Let's talk about the 'tyranny of happiness'

[Longhorn]

There are times when my unhappiness is indeed my own fault. It behooves me to recognize my responsibility in those cases so that I can repair the issue. I find that changing my outlook makes it easier for me to be happy, and I'd rather be happy than unhappy. It's not a cure-all, and I don't have a phobia of negative emotions.

Of course this could be the case as well. But it's a problem in specific cases.

In the video I linked, Susan David talks about her friend, diagnosed with cancer and her experiences with people telling her to be positive. She says it made her angry and unable to authentically deal with her emotions regarding her illness. David also speaks of her experience with her father, who was also diagnosed with cancer when she was a teenager and the constant advice of 'just think positively and everything will turn out to be ok' made it hard for them as a family to adequately process the situation.

This type of thinking could also become problematic for example with people suffering from depression, making them feel responsible for their own illness and 'wrong' for not feeling happy, because they - it implies - don't try hard enough to think positively.



I'm finding it hard to articulate what I mean so I'm not sure if I'm getting across what I want to. I strongly suggest seeing the first video I linked at least, it explains the idea more clearly than I can word it.