onset of depression often starts in adolescent pubescent
females
post-natal depression
aging?
association with smaller size hippocampus (which has a major
role in memory):
as is the case in Alzheimer's
does recurrent or prolonged depression cause reduction in
size and predispose to Alzheimer's?
depression results in impaired memory
materialism as the chief motivator resulting in time consumed by
making money, spending it & devoted to objects rather than
making time to enrich our friendships & relationships
Epicurus believed that the root cause of unhappiness is
advertising which deceives us into thinking what we need for
happiness is material objects & holidays rather than his
three necessities for happiness:
close friendships
freedom
time to think and reflect
NB. once one has sufficient money to survive comfortably,
additional money does not substantially increase our
happiness
Aristotle identified "virtues" that those who are
happy or having "good spirit" have that promote
flourishing and well-being:
self-control - ability to work on those things that create
long term happiness rather than become obsessed with those
that only give short-term pleasure such as eating sweet
food, sex, obsession with accumulating material items
generosity
a sense of humour
courage - but only if used wisely
honesty
sensitivity
intelligence
a happy person is someone who is pleasant to be around,
not just for the short term, but for the long haul
a happy person is not one that does not have pain &
suffering, but one that is able to cope with reality &
to thrive given the facts of the human condition - this
requires self-confidence.
money, like time, is a resource which in itself will not make
one happy but depending on how we use it, it may expand our
lives if we do not squander our resources - after all life is
too short to squander our time or our opportunities.
Unfortunately, the more we spend, the more we need to work to
make money and thus the less time we have to be happy and to
attend to the important things in life.
the misconception that our personal attractiveness necessarily
declines with age resulting in a fear of growing old &
"ugly"
chronic illness
ignoring the need to regularly (each week or preferably each day)
actively engage in a mix of fun, exercise and relaxation
a study of 50,000 US & UK people (Oswald, Blanchflower in J
Pub Economics 2004) attempted to determine the annual salary
increase that would give the same amount of happiness and found:
happiness declines steadily from age 18 to a bottom at age 37
for women & 41 for men, then rises until the 60's when it
again reaches levels seen in youth
1st marriages were happier than 2nd marriages
those whose parents were divorced were less happy than those
whose parents did not divorce
divorce imposed a emotional toll of about $US50,000 per year
although there may be a short term relief on leaving your
spouse
a steady job is worth a $US80,000 annual pay rise
a good sex life is worth a $US75,000 annual pay rise
a lasting, loving marriage is worth a $US137,000 annual pay
rise
married people had 30% more sex than singles
being in a gay relationship was almost the same in terms of
happiness as heterosexual
those who were most happy had 1 sexual partner
having more money surprisingly did not correlate with more sex
or sexual partners
thus, it is unlikely money in itself will adequately
compensate the average person more than a steady job, a good sex
life and more importantly, a lasting, loving marriage
risk factors for MDD:
women (RR: 1.36), young adults, lower SES, separated or divorced,
FH, early parental death or disruptive childhood
