Happiness, depression, and creativity – a dance of balance

A wide range of psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have at times attempted to identify the pervasive feeling of happiness and to identify its sources. Is it simply the search for pleasure and enjoyment, while avoiding unpleasant situations? or is it something more sophisticated, as suggested by modern trends in psychology?

In modern times, research fields, such as positive psychology turn to scientific methods, aiming to study it. Where does it come from? How is it realized as an experience? Is it emotionally stable, independent of the surrounding culture, or is it shaped by the social and cultural trends?

Important elements of the challenge are both the diversity of the reality we perceive, and the identification of its different components. For this reason, researchers avoid approaching it as a unique and strictly definable emotion, resorting to analyzing a broader relevance of responses.

How is it possible to study such a ”fluid” feeling?
Although many find it difficult to determine what sets off fireworks of happiness within them, the subjective experience is not disputed by anyone. Indeed, it is easy to answer the question of whether and when we are happy by attempting a relaxed assessment. Therefore, it is not surprising that most surveys are based on self-reports of subjects, who are asked to evaluate their emotions. Indicatively, we list the following popular and widely accepted scales of happiness: Oxford Happiness Inventory (Argyle and Hill), Subjective Happiness Scale-Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky & Lepper), Life satisfaction scale-Satisfaction with Life Scale (Deiner, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin), and Positive and negative mood scale or ”PANAS” Scale (Watson, Clark, Tellegen). The respondent is usually asked to choose between gradations between agreement and disagreement for a series of variant statements, such as the following:

1. I feel like life is rewarding
2. I’m not particularly optimistic about the future
3. Life is nice
4. I laugh easily
5. The world is not a good place
6. I don’t control what happens in my life
7. I often feel joy or mental uplift
8. I don’t make decisions easily
9. I don’t find any special meaning or purpose in my life
10. I have especially happy memories from the past

Is happiness the result of external circumstances or internal constant?
It is convenient to consider that happiness arises as a result of conjunctive factors and external conditions, often non-controllable. This way we can attribute it to our good or bad luck. But does this view reflect the truth? We often happen to know successful, intelligent, beautiful people with a supportive family and social environment. Even in these cases, we find that these people experience melancholy and face life as a burden.

Similarly, we meet others who carry significant challenges in their daily lives and despite this, they continue to smile, fight dynamically and maintain satisfaction and self-sufficiency, based on what they have. Does happiness, then, derive from endogenous tendencies and inner qualities of the individual? If so, are there individuals favored by their genetic heritage and vice versa?

The truth is that the neurobiological circuits that wire our existence are partially subordinated to obey our genetic material, especially during the development phase. Recent research of a large population sample has demonstrated 17 genes, mutations of which tend to correlate with depression. If you have one of these genes, it is certain that your chances of receiving a clinical diagnosis increases at some point in your life.

However, it would be outrageous to over-simplify depression and finally accuse genetic diversity of our failure to feel happy. The genes orchestrate a chaotic, but finely organized, a network of biomolecular interactions, and in connection with environmental stimuli, the feelings that come on the surface can vary. For example, those who tend towards manic depression or schizophrenia have an increased chance of being creative. Our nature implies that we are imperfect creatures full of mistakes. However, it is these mistakes that make us wonderful. If it was not for bipolar disorder Van Gogh would not have given us the wonderful portraits we are gifted to observe in museums’ collections. So, yeah there are things to lose and things to win; all we have to do is to be patient enough to notice the advantages.

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