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mentalhealth.org.nz > Newsletters > MindNet > In pursuit of happiness

Issue 12 - Summer 07/08

ISSN 1178-2587

In pursuit of happiness
By Tim Antric

Tim Antric was project manager for the national

depression campaign at the Mental Health
Foundation. Tim finished at the Foundation in
December 2007.

"the best policy produces greatest Happiness"

(Bentham)

Across Oceania, and indeed the world, happiness

and how to find it are increasingly in vogue. The
Dalai Llama can fill an auditorium. Conferences
and groups to discuss the subject abound.
Infomercials we are exposed to all promise an
increased measure of life satisfaction and
happiness through the new dietary supplement,
the exercise machine and the self-improvement
course.

This obsession with happiness and its pursuit can

be seen throughout the ages. Aristotle wrote about
it. Dickens apparently explored his own search for
happiness through his novels and today, Google
offers over 2 million pages (with more being added
all the time) on the pursuit of happiness.

We all have an idea of what it is to be happy. My

favoured online resource, Wikipedia.org describes
it as "an emotional or affective state that is
characterised by feelings of enjoyment and
satisfaction".

That is to say happiness is about feeling good and enjoying life where everything is wonderful. As John
Schumaker (2006) puts it, "happiness is the new religion and how readily available it is."

This understanding of happiness as the 'fleeting buzz' is at odds with the history of happiness in Western
thought [apologies to those traditions excluded by this statement].

Instead, we should return to ideas around sustainable happiness.

Sustainable happiness links well with the determinants of health, wellbeing, and so on. A true happiness might
be based on freedom from poverty, inequity, injustice, violence, loneliness, racism and other unfairness and
discrimination. It is a happiness linked to progress, better education, better health, greater equality, and more
choice, and opportunity for all.

How closely does this fit with our models of and theories for health promotion?

Mental Health Awareness Week 2007 provided yet another opportunity to promote health and happiness, and
to challenge loneliness, isolation, racism, etc in our communities.

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In research literature, there is an increasing focus on happiness and research suggests:

that most people value happiness (they think about it often and are happy most of the time),
that family, community and relationships are key to happiness,
that increased consumption doesn't lead to happiness
that acceptance by, and meaningful participation in the community increases happiness
that contact with nature increases happiness

From this, it might seem that achieving happiness as a society is a relatively simple thing. We know that it's
important to us and taking a few small steps towards happiness will surely lead to improvements in health.

Derek Cox, a Director of Public Health in Scotland, suggests that happiness is one of the most powerful
predictors of population health, more so than tobacco use, activity rates or diet. Indeed, he suggests that happy
people live on average nine years longer than unhappy people.

We know from surveys of the public that happiness is about relationships, contentment, security and money,
health and fulfilment. It is about escaping the stress and pace of modern life, building and supporting quality
social relationships and increasing participation in society.

If all these factors can lead to improvements in health, isn't it time to bring happiness into our health promotion
planning?

We must use the language of the people and talk of joy and happiness, sadness and distress rather than
mental health and mental health promotion. Using this language will, according to Mary O'Hagan, Mental
Health Commissioner, address the lack of understanding of mental health promotion and increase ownership
for our activities. It will enable communities to truly own the work to increase their happiness and health.

I take Professor Margaret Barry's idea that mental health promotion includes promoting positive mental health,
preventing and detecting mental illness and promoting health in people with experience of mental illness. It
includes happiness, subjective well-being, mental well-being, life satisfaction and quality of life.

Effective mental health promotion needs to include:

the symbiotic relationships between life, liberty, morality and happiness

the relationship between individual and group happiness
the Government's role in creating the environment in policy terms within which citizens can experience
happiness
the active pursuit of happiness

BUT it must also reflect the language of the communities we work with.

The Ministry of Social Development has begun to measure subjective happiness, and to increase investment in
programmes that will have impact here. It's time to expand this to other areas and work together to increase
happiness and improve health.

Some of the areas we can begin to claim in the pursuit of happiness include:

Increasing opportunities for community involvement. This can be seen in many health promotion
programmes in New Zealand
Reducing stigma and discrimination (example: Like Minds Like Mine programme)
Increasing physical activity (example: SPARC's Mission On and Push Play)
Advocating for reducing income disparity (if we pay more tax as we work harder than we will have more
reason to reduce our work and spend more time with our friends and families, and don't forget an extra
$1 gives more happiness to poor people than rich people - taxes create happiness!)
Encouraging people to reduce commuting and travel time. (According to Professor Robert Putnam from
Harvard University, every 10 minutes spent commuting cuts social involvement by 10%, which equals
10% fewer family dinners, 10% fewer club meetings)
Lobbying for Government policies based on social wellbeing or happiness measures
Lobbying for reductions or bans on the level of advertising. (It will certainly make our children happier as
evidence from the UK suggests that the more brand aware children are, the less satisfied they are!)

Most of the actions we can take to increase happiness will also enable us to experience the full range of human
emotions that are so central to the human condition, resulting in improved health in our society and a
population better able to support one another.

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Finding happiness means creating better health in our communities, and changing our language can only
increase interest in, and support for, our work.

Suggested reading list

Marks N, Simms A, Thompson S and Abdallah S (July 2006) The Happy Planet Index: An index of human
well-being and environmental impact. U.K.: New Economics.

Hansson L (2006) Determinants in quality of life in people with severe mental illness. Acta Psychiatr Scand
Suppl, 2006 (429): 46 - 50.

Eckersley R, Wierenga A & Wyn J (2006) Success & wellbeing: a preview of the Australia 21 report on young
people's wellbeing. Youth Studies Australia, Volume 25, Number 1, March 2006: 10 - 18.

Easthope G & White Rob (2006) Health & wellbeing: how do young people see these concepts? Youth Studies
Australia, Volume 25, Number 1, March 2006: 42 - 49.

Lewis CA & Cruise SM (2006) Religion and happiness: consensus, contradictions, comments and concerns.
Religion and Culture, Volume 9, Number 3, June 2006: 213 - 225.

Drukker M, Kaplan C, Schneiders J, Feron F & van Os J (2006) The wider social environment and changes in
self-reported quality of life in the transition from late childhood to early adolescence: a cohort study. BMC Public
Health 2006, 6:133.

Jopp Daniela, Rott Christoph (2006) Adaptation in Very Old Age: Exploring the Role of Resources, Beliefs, and
Attitudes for Centenarians' Happiness. Psychology & Aging. 21(2):266-280.

Caho S, Liu H, Wu C, Jin S, Chu T, Huang T & Clark M (2006) The effects of group reminiscence therapy on
depression, self esteem and life satisfaction of elderly nursing home residents. Journal of Nursing Research,
March 2006, 14 (1): 36 - 45.

Tkach C & Lyumbomirsky S (2006) How do people pursue happiness? Relating personality, happiness-
increasing strategies and wellbeing. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 2006, 7:183 - 225.

Drukker M, Kaplan C, Schneiders J, Feron F & Van Os J (2006) The wider social environment and changes is
self-reported quality of life in the transition from late childhood to early adolescent: a cohort study. BMC Public
Health, May 2006, 6: 133.

Duncan G (2006) What do we mean by 'happiness'? The relevance of subjective wellbeing to social policy.
Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, Issue 25, July 2005: 16 - 31.

Bone Alistair (2006) 'The science of happiness'. Listener, 17 March 2006.

Ferguson KM (2006) Social capital and children's wellbeing: a critical synthesis of the international social
capital literature. International Journal of Social Welfare, January 2006, 15 (1):2 - 18.

(Upated January 2006) Literature Review: cultural wellbeing & local government. New Zealand: Ministry for
Culture and Heritage.

Cultural wellbeing and local government: Report 1: Definitions and contexts of cultural wellbeing
http://www.mch.govt.nz/cwb/pdfs/report1.pdf

Cultural wellbeing and local government: Report 2: Resources for developing cultural strategies and measuring
cultural wellbeing http://www.mch.govt.nz/cwb/pdfs/report2.pdf

Cultural wellbeing: and local government. Report 3: Bibliography http://www.mch.govt.nz/cwb/pdfs/report3.pdf

Eckersley R (2005) Is modern Western culture a health hazard? International Journal of Epidemiology, Volume
35, Number 2: 252 - 258.

Keyes CLM (2005) Mental illness and/or mental health? Investigating axioms of the complete state of mental
health. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2005, Vol 75, No 3: 539 - 548.

(2004) Well-being manifesto for a flourishing society. Netherlands: New Economics Foundation, Erasmus
University Rotterdam.

Diener E & Seligman M (2004) Beyond money: towards an economy of wellbeing. Psychological Science in the

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Public Interest, July 2004, Volume 5, Issue 1:1 - 31.

Eames Penny (2004) 'Cultural wellbeing workshop', designing the 21st century: local government New Zealand
Conference. New Zealand: Arts Access.

Edwards S et al (2004) Themes in young peoples' accounts of wellbeing in their lives. Auckland: Centre for
Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation & University of Auckland.

(2003) Quality of life '03 in New Zealand's eight largest cities (2003) New Zealand: North Shore City Council:
Waitakere City Council: Auckland City Council: Manukau City Council: Hamilton City Council: Wellington City
Council: Christchurch City Council: Dunedin City Council.

Layard R (2003) Happiness: has social science a clue? Lionel Robbins Memorial Lectures 2002/03. U.K.:
London School of Economics.

(2003) The pursuit of happiness: the politics of mental health promotion. Australian e-Journal for the
Advancement of Mental Health, Vol 2, Issue 1, 2003.

Stanely Kate et al (2003) The family report 2003: Choosing happiness? London: IPPR.

Csikszentmihalyi M and Hunter J (2003) Happiness in everyday life: the uses of experience sampling. Journal
of Happiness Studies, Spring 2003, Vol 4(2), 185-199.

Campbell Lisa, Newton P, Tichborne C (2002) Life is do-able: quality of life development in a supportive small
group setting. Auckland, N.Z.: Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand

(2002) Quality of life in severe mental illness. International Review of Psychiatry, Volume 14, Number 3, 1
August 2002: 175 - 184.

Renwick R, Brown I & Nagler M (1996) Quality of life in health promotion and rehabilitation: conceptual
approaches, issues and applications. U.S.: Sage Publications.

Manuals, Self-Help and Workbooks

Schumaker John F (2006) In search of happiness: understanding an endangered state of mind. New Zealand:
Penguin Books.

De Botton Alain (2006) The architecture of happiness. London, U.K.: Penguin.

De Botton Alain (2005) Status anxiety. London, U.K.: Penguin.

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