In her Tuesday column, “1-step cures for a despairing world,” Bonnie Miller Rubin asked experts to recommend one way to better society in 2016. Whether I am an expert or not, as a psychiatrist I would prescribe this cure for despair: increase happiness through a Happiness Initiative.
Our country was founded on certain unalienable rights, including the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” However, lives are increasingly being lost due to gun violence and terrorism, liberty is constrained by poverty, and happiness is being trumped (so to speak) by despair and hatred.
There is a small country that has paved the way for happiness initiatives. That is Bhutan, which has emphasized “gross national happiness” over gross national product since 1972. It has been adapted over the years, and Bhutan has become a sought-after tourist destination.
By now, there are ways to try to measure the happiness of citizens along a variety of domains: material well-being, psychological well-being, health, education, governance, culture, community, environment and work/life balance. There is even growing evidence that happiness helps our economy, as happiness is casually linked to better productivity.
Let’s resolve to increase happiness in 2016.
— H. Steven Moffic, retired psychiatrist, Milwaukee
