Medicalising emotions
The human condition is unique but not so different from that of other species which also feel a range of emotions, from elation to desolation.
Our evolutionary design meant that we needed to act upon feelings as part of our own self-preservation. After all, it was handy to experience fear when being chased down by a sabre-toothed tiger or to crave tribal belonging so as to not have to fend for yourself in the wilderness.
But in the past 50 years survival has come down to diagnosing and labelling rather than acknowledging and accepting the very real sensations that inform us about our human experience. The medicalisation of emotions has meant we’ve forgotten that to be human is to feel rather than to formulate.
Popping the happiness pill
The 19th-century American short-story writer William Sydney Porter, famed for his wit and surprise endings, wrote simply and succinctly about what it is to be human: “Life is made of sobs, sniffles and smiles, with sniffles predominating.”
The kicker in this aphorism is the perception that sadness outweighs happiness. And many of the great writers, theologians and philosophers throughout the ages subscribe to this notion of life and the nature of being.
Modern thinking, by contrast, insists we simply cannot accept this thesis. Unlike our ancestors, who were fighting just to stay alive, self-preservation for many of us in the Western world is not really a consideration although we do need a sense of safety and physical wellbeing.
As a result, we have become more introspective and
