The 5^th European Positive Psychology Conference took place June 23-26 in Copenhagen, Denmark. I’ve written three separate reviews, covering eleven Keynotes, invited speakers, and opening and closing presentations. To read the full reviews, take a look at Positive Psychology News Daily:  part 1, part 2 and part 3.

Part 1:

Keynote 1: Stopping the Insanity: Promoting Positive Mental Health is Sanity in a World Needing Better Mental Health - Corey Keyes, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology at Emory University, USA

Corey Keyes

Keynote 2: How Positive Emotions Work, and Why – Barbara Fredrickson, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.

Part 2

Keynote 1: Occupational Health Psychology: A European Perspective – Wilmar Schaufeli, Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at Utrecht University in The Netherlands.

Here’s an interesting article from the Guardian about the argument for and against teaching happiness lessons in schools.

You can see why Anthony Seldon, head of Wellington College (one of the most elite schools in the UK) is so keen that kids get something more than the National Curriculum, since it will hardly prepare them for the adult world in the 21st Century after all. But teaching them Positive Psychology doesn’t fill Richard Schoch with confidence, largely because he says you can’t measure meaning and engagement, which are the holy grail of happiness. He thinks there is a place for well-being in the classroom, but doesn’t really have any suggestions about how to teach it, other than getting kids to read ancient texts.

Hmmmmm.

I’m not sure that’s the answer either!

The really interesting question is why we feel that children need to be taught about happiness in the first place. Some people (including Seldon) have argued that kids are more prone to depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses than in the past. So teaching them various life skills will help them survive these issues. If that’s the case, shouldn’t we be asking ourselves what is causing them to be more prone to depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses in the first place, and try to do something to fix that?

According to Schoch, Positive Psychology is a bit like Marmite, i.e. you either love it or you hate it. The challenge for Positive Psychologists is how to persuade its critics that it’s a useful subject which can make a positive difference to how people choose to live their lives. I’m not sure it’s succeeding in that aim at the moment. What do you think?

You can read the original debate between Seldon and sociologist Frank Furedi here.

Earlier this year, clinical psychologist and well-known media figure, Dr Oliver James, published his new book ‘Affluenza – How to be successful and stay sane’. The book caused a furore in some circles; James is no stranger to media controversy, however; it could be said that he actively courts it in order to focus attention on some very pressing social issues.

James presented at the recent the Open University Psychological Society’s Psychology of Well-being Conference and despite (or because of?) getting the Saturday night slot,he didn’t mince his words – his theory, stated simply, is that putting a high value on possessions, money, appearances (physical and social) and fame is at the heart of the rise in depression, anxiety and substance abuse in the English-speaking western countries. Not surprisingly, this seems to have upset quite a lot of people in the UK. We live in a democracy after all, and we’re mature enough to make our own choices, aren’t we? Who wants to be accused of “Selfish Capitalism”?

It’s difficult to argue against the figures – World Health Organization studies of mental illness across both English speaking western countries and non-English speaking ones reveal a substantial and statistically significant rise in mental illness (as define above) in the former (average 23%) compared to the latter (11.5%). According toJames’s theory, this rise is due to our increasing love of all things material.

Has materialism risen in English-speaking western countries – undoubtedly yes, just look around you. Does that prove, however, that materialism of the type James describes, even if it is rampant, causes mental illness?

Research (e.g. Tim Kasser ) suggests that there are 4 basic needs which must be met in order for psychological well-being to exist:

1) emotional security
2) feeling effective
3) community (friends, social groups etc)
4) autonomy

The question which needs to be answered is “does a focus on materialism prevent these needs being met, and if so how?”. Common sense would say yes – a simple example is that materialists get their gratification externally – but is there scientific research that incontrovertibly shows this? James’s money is obviously on the answer being affirmative; Affluenza was markedly short on academic references, so he’s writing a new book which aims to lay out all the research evidence to support his Selfish Capitalism theory.

When I asked him after the lecture when this book would be published, however, he replied not as quickly as he’d hoped – so perhaps the research isn’t as clear-cut as Positive Psychologists think.

If you want to see and hear James in action, register and watch this RSA lecture.