Reflection Of Positive Psychology

Beginning in the 1990s, psychologists began to research what made a person happier and how that process affects the brain. This started a movement, known as positive psychology, that caused society to put a negative connotation on sadness, fear, anger emotions and made being happy the new normal. By focusing on happiness, positive psychologists overlook the importance of less-joyous feelings. The way positive psychologists present emotions might seem as if happiness is the only way to live a fulfilling life. However, studies have proven that those who place happiness above all other feelings usually do not live up to the greatest potential in their career or social life. Sadness, along with other emotions, serves a function in how individuals

These feelings can elicit emotions that serve as inspiration for groundbreaking entertainment. According to the article, many widely known artists and writers such as “Vincent van Gogh, Emily Dickinson, and other artistic geniuses saw the world through a glass darkly” (Begley 456). They did not suppress their negative emotions, but used them to their advantage and created incredible art pieces. Author of Against Happiness, Eric Wilson reports the importance of sadness: “The blues can be a catalyst for a special kind of genius, a genius for exploring dark boundaries between opposites” (qtd. in Begley 456). Wilson shows how these raw emotions can be the muse one needs to use their talents. Once people can accept that negative emotions are all just a part of the human lifestyle, these emotions can be used to benefit others’

However, studies have shown that happiness can cause a person to become carefree, which puts them in dangerous situations. According to David, “An excess of freewheeling giddiness and a relative absence of more sober emotions can even be a marker for mania, a dangerous symptom of psychological illness” (124). Although one of positive psychologists’ goal is to decrease mental illnesses, such as depression, putting too much emphasis on being happy can lead to even more mental illness. The criticism that negative emotions receive can cause a lack of thought about decisions and in the end, can increase the number of people suffering from mental