Fame, Money, Beauty Don’t Bring Happiness

It turns out that those oft sought goals in life — fame, wealth and beauty — don’t bring happiness and can, in fact, make life miserable. That’s the finding of a new study by three researchers at the University of Rochester in New York that was reported this week on ScienceDaily online.

“People understand that it’s important to pursue goals in their lives, and they believe that attaining these goals (fame, wealth, beauty) will have positive consequences,” said study author Edward Deci, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester. However, he noted that the study disproved that belief. “Even though our culture puts a strong emphasis on attaining wealth and fame, pursuing these goals does not contribute to having a satisfying life,” Deci said. “The things that make your life happy are growing as an individual, having loving relationships, and contributing to your community.”

The study tracked recent university graduates using in-depth psychological surveys to gauge satisfaction, self-esteem, anxiety, stress and positive/negative emotions. Goals were evaluated as intrinsic such as developing deep, personal relationships or extrinsic such as attaining personal wealth.  Identical surveys were administered 12 and 24 months after college graduation, a critical development stage for young adults who have finally left the safety net of home and university to make their own way in the world.

While the study confirmed earlier research that commitment to a goal increases an individual’s success in achieving that goal, it broke new ground in analyzing the relationship between goals and happiness. The study found that the content of the goal, not the desire to achieve it, most affected happiness. Achieving materialistic and image-related goals actually generated negative emotions like shame and anger and produced anxiety symptoms including headaches and stomachaches. The greatest satisfaction came from the achievement of intrinsic goals such as personal growth, building relationships, improving the community and physical fitness that met the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness.

While study authors emphasized the need for further study over broader population groups, they did suggest that the emphasis on extrinsic pursuits — career building, long work hours, possession acquisition, etc. — that is typical of the educated, post-collegiate, young adults may lead to general feelings of dissatisfaction with life. Young people may be happier if they place less emphasis on career pursuits and greater emphasis on psychologically nourishing experiences such as spending time with friends and family or pursuing personal interests.

Psychology Plays Role in When You File Taxes

Today’s the day Americans pay the piper. April 15. The last day to pay your income taxes. Whether you filed your taxes weeks ago or plan to join the last minute queue at your local post office is as much a function of psychology as finances.

Financial experts say individual cash flow and return expectations govern how early individuals file their tax forms. People who expect a refund, particularly a large refund, tend to file early. Those with higher incomes and those who owe Uncle Sam money tend to file later. But, particularly this year, psychological forces are skewing normal filing trends.

Psychology often trumps financial considerations in determining when people file their taxes, contends Dr. Steven Krebaum, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “Generally, it may be that psychology plays a larger role than economics in decisions of when to file,” Krebaum said in an April 14, 2009 article on UPI.com. More people may be filing later than usual this year out of fear or anger, he suggested.

Fear. Difficulty facing the reality of personal finances after the decimation of investment and retirement accounts has caused many taxpayers to take a “head in the sand” approach and file tax forms later than usual. Putting off filing is a way of avoiding the harsh reality they expect is waiting on the bottom line of their tax form. Unfortunately, not knowing where you stand financially only heightens financial anxiety. It’s better to get it over with. Knowing where you stand financially allows you to act, and action decreases anxiety.

Anger. The government’s bailout of Wall Street, AIG executive excesses, foreclosures, rising personal bankruptcies, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, devaluing of retirement funds, loss of personal investments, skyrocketing unemployment — there’s a lot to be angry about and people are focusing their anger on the government. The feeling that government bailouts are being made at their expense has created a taxpayer backlash. Angry taxpayers who chafe at giving the government any more money are paying their taxes at the last possible minute. It’s a legal way of expressing their displeasure.

Depression Versus Unhappiness – Are We Over-Prescribing?

I saw a segment on The Today Show this morning about the millions of antidepressants prescribed. Questions arose as to whether or not this is an indication of Americans wanting a quick fix or are doctors over-prescribing the medications. This opens a pandora’s box of issues ranging from who should treat depression to the state of health care (e.g. doctor’s offices becoming mills where many patients are churned in and out with little time to talk). I could go on about many of these issues, but only have time for one today and that’s the issues of what is unhappiness versus depression?

People experience depression differently, but there are a set of criteria that we use to diagnose depression. But rather than list the criteria, let me paint a picture of a depressed person for you. Symptoms vary depending on the person and the severity of their illness, but generally speaking:

• people who are depressed may have trouble experiencing pleasure in anything
• their limbs may feel heavy
• they may sleep all day or have trouble sleeping
• they may have trouble thinking and concentrating such that it affects their work
• they may have constant anger and irritation that is unusual for them
• they may go days without bathing because they just don’t care
• some people describe noticing that colors look duller
• some even feel like life isn’t worth living

This is not an exhaustive list, but some the symptoms depressed people may experience.  This is in contrast to feeling down after a relationship breakup, or having trouble getting out of bed to go to a job you hate. No amount of medication is going to prevent people from feeling bad when bad things happen. I tell patients, whatever problems they have will still be there with medication. The difference is, for a person who is depressed, medication can strengthen their foundation so they can more effectively use their emotional resources to deal with their problems. Depression exhausts your emotional reserves so that you may be unable to handle the stresses of life in your usual way. There are some who have poor coping mechanisms and have trouble dealing with the day to day problems of life and are not depressed but may feel chronic distress. This person may respond better to therapy to help them handle their problems differently.