with ‘rampant aflluenza’ and adoration of silly popular figures. (Cannot bear to repeat who was mentioned)….
And, possibly the week before all this I was reading Ruth Ritchie in The Sun Herald on 7-8 June who was saying: ‘We live in a time when contests are not won but lost. The focus is not on the winner but on the fear and humiliation that surrounds loss, abandonment, betrayal and eviction.’
She was of course, talking about the many and various ‘reality’ TV shows where ‘…the winners are so rarely qualified or to be admired for being anything other than the last limpets hanging on to the rock in a tsunami.’
And I think she has a point. She described these processes of elimination as ‘…heartily endorsed, institutionalized bullying.’ And this is all kind of sad really. It seems that depending on the show, people have the chance to be yelled at by a chef, sacked by a rich guy or snarled at by ‘upper class ladies.’ I’m sure there are more shows but gee it’s hard to keep up. So given that we have this awful stuff going on, and let me not make too light of it, I do think it’s awful, maybe the idea of teaching happiness is not a bad idea after all.
And it seems (back to the radio show) that those who are happy tend to be more altruistic, so the idea isn’t about being selfish. They seem to volunteer more, do more stuff for others. So the happiness idea seems to be about being personally strong, about being connected and about doing something meaningful in life. And so yes, all ideas can be turned into something silly (we’re good at that aren’t we for some reason?) or turned into something which exists in name only and is devoid of its own intended meaning. But maybe doing something which isn’t a silly TV show (especially one based on being mean to others), but something which encourages us to be decent to others and ourselves…maybe that ain’t so stupid.
This is just so lovely that I had to add it. Ta Sam for sending it to me. I have read comments that the music is boring…I find it moving, inspiring and delightful. Somone also said that a younger person should have mixed it…though ya know being older maybe aint so bad…and interesting to see Missy Higgins and John Butler in the clip…they aint so old are they? And anyways of course…we all just have opinions. I like this vid.
This is not the whole article but these quotes give you a pretty good idea what the point is. I thought it worth putting up on my website. Check out the whole thing here if you would like to.
Zero tolerance-based punishments such as suspension and expulsion, the task force found, have not improved behavior or academic performance. In addition, by shifting the locus of discipline from schools to the juvenile justice system, zero tolerance policies are causing numerous adverse consequences for students, families and communities.
Zero tolerance policies requiring suspension from school were found to be counterproductive on many levels: ‘School suspension in general appears to predict higher future rates of misbehavior and suspension among those students who are suspended.’
Schools with higher rates of school suspension and expulsion had less satisfactory school climate ratings and school governance structures, and tended to spend a disproportionate amount of time on discipline. In the long term, school suspension and expulsion were associated with a higher school-dropout rate and failure to graduate on time.
As to academic performance, the report saw ‘a negative relationship between the use of school suspension and expulsion and school-wide academic achievement.’
The report defines restorative justice (RJ) as ‘a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behavior.’ RJ programs, the report states, ‘involve a cooperative process that 1) identifies crime and attempts to repair its damage, 2) includes all stakeholders to respond to acts of violence and 3) changes the traditional relationship between the offenders and the victims.’ In contrast to zero tolerance policies, RJ is ‘designed to reconcile the perpetrators with the victims, creating a feeling of resolution and increasing a sense of safety.’
‘Restorative justice programs attempt to re-establish positive relationships with adults and ‘teach’ understanding and empathy to those who have been violent,’ the report commented, adding, ‘Restorative and community justice programs in the school setting prioritize activities that try to reduce delinquency and find solutions to delinquent behavior and build a community capacity to respond to problem behavior without resorting to the criminal justice system and to create a safe and supportive learning environment that effectively expresses the values of the culture.’ The report concluded, ‘Emerging data suggest that restorative justice programs may represent a promising alternative to zero tolerance.’