Wealth equality, antidepressants, and happiness

http://www.usefulscience.org/podcast/3

This week, all of our topics come from the happiness section of our site. We learn about how the wealth of others affects your happiness, the effectiveness of anti-depressant drugs, and why being happy all the time may not make you happy all the time.

Show Notes:

• ‘Emodiversity’ (feeling a balance of different emotions) has been found to be predictive of better mental and physical health.


• People who cried while watching a movie experienced a more negative emotional state initially, but within 90 minutes recovered to an even better mood than before watching the movie.


• Pixar's Inside Out


• Feeling poorer than one's peers decreases health and happiness (for example, in measures of life expectancy, diet, or exercise). Reducing conspicuous consumption may make communities happier and healthier.


• Canadian Thanksgiving


• The Perfect Salary for Happiness: $75,000 (Wall Street Journal)


• An analysis of over 6500 depressed patients found that antidepressant drugs were effective and consistently superior to placebo at reducing depressed mood.