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America’s infatuation with happiness goes back to our founding fathers and the U.S. Constitution, in which we are promised “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Somewhere in that fairy tale, reality stepped in and yanked off the bandaid that was supposed to heal all our hurts and problems. If we’re not happy, does that make us losers? Maybe for some, but most of us feel battered by our culture’s continued obsession with our inalienable right to be happy.
Has our obsession with happiness produced the opposite — unhappiness? While that sounds logical, experts quickly point out that happiness and unhappiness are not opposites. Instead, research conducted by psychological scientist Ed Deiner found that the two emotions operate independently and are activated in different regions of the brain. Thus, it does not mean we will become happier when we rid ourselves of unhappiness in our lives.
So, happiness is not simply the absence of unhappiness.
Research shows that when we are unhappy, other mental health issues can rear their ugly head, such as depression and anxiety. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) estimates that depression and anxiety disorders affect 31.9% of teens between 13–18 years of age and 19% of the adult population.
