Bright-sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermined America

On a more personal level, this creeping reactionary tendency against psychological intervention is starting to get to me. Good therapy and SSRIs have saved my life on two occasions now, and I am unable to function without them due to the severe bouts of OCD which arise when I am unmedicated. Of course, it’s none of my business if this is the specif... See more

It seems odd to look at achievement through this lens, not as the thing the newspapers tell us it is, but – very often – as a species of mental illness. Those who put up the skyscrapers, write the bestselling books, perform on stage, or make partner may, in fact, be the unwell ones. Whereas the characters who – without agony – can bear an ordinary ... See more

Those who fail to exhibit positive attitudes, no matter the external reality, are in some ways ill. Their attitudes, like those of recalcitrant Chinese during the Cultural Revolution, need correction. Once we adopt a positive mind, positive things will always happen. This belief, like all the other illusions peddled in the culture, encourages peopl

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“There’s been research done with people in slums across the globe and with prostitutes, looking at their well-being and satisfaction with life. The data suggest that positive emotions have less to do with material resources than we might think; it’s really about your attitude and approach to your circumstances.” This flight into self-delusion is no

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