Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness

New Research Shows That Humans Have More Control Over Their Happiness Than Previously Thought. What exactly is happening inside the brains of people experiencing joy and happiness? “It’s a very complicated chemical soup,” explained Dr. Richard Davidson, who has made a life’s work out of studying “happy brains.” His lab at the University of Wisconsin is devoted to understanding how much of our joy level is set at birth, and how much we can control.

With a skull cap containing 128 sensors, Davidson’s team can watch a subject’s brain respond to a series of photographs, some pleasant, some distressing.

“We can challenge the brain by presenting these emotional images and look to see how you respond to them,” Davidson said.

ABC News’ Bill Weir underwent the test, and by studying the activity in his left prefrontal cortex, Davidson discovered that Weir’s brain was “more positive than not.”

Remaining Positive About the Economy

Posted by Barry Lauterwasser

Having lived through the Jimmy Carter era, and enjoyed the boom of Reaganomics, and having studied economic history at University of Louisville, I can tell you this. Our economy has always been, and always will be…cyclical.

That means that the boon days can’t live forever, neither can the depression… Which is why I can remain positive about our economy. It has always been the dominant economy in the world, and always will be, until other countries can duplicate our capitalistic system, and deal with the fallout, and education process that it brings.

Lifting the Veil of Depression

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than 21 million Americans suffer from some kind of depressive disorder. For about 4 million of the most severe cases, no treatment can help. But there is a promising experimental therapy now in clinical trials that, in essence, “rewires” the brain. It is most definitely medicine on the cutting edge.

Diane Hire of Norwalk, Ohio, is 54 years old. For the past 20 years, she has lived with severe, unrelenting depression.

“You felt like a dead person walking. There was just nothing left in me,” Hire told ABC News. “I had no emotion left. I had no energy left. I had nothing. I was an empty shell of a person.”

She was prescribed one anti-depressant after another, as well as psychotherapy. Nothing worked. She tried to commit suicide three times.