Hacker News Reader

Comment by weisnobody | Hacker News Reader

Well, someone once tried to get happiness classified as a psychiatric disorder:

* https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1376114/ (1992)

The abstract: “ 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 of a discrete cluster of symptoms, is associated with a range of cognitive abnormalities, 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.”

View on HN

I think that's more of an attempt to get a lack of a sense of humour classified as a psychiatric disorder.

I guess a Buddhist point of view would be that any emotion/feeling should not be held on to. (It is best to feel and let all things pass, I think, but to consider it a disorder to "hold on" to happiness doesn't seem right...I am not well-read enough about it to know if it can in fact cause suffering)

Yes. The argument is something like at some point in the future the conditions causing the happiness will be gone (probably quite soon, happiness is fleeting) and so will the feeling. If that transition away from happiness upsets you then it will cause suffering so you shouldn't cling to it.

There's a related sutta (MN87) with some dicussion about how love, which is generally an even more pleasent feeling than happiness, causes suffering if clung to because we are all inevitably separated from our loved ones.

I have a feeling our collective leg is being pulled:

"The behavioural components of happiness are less easily characterised but particular facial expressions such as 'smiling' have been noted"

"Certainly, if television soap operas in any way reflect real life, happiness is a very rare phenomenon indeed in places as far apart as Manchester, the East End of London and Australia. Interestingly, despite all the uncertainty about the epidemiology of happiness, there is some evidence that it is unevenly distributed amongst the social classes: individuals in the higher socio-economic groupings generally report greater positive affect which may reflect the fact that they are more frequently exposed to environmental risk factors for happiness."

...pretty hilarious if you ask me :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com