Fear of Happiness: Who, Why, and Where

              Psychology is a science that strives to understand the nature and relationship between thought and behavior with the intention of transforming, guideing, or governing behavior in a way that promotes beneficial changes in one’s life. Research in this field has been focused on dysfunction or abnormal phenomenon’s within populations, and consequently, therapeutic interventions have been aimed at identifying negative factors and creating strategies that minimize their effects.  However, little research has focused on the mechanisms and driving forces of positive emotions.  Yet, recent studies are beginning to indicate that positive emotions such as happiness are multi-faceted, and can be experienced in contradicting ways, such as inducing a sense of fear.  There is even evidence to suggest that a fear of happiness can be the best way to predict depression, anxiety, and stress.  Therefore, addressing the psychology behind why people are scared of happiness, is at the heart of creating a better society for all. While many see fear of happiness as being just another over hyped psychological diagnosis, fear of happiness has many real implications rooted in social development, biology, and culture. 

Fear is a process of acknowledging and responding to dangerous stimuli in the environment, typically manifested in the body as rapid heartbeat, dilated pupils, increased respiration. The amygdala is one of the oldest brain structures in the human brain and it’s the main conductor in the fear response, particularly fight or flight.  The process begins when sensory information such as vision, odors, sounds and viscera send messages to the the basolateral and lateral nuclei of the amygdala.  These nuclei then asses threat stimuli and send information to the amygdala’s central nucleus, which in turn generates signals to hypothalamic areas of the brain, whose role is to initiate defensive behavior in order to maintain self-preservation (Lang, McTeague & Bradley, 2014).

            In nomadic times fight or flight was necessary to stay alive, however, in today’s time, the need to be on constant alert from predators is not a concern.   Of course we still need a fear response to keep us from running into a house that is on fire, or to runaway from someone who is trying to hurt us.  Although, for some, the ability to segregate a real threat from things that are not, is not a possibility, but instead fear becomes generalized, spreading into unrelated areas.  Fear is a completely subjective process, thus, to what areas of life one becomes fearful, will be completely unique to the individual.  That’s why there is such a prevalence and variety of phobias in the world.  But what happens when someone begins to fear the exact thing that is beneficial to their mental and physical health?  This maladaptive cognitive and affective reaction is exactly what is observed in those who fear happiness.  The rationale behind this disposition is confusing, yet implication suggest orgins may exist in social development and\or biology.

So what exactly is one fearing when they fear happiness?  This is a hard question to answer because the definition of happiness will vary from culture to culture, and person to person.  For some happiness will be found in wealth and success, while others may view happiness as good health, or pleasure attainment.  A common belief is that objective circumstances are the exclusive factors that facilitate happiness, such as demographics, income, or status.  However, research indicates that these factors are only responsible for a mere 8% to 15% of the difference in happiness (Lyubomirsky, 2001).   The remaining variance of happiness exists in cognition and motivational practice.  

            Therefore, to address the pathology of happiness we need to look to the character traits within the individual, that enable them to interpret themselves and their life in a positive manner.  An accumulation of research indicates that perception is facilitated by the favored affective state.  For instance, if both a depressed and happy individual were to experience the same exact situation, both would interpret, remember, and perceptually experience it two different ways, with the deciding factor being the schemas in place (Lyubomirsky, 2001). A schema is a mental construct that facilitates the interpretation, organization, and appraisal of an individual’s life experiences, acting as a filter to the perception of life.  Schemas are the mechanisms by which self-concept is developed. In action, feedback is received by means of interactions with others, circumstances, and experiences which in turn facilitate the evaluation and development of self (Lefrancois, 2011).  

          Beck, a prominent child psychologist proposed that early childhood experiences play a vital role in the development of these schemes, translating into the development of core values and beliefs.  For those children who are healthy, attractive, well-liked by peers and adults and raised in a supportive environment, their developed schemas go on to serve them very well, growing up to be productive members of society. Characterized as having a positive affect, being open to new experiences, and beholding the ability to give and take compassion. Furthermore, research has shown that individuals with a general positive affect have better overall physical health, compared to those who are predominated by negative affect (Keyfitz, Lumley, Hennig, & Dozois, 2013).                  

            However, for those children who don’t grow up in such a supportive environment, maladaptive schemas develop and this is where we being to see irrational perceptional fears, such as fearing happiness. The maladaptive schemas serve as the filter to all incoming sensory information.  Thus, one will only interpret events in a way that is consistent with their mental schemes.  If for some reason, the interpreted event isn’t consistent with their existing schemas, the individual will either change their belief or re-interpret the event to make it consistent with their schemas.  However, because beliefs are tied so close to one’s self-concept, it is more likely that the individual will filter out all information that is inconsistent with their schema, rather than change their belief (Keyfitz, Lumley, Hennig, & Dozois, 2013).

            Research has begun to show that there may be an association between fear of happiness and attachments made early in life. Feelings of safeness, security, and warmness are the three primary emotions that are achieved through the social environment in which a child is raised (Gilbert, McEwan, Catarino, Baião, & Palmeira, 2014). When a child is raised in a home with caregivers who readily meets their needs, both emotionally and physically, the child learns to have trust in others and the environment, which translates later in life, to an adult who is open to new experiences and who has compassion for oneself and for others (Gilbert, McEwan, Gibbons, Chotai, Duarte& Matos, 2012).  However, when a child is not raised in this environment they fail to develop the adequate neural pathways enabling them to feel and share full ranged positive emotions. 

             One theory explaining this phenomenon is grounded in classic conditioning, where the child has been conditioned to have an adverse association with happy experiences, and thus happy emotions.  For instance, Arieti and Bemporad completed a study in which they found that one their subjects was terrified of having positive emotional experiences because she was raised with a mother who had agoraphobia.   She recalled many occasions in which she would get really excited about going out, whether to the beach, or the movies, and then right before her and her mother would leave the house, her mother would break out in a sever anxiety attack.  Her mother would yell, scream, cry, and fight explosively with her father.  As a result, the subject was conditioned over time, to developed a psychopathology to avoid looking forward to positive experiences (Gilbert, McEwan, Gibbons, Chotai, Duarte& Matos, 2012).  Classic conditioning teaches us that many times stimuluses can become generalized.  In this case, the subject may have originally only learned not to look forward to positive experiences in relation to her mother, however, over time what she identified as a positive experience grew to include a large range of positive emotions (Lefrancois, 2011). 

            The importance of developing a high level of safeness as a child is of paramount value in the healthy development of positive effect.  One study found that the largest predictor of depression, anxiety, and stress was a low level of safeness.  A safeness deficiency has a residual effect on the level of compassion one is able to experience, both to others, but also to one’s self.  This makes sense, if caregivers fail to provide compassion to the child, the child then grows to lack the ability to express or receive compassion.  Furthermore, the child may grow to believe they are unworthy of such kindness, or see compassionate acts as a character flaw.  This is not good news for fear of happiness because compassion shares a close relationship with positive effect, with research indicating that physiological well-being is increased when one both gives and receives kindness and care.  Physiologically we see an increase in the parasympathetic nervous system when these behaviors occur, enabling emotional control and promoting a peaceful and relaxed state.  In addition, failure to meet compassion needs can lead to an array of emotional processing issues, as well as, mental illness and maladaptive personality traits, such as depression and related symptoms and alexithymia (Gilbert, McEwan, Catarino, Baião, & Palmeira, 2014).

             Many times the sole reason for an aversion to happiness is not just the environment at home or culture, but the interaction of those factors coupled with biological predispositions and biological alterations.  Much research points to the fact that personality and mental illness is present at birth, while other research suggests it is facilitated through social learning.  Regardless of its origin, brain imaging shows variance in cognitive function as a result of mental deficets and mental illness.  In particular depression and alexithymia have been found in association with fear of happiness because of limitations in emotional processing.

              Alexithymia is characterized as a cognitive style that is externally oriented and stimulus focused, while also struggling to identify and discern between different bodily sensations and emotions.  Furthermore, an individual with alexithymia will also struggle to identify and discern emotional expression of others.  While alexithymia is considered a personality trait it can be a pre-curser for an array of psychological disorders such as autism, depression, schizophrenia, or somatoform (Gilbert, McEwan, Catarino, Baião, & Palmeira, 2014). 

                  Due to the fact that alexithymia effects emotional regulation, the willingness to explore emotions as a whole, may be limited, because the subject never receives any affective reassurance from their experiences.  This is especially true in regards to positive emotion.  An individual without alexithymia will find the experience of happy emotions as reassuring, promoting the continued drive to acquire those emotions in the future.  However, an alexithymia individual will not be comforted by the safeness of feeling happy, and thus will not strive to acquire activities or behaviors that promote it (Gilbert, McEwan, Catarino, Baião, & Palmeira, 2014). 

                These findings have practical applications for therapeutic interventions.  The majority of therapies focus on minimizing the effect and experience of negative emotions in the patient’s life.  However, for alexithymia patients who block out all emotions, working on the development of positive emotions may be a more constructive place to start.  The reason this works is because it focuses on regulating the threat system, which overtime allows the patient to begin addressing the affiliative emotions as essential (Gilbert, McEwan, Catarino, Baião, & Palmeira, 2014).

               Depression is typically triggered by difficult life events, however, a significant amount of research indicates that specific character traits predispose an individual to becoming depressed over life events.  For example, Lyubomirsky found in a series of studies on the pathology of happiness, that those who rated themselves as happy were not as effected by negative social comparison, compared to their less happy counterparts (Lyubomirsky, 2001). This finding can be directly tied to the widely excepted five factory model of personality, which consist of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.  Of those traits, neuroticism,  with a low level of extraversion, and a low level of conscientiousness were found to be strong predictors of depression (Hayward, Taylor, Warren, Smoski, Steffens, David & Payne, Martha, 2013).

             Depression is a mood disorder that has multi-dimensional effects on one’s life.  Symptoms of depression vary from person to person, but typically manifest as a dejected or irritable mood, a lack of interest in enjoyable activities, sleep disturbances, low energy, personal feelings of guilt and worthlessness, and a limited ability to concentrate.  Therefore, these combined symptoms of depression results in a diminished ability to self-regulate (Lefrancois, 2011).

             Moreover, these depressive impairments effect the processing of sensory information in the environment, and the ability to create goal direct tasks.    Biological psychology has indicated, there is a deficit in the ability to experience rewards, as a result of a decrease in the recruitment of the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex, effecting the ability to switch attention and be flexible in reward attaining behavior.   Alterations in the processing of sensory information, therefore, inclines depressed individuals to have a lessened ability to pay attention to positive stimuli.   Thus, it is theorized, that avoidance techniques may inhibit the motivational drive to pursue happy experiences (Huang, Movellan, Paulus, & Harlé, 2015). 

            Avoidance techniques in depressed patients are further motivated by the individual’s core beliefs, values and personal cognitive schemas.   For example, if one has a personal sense of defectiveness, then they will avoid any behavior that would make their defectiveness obvious to others, such as trying an unfamiliar task.  This becomes problematic when avoidance behaviors drive individuals away from experiences that facilitate a happy cognitive state (Huang, Movellan, Paulus, & Harlé, 2015). 

             Recent research from Gilbert, McEwan, Catarino, Baião & Palmeira indicate that this motivational drive plays a direct role in the fear of happiness. Claiming that many depressed patients have a taboo on happiness, making statements such as, “happiness is always followed by something bad” or “happiness always ends.”  In addition, to holding the cognitive belief that achieving happiness is a waste of energy, research indicates that this also translates into

fear of positive evaluations of one’s self.  Positive evaluation can be both reflective, in that one feels good about themselves and their accomplishment, and external, in that, one can accept compliments and praises from others. Closely aligned with a fear of positive evaluation is a fear of success, which is considered an activating happiness manifested by drive and achievement.  Thus, if one fears feelings associated with high self-esteem the result is to avoid endeavors that would encourage positive recognition (Gilbert, McEwan, Catarino, Baião & Palmeira, 2014). 

            The majority of this paper, has focused on factors associated with fear of happiness from a North American point of view, however, once we branch our perspective out to the rest of the world we see that the pathology for happiness has many variables, that vary from culture to culture.   Thus, in order to develop a holistic understanding of what it means to fear happiness, it is important to relate this phenomenon to other parts of the world. Interestingly, once expanded outward we see that a happiness is not as valued in other parts of the world.  Even more so, many cultures see happiness as sign of weakness. 

             Americas obsession with happiness arises out of its independent culture, where the individual is seen as separate from others and internal attributes are highly valued.  The majority of Americans report that they think about happiness at least once a day (Joshanloo, & Weijers, 2014).  It is even stated in the constitution, that the purist of happiness is a natural right of every American citizen. It is so socially ingrained, that the majority of American’s even go as far as to feel concern, when others seem unhappy, assuming that something must be wrong.  This radical individualistic perspective, is based on personal achievement and is culturally bound (Joshanloo & Weijers, 2014).

            In contrast, many eastern cultures are interdependent, in which the self is only perceived through its role within the group, and value is placed on social responsibility. Therefore, the attainment of personal happiness is not valued.  In fact, a large portion of eastern cultures do not advocate being happy; teaching that happiness is something that should be avoided at all costs because it disrupts social harmony.  For instance, the majority of Japanese citizens revealed that happiness should be avoided because it renders an individual oblivious of their surroundings, resulting in adverse consequences.  Furthermore, in Korea the norm is to believe that if one experiences happiness today, sadness is short to follow (Joshanloo & Weijers, 2014).

            Much of these eastern cultural beliefs are grounded in religions such as Buddhism and Taoism.   For instance, the core belief in Taoism is that all things in life revert to their opposite. This is evident in the text of the Tao-Te-Ching (an important text related to Taoism) in which the lines read “Misery! Happiness is to be found by its side! Happiness! Misery lurks beneath it! Who knows what either will come to in the end?” (Joshanloo & Weijers, 2014).

            In Islamic culture, people that are happy are viewed skeptically.  Much of this criticism is generated from religious affiliations.   For example, the prophet Muhammad is cited in the Quran saying “were you to know what I know, you would laugh little and weep much” and “avoid much laughter, for much laughter deadens the heart” (Joshanloo, M., & Weijers, 2014).   In turn, the islamic perspective is that true happiness results from a deep devotion to god, and not from outwardly pleasures. Those that emanate happiness from outside sources are considered superficial, irrational, and vulgar. While on the contrary those that appear to be sad are perceived as cogent, rational, and deep (Joshanloo, Lepshokova, Panyusheva, Natalia, Poon, Yeung, & Jiang, 2014).

             Just as we have seen in American culture, cognitive schemes develop self-concepts, which motivates behavior, and play a vital role in the value and prevalence of happiness.   Thus, as we move around the globe, values and beliefs will fluctuate based on whatever is encouraged by the cultural script in that area. Miyamoto and Ma displayed the power of culture scripts in their study of happiness in East Asians and Americans, which exposed that Americans were more inclined than their Japanese counterparts, to relish positive sensations and feelings.  Furthermore, this study revealed that dialectical beliefs about happiness effected emotional control, with East Asians reporting reduced capacity to find satisfaction in positive circumstance and to intensify their joy. Moreover, compared to their American counterparts, East Asians were more inclined to diminish or restrict their personal enjoyment (Joshanloo, & Weijers, 2014). 

             It's undeniable that cultural scripts play a direct role in the development of attitudes and beliefs.  However, because the aim of this paper is to address the fear of happiness in an attempt to promote awareness of mental health there is no reason for concern that other cultures practice an aversion to happiness.  We can conclude this because research has illustrated that well-being is highly dependent on the alignment one shares with their environment.  Therefore, when a culture teaches an aversion to happiness, the individuals that make up that culture will be more stable if they are in agreement with the aversion towards happiness rather than against it (Joshanloo, Lepshokova, Panyusheva, Natalia, Poon, Yeung & Jiang, 2014). 

              Understanding the fear of happiness across cultures demonstrates an ethical obligation of the importance of weighing cultural scripts in the evaluation of one’s psychology.  One’s personal attachment and expression of happiness, can only be explained through the natural environment in which they were raised and currently reside.   This point is especially relevant because the foundation of psychology is rooted in Western philosophies, thus the effectiveness of its theories and therapies are only as good as the culture in which it resides; and in a globalizing world, where ideas and populations are beginning to interconnect, this naïve framework does not meet the adequate requirements.   It would be reasonable to suggest, that future research should be focused on identifying the influences that a dominant culture have on immigrant populations.  In addition, to focusing on smaller less studied demographic populations, for an all-inclusive understanding.

              The history of therapeutic practices has typically focused on minimizing the negative.  However, this is problematic when the perception of positive experiences becomes entangled with and negative ones. Therefore, it is essential that professionals take the time to differentiate the exact origin of dysfunctional cognition or behavior, in order to provide the best care possible.

            As we have seen, the fear of happiness is a completely subjective process influenced by predisposed biology, the social environment, and culture.  Thus, the fear of happiness is best predicted from an environment that associates negative consequences with positive experiences, coupled with separat with a predisposition towards negative affect or mental illness.   Early childhood experiences play a vital role in the development of mental schemes.   For children who grow up in unsupportive or abusive household’s, maladaptive schemes develop that unite happiness with fear, effecting feelings of safeness, security, and warmness.  Consequently, deficits of this nature can lead to emotional proccing issues and maladaptive personality traits, such as depression and related symptoms.  Depressive impairments effect the processing of sensory information in the environment, and the ability to create goal direct tasks leading to avoidance techniques.  This is worrisome when avoidance behaviors drive individuals away from experiences that facilitate a happy cognitive state.  Lastly, fear of happiness is culturally bound and its dysfunction may only be relevant in the context in which it exists. This information as well as future research should be used supplementally with existing research on negative emotions, as way to bridge the gap in many therapeutic practices. While many see fear of happiness as being just another over hyped psychological diagnosis, fear of happiness has many real implications rooted social development, biology, and culture.