About the trope "Happiness is Mandatory"

This one.

I've often been told by several individuals, some professional psychologists, that (intentional)positive thinking will make you feel positive.

So...why would it be any different if people(especially those with authority) tried to force you into it? Sure, you might not actually initially feel that way as a reaction, but you should actually manage to be happy if you keep doing that(and HAVE to) unless the work is centered around how you shouldn't be able to just think your way into feeling positive.

I just can't see what's supposed to be bad about the thing if it's supposed to actually work in real life, especially considering the pressure already put on people that angst for extended periods of time (as opposed to "just getting over it") instead of forcing themselves to think positively.

Because people don't like being told what to do. I reserve the right to be grumpy. >:L

Honestly, I think that's bullcrap. "Positive thinking" when you don't feel positive is just forced, and doesn't make you anymore positive than you were.

Actually, emotions and thoughts are more related than people realize, so it makes sense that it would work.

My mother tried that on me. It didn't work.

Edit for clarity: The anger and resentment that come from being forced to hide your thoughts and emotions for fear of prosecution is worse than the actual depression.

Ever heard that one liner "The beatings will continue until morale improves"? I'd say it summarizes just how ridiculous the idea of forced positivity is.

Just get therapy and antidepressants/St. John's Wort, then work on trying to build a support system of friends or family you can trust to help you through your problems. That works much better than any thought-rearranging feel-good methods I've run across.

edited 13th Apr '13 10:43:24 AM by Wheezy

It sometimes works. It can help. It is not guaranteed to work, nor will it always help.

Paging Inception: the idea has to be yours.

It probably helps a lot more when what is bothering you is not a constant, regular thing. Denying problems or not getting help for depression is bad, but thinking happy thoughts is a good way to keep yourself from dwelling on bad things.

When dogs bark, when bees sting, when you're just feeling sad - if you remember you're favorite things then you won't feel so bad.

I'm kind of on-the-fence about the concept of whether we should try to help people who don't want it.

There are some mental illnesses - heroin addiction and paranoid schizophrenia - for example, that I'm OK with the idea of people being forced into treatment for, but regular depression definitely isn't one of them.

Edit: I agree that getting over depression is infinitely easier when there isn't something regularly beating you back down into it. For example, a month after I cut off all contact with someone who I used to complain about all the time in the Insecurity thread, I'm finally starting to be able to enjoy things again.

edited 13th Apr '13 11:08:49 AM by Wheezy

Personally, I like to be left alone when I'm pissed about something.

As a sufferer of paranoid schizophrenia, I whole-heartedly agree.

edited 13th Apr '13 11:01:03 AM by Posey

This thread is not happy. Failure to be happy is treason. This thread is treasonous. This thread is to be punished with summary execution. Those who do not aid in summary execution will be punished with summary execution.

In all seriousness, positive thinking is just a quick fix to what is often a bigger problem. I'm no psychologist, but in my opinion positive thinking is avoidance. What must be done instead should be considered on a case-by-case basis. Once again, this is in my opinion. I could be wrong.

This scene sums up how I feel about how much positive thinking works.

SARCASM DETECTED. As you are no doubt aware, citizen, mocking the Eternal Happiness Initiative is a code five infraction. As such, a liquidation team is being dispatched to your residence, and all members of your family who survive you will henceforth be deducted fifty ration credits.

edited 13th Apr '13 4:59:29 PM by Wheezy

I reserve the right to be miserable. Negative emotions are part of being human, too; a healthy person experiences the full spectrum of emotions.

I think the difference is that forcing oneself to be happy is elective. Being forced to be happy by a third party is oppression, an imposition; an attempt to control or regulate the behaviour of others.

All law is essentially an imposition. But there would be chaos without it.

There is apparently some weight to the idea that "forcing" oneself to be happy actually works. Smiling on its own allegedly automatically triggers an endorphin release and makes you happy. Or some shit. I can't say it's ever worked for me, but then I wasn't really committed to the idea. And that's probably what sells it.

Agreed.

edited 14th Apr '13 5:15:16 AM by Alma

Happiness Is Mandatory is not about authority trying to get you to have positive thinking. It's about authority trying to make you feel happy, with methods that make it difficult or impossible (for example, cutting your limbs off one by one until you are "happy") so you end up hiding your true feelings and pretend to be happy. It's not "You should help yourself. Try positive thinking." and more "You will either smile and laugh while I murder your children, or I will cut your balls off."

edited 14th Apr '13 6:15:08 AM by IraTheSquire

I was more under the impression that it was enforcing positive thinking (which is to say, hiding negativity is missing the point, they're actually trying to make you feel positive, rather than trying to make you hide it, regardless of how contrived and seemingly counterproductive the methods are.)

No, it isn't. First of all, there is no means of an authority to enforce positive thinking (not without going into the problems of the most intrusive privacy violation because they are now reading your mind). Secondly, it is enforced happiness with the intention of satisfying the authority's ego, in the "I am awesome. You should be glad that I am ruling you. If not you are a filthy dirty traitor and you should die" way as opposed to "you should be happy because it is good for you". It is "you should be happy that I am oppressing you/ enslaving you/ murdering your children/ starving you to death/ torturing you o death/ regardless of what I do to do". It is absolutely not about the authority trying to encourage people for ther well being. It's "you must love me and be happy so that I will be a 'successful ruler' and that must take priority over loving your children, parents and anyone who is the closest to you. Therefore dance on the graves of your loved ones whom I just flayed alive in front of you".

Also, it is not about the proper happiness that the state encourages, the type where you stop yourself from being consumed by grief when your loved ones die. It is the type where you dance on the graves of the loved ones so that you do not seek out justice for their murder. It is the type that over-rides anything of the human decency, like justice, attachment to other people, morals, etc and I'd argue that any thinking of that kind can be regarded as "positive".

edited 14th Apr '13 3:09:56 PM by IraTheSquire

Really, "Positive Thinking" is something I have always seen as something that works depending from person-to-person. There is no one catch-all technique in any form of medicine, be it mental, physical or spiritual. It won't cure everything for everyone, just as no one pill or one treatment will. Anyone who attempts to say otherwise is either a snake-oil salesman or needs to do a bit more training in their chosen field of medicine.

That said, I do think Positive Thinking is extremely important in a crisis situation. It helps you focus, and helps keep despair out of your mind. Obviously, false hope is just as damning, but the right amount can save your life.

As for enforced happiness? It does not work. You can't "force" anyone to do anything regarding emotions, thoughts or bodily functions and expect it to work with any manageable degree of effectiveness.