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A proposal to classify happiness as a psychiatric disorder

4/8/2015

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I came across the attached article, clearly tongue in cheek but written very professionally and academically on classifying happiness as a psychiatric disorder. The source was the British Medical Journal but originally published in the Journal of Medical Ethics (1992), 18, 94-98.. Here is the abstract. Funny on so many levels. The irony is itself clever, and it also takes a not so subtle jab at the sometimes pretensions of academia.

It is proposed that happiness be classified as a psychiatric disorder and be included in future editions of the major diagnostic manuals under the new name: major affective disorder, pleasant type. In a review of the relevant literature it is shown that happiness is statistically abnormal, consists ofa discrete cluster ofsymptoms, is associated with a range of cognitive abnonnalities, and probably reflects the abnormal functioning of the central nervous system. One possible objection to this proposal remains - that happiness is not negatively valued. However, this objection is dismissed as scientifically irrelevant.

a_proposal_to_make_happiness_a_disorder.pdf
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    The title of this blog is an allusion to the famous work of Blaise Pascal.  This blog represents the variety of my interests and thoughts on any given day and are  strung together, like Pascal's Pensees, in no particular order. I work in the field of mental health,  education, and human rights. I write and am a human rights advocate. I enjoy poetry, jazz, spirituality, politics and a potpourri of other interests that you will see reflected in this blog.

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