Desperately Seeking Happiness: Valuing Happiness Is Associated with Symptoms and Diagnosis of Depression.

نویسندگان

  • Brett Q Ford
  • Amanda J Shallcross
  • Iris B Mauss
  • Victoria A Floerke
  • June Gruber
چکیده

Culture shapes the emotions people feel and want to feel. In Western cultures, happiness is an emotion that many people want to feel. Although experiencing happiness is associated with increased well-being and psychological health, recent evidence suggests wanting to feel happy to an extreme degree, or, highly valuing happiness, leads to decreased well-being. To examine whether these effects of valuing happiness might extend to clinical outcomes, we examined the hypothesis that depression is associated with highly valuing happiness. To do so, we examined the relationship between valuing happiness and depression in two U.S. samples. As hypothesized, valuing happiness was associated with increased depressive symptoms in a community sample with remitted major depressive disorder (MDD), even when controlling for social desirability and neuroticism (Study 1). Furthermore, valuing happiness was elevated in a remitted MDD sample (vs. healthy controls), even when controlling for current depressive symptoms, general affect valuation, and extreme goal pursuit (Study 2). Taken together, these findings suggest that the culturally-pervasive value placed on attaining happiness can represent a risk factor for symptoms and a diagnosis of depression. More broadly, they indicate that a cultural approach can meaningfully extend our understanding of clinical phenomena.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Running Head: VALUING HAPPINESS AND DEPRESSION Desperately seeking happiness: Valuing happiness is associated with symptoms and diagnosis of depression

Culture shapes the emotions people feel and want to feel. In Western cultures, happiness is an emotion that many people want to feel. Although experiencing happiness is associated with increased well-being and psychological health, recent evidence suggests wanting to feel happy to an extreme degree, or, highly valuing happiness leads to decreased well-being. To examine whether these effects of ...

متن کامل

Running Head: VALUING HAPPINESS AND BIPOLAR DISORDER Valuing happiness is associated with bipolar disorder

While people who experience happiness tend to have better psychological health, people who value happiness to an extreme tend to have worse psychological health, including more depression. We propose that the extreme valuing of happiness may be a general risk factor for mood disturbances, both depressive and manic. To test this hypothesis, we examined the relationship between the extreme valuin...

متن کامل

Valuing happiness is associated with bipolar disorder.

Although people who experience happiness tend to have better psychological health, people who value happiness to an extreme tend to have worse psychological health, including more depression. We propose that the extreme valuing of happiness may be a general risk factor for mood disturbances, both depressive and manic. To test this hypothesis, we examined the relationship between the extreme val...

متن کامل

Title: The Comparison of Anxiety Sensitivity and Happiness in Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patients with Normal Matched Group in Shiraz

Background & Objective: The purpose of this study was the comparison of anxiety sensitivity and happiness between patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and normal matched group. Materials & Methods: The Subjects were 35 (21 females and 14 male) IBS patients diagnosed by gastroenterologist and 35 (25 female and 10 males) normal matched group all in 14– 63 old age. Anxiety Sensitivity Inde...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:
  • Journal of social and clinical psychology

دوره 33 10  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2014