It is proposed that happiness be classified as a psychiatric disorder and be included in future editions of the major diagnostic manuals under the new name: major affective disorder, pleasant type. In a review of the relevant literature it is shown that happiness is statistically abnormal, consists of a discrete cluster of symptoms, is associated with a range of cognitive abnormalities, and probably reflects the abnormal functioning of the central nervous system. One possible objection to this proposal remains–that happiness is not negatively valued. However, this objection is dismissed as scientifically irrelevant.
If it makes you oblivious to how you harm others or how you are being harmed without realizing it or making rash decisions that affect you short or long-term, sure, why not.
I have half a mind to investigate the document and find the “…debilitating consequences of happiness…”
I wonder if this was written by someone clinically depressed, cynical and angry.
Hmmmm.
Reading throught it, it seems more like a critique of how other disorders are classified. It honestly seems even more applicable today than it probably was in 1992 when it was written.
