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Elena

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Elena is currently reading

Bluebird: Women and the New Psychology of Happiness

by Ariel Gore (Goodreads Author)

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Elena said: " "The manufacture of happiness actually leads to emotional burnout. There's an ironic correlation between forced cheerfulness and depression. And when Cheerfulness is considered the rule, even ordinary sadness or frustration----feelings that would be "The manufacture of happiness actually leads to emotional burnout. There's an ironic correlation between forced cheerfulness and depression. And when Cheerfulness is considered the rule, even ordinary sadness or frustration----feelings that would be considered normal in many other cultures and at many other times in history --- can easily be interpreted as illness." p 53

Talking about depression: "Melancholia" descriptions could be found in Greek medical texts, the Bible and Chinese mythology. "But depression as we now know it...was born just a few generations ago. The year was 1952.....nearly a hundred tuberculosis patients received an experimental drug treatment called Marsilid. The new medication was a derivative of hydrazine, a chemical the Germans had used at the end of World War II to power their V-2 rockers. Boom! The experiment was a smashing success. The drug not only cleared up the TB patients' lung problems, but it had the amazing and unexpected side effect of inducing euphoria...What if there was an actual illness we could treat with this rocket fule? A 1957 ad for Marsilid would promise near universal success rates in treating schizophrenia, personality disorders, and manic depression but these major psychiatric illness were rare in the general population. What scientists & drugmakers needed was something commonplace....something epidemic. When they found that Marsilid prevented the brain from breaking down serotonin.....they had it. Depression wasn't some psychological or existential mood, they decided, it was a bona fide brain disease caused by serotonin deficiency". Most diseases are observed and defined before doctors start looking for a cure. NOt so with "serotonin deficiency" . The introduction of Marsilid and other medications tha twould come to be known as antidepressants actually resulted in the concept of depression as a specific disease." p. 62-3.

Re happiness: "Hedonic adaptation therory ...reminds us that we respond to not so much to permanent conditions as to change.... When something amazing happens to us, we don't cheer up for good. Instead we cheer up, get used to it, and then return to our previous set level of happiness."

Tape this to the cover of your gratitude journal "I can take care of myself AND I can rely on others."

The opposite of happiness is fear and obedience.

6 month evaluations (Evaluate in December and June). I have specific topics, and I write under each topic. Then I put it away. I open journal 6 monts later, I write first and then I read back through the old entries. It helps me to discover patterns and see where I am, where I was, and where I want to be. Topics lately have been work, money, learning, family, relatives, love, health, spirituality, living situation, and an overview of my intentions. ...more "

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(page 160 of 196)
— Sep 01, 2011 02:54PM

Sep 01, 2011 03:15PM · see review

Elena is currently reading

Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza

by Gloria E. Anzaldúa

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progress:

(page 109 of 260)
— Feb 04, 2009 04:20PM

Oct 01, 2008 08:54AM

Elena is currently reading

Bel Canto

by Ann Patchett

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Jan 03, 2008 09:33AM

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