happy being depressed?

ok, I guess the mature way to look at it would be to think - lessons learned, move on to better things, to better myself.

...while the human way to feel it would be to stop in the track and cry, pointing a few fingers at people (including at myself), over analyse things and dwell in the situation.

there must be this strange kind of reward that we give our brains when we get depressed and often decide to dwell on it...to get attention from others? To enjoy the bitterness while we are at it? ...am sure somewhere in The Science of Happiness, Stefan Klein explained it quite well.

haven't you met people who seem to be in a perpetual state of complaining (about everything) and moody (all year round)? They must be the kind who are getting their fix of high from being upset all the time.

...ok enough air time for bad mood. Time to move on....



Editorial Reviews from Amazon on the book mentioned above...

From Publishers Weekly
A leading German science journalist explores the nature of happiness through the latest research in brain science in this instructive study. Positive and negative feelings, he says, are generated by different mental systems; thus, people whose right frontal lobe dominates tend to be more pessimistic, while those with a stronger left lobe are predisposed to optimism and self-confidence. Despite genetic programming, the author says, the brain is "malleable," and anyone with a desire for happiness is able to perceive and experience more pleasurable emotions. Drawing on complex experiments with animals, he suggests specific strategies to overcome depression, including engaging in activities, especially physical activities or simple tasks that easily offer a sense of success; and writing down negative thoughts, then marshaling the evidence against them. Klein looks at the complex relationship between income and satisfaction and the importance of self-determination and social connections. The surest path to happiness, Klein is convinced, is to know oneself. (July)
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Product Description

Clinical psychologists have been dealing with miserable feelings since their discipline was established. In the last 30 years, neuroscientists have made major headway in the understanding of the sources of anger, depression, and fear. Today, whole industries profit from this knowledge—producing pills for every sort of pathological mood disturbance. But until recently, few neuroscientists focused on the subject of happiness. Now, in The Science of Happiness, leading German science journalist Stefan Klein ranges widely across the latest frontiers of neuroscience and neuropsychology to explain how happiness is fostered in our brains and what biological purpose it serves (and, importantly, how we can control our negative feelings and emotions). In addition, he explains the neurophysiology of our passions (the elementary rules of which are hardwired into our brains), the power of consciousness, and how we can use it. In a final section, Klein explores the conditions required to foster the "pursuit of happiness." A remarkable synthesis of a growing body of research that has not heretofore been brought together in one accessible book, The Science of Happiness will ultimately help each of us understand our own quest for happiness—and our fostering of it, as well.