The Science of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Mood [Hardcover]

Stephen Braun (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471243779 | ISBN-13: 978-0471243779 | Publication Date: February 4, 2000 | Edition: 1

How should we define happiness? How happy are we supposed to be? Or can we be? Does each of us have a genetically determined "normal" level of happiness? Will a new breed of drugs allow us to fine-tune our moods so that we are happy most of the time? If so, are there any dangers to this kind of long-term mood alteration?

Fascinating research in a range of fields is providing provocative answers to these and many more questions about what makes us happy and how we can control our moods. We are in the midst of a revolution in the understanding of how our brains work and the neural circuitry of our moods and general temperament. At the same time, we have entered a bold new age of pharmacology?the science of drugs?which is allowing drug-makers to craft molecules that are exquisitely tailored to produce desired mood-altering effects.

In a lively and stimulating narrative, acclaimed science writer Stephen Braun takes readers to the frontlines of discovery in these areas and explores how this "brave new world" of mood manipulation will impact our lives. Based on extensive interviews with scientists at the forefront of research, as well as the compelling stories of many individuals and their personal experiences, The Science of Happiness presents an accessible, engaging, and balanced account of what we need to know as we enter this new era.

Braun introduces us to the scientists and companies who are racing to create the next generation of Prozac-like drugs, exploring the controversy surrounding so-called "designer drugs" and why such drugs are likely to be even more widely used.

He presents the idea of the happiness "set point"?the average level of happiness around which our daily mood fluctuates?and the respective roles played by our genes, our upbringing, and our daily life choices and experiences in determining our happiness profile. Introducing the provocative new field of Darwinian psychology, he explains why depression and anxiety can at times be necessary evils, providing important incentives for us to make changes in our lives that will improve our Darwinian fitness.

Braun also offers a stimulating and insightful consideration of how the alteration of our moods affects the "self" inside us. When we alter the mechanics of our moods, do we also fundamentally change ourselves? Or can we find a way to tailor our emotional lives while retaining what we consider to be the essence of who we are?

The Science of Happiness is an important and thoroughly engaging exploration of one of the most pressing issues facing society.

"Entertaining and Thorough."?Philadelphia Enquirer

"Braun has a knack for interpreting the findings of medical researchers and applying them to daily life."?Library Journal

"Braun manages to take abstract concepts and mold them into something highly readable. Science novices should find this book as enjoyable and well-written as those who have spent their lives working with biology or chemistry."?Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Is sadness a disease? Science writer Stephen Braun looks at the mystery of depression and the search for soma in The Science of Happiness. This brief, engaging, and personal view of mood and its influence on all aspects of our lives travels from drug company labs to Zen retreats in an effort to open up the black box containing temperament. His writing is powerfully charming, even while delving into deep philosophical issues and little-understood scientific theories. Is crippling depression related to "mere" unhappiness? Do good and bad moods provide evolutionary advantage? Does it make sense for us to use Prozac and all its friends and relations to enhance normal moods? Braun finds these questions important and fascinating, and the reader quickly comes to share these feelings. While neither as fawning as Listening to Prozac (one chapter is titled "Listening to Depression") nor as shrill as the anti-Prozac Scientologists, he does find much of value on both sides of the argument. Likening his own use of various antidepressants to correction of mild visual impairment, he considers the possibility of better lives for most of us while still acknowledging Aldous Huxley's dire predictions of worldwide drug slavery in Brave New World. What'll it be? Nobody really knows, but Braun is feeling pretty good about it. --Rob Lightner

From Publishers Weekly

This report on mood-altering drugs swings ambivalently between a critique of the pharmaceutical industry and euphoric pronouncements that "more perfect" antidepressants--safer, with fewer side effects--are just around the corner. Nonetheless, Braun's central thesis is straightforward: for some people, mood-altering pharmaceutical drugs, if used judiciously, can effectively restore emotional functioning and balance; andn that critics who harbor a general distrust of such drugs suffer from "pharmacological Calvinism." Readers who want a quick overview of the latest neuroscientific research into how antidepressants and mood-elevating drugs work need look no further. Braun, a medical journalist and documentary TV producer, tends to view antidepressants like Prozac as useful mood-sculpting tools akin to alcohol and caffeine (the subject of his previous book, Buzz: The Science and Lore of Alcohol and Caffeine). Blasting "the drug company party line" that presents depression as a simple matter of out-of-balance brain chemicals, he sets forth cautionary case studies, meant to illustrate how dishonesty, manipulation and corporate greed can corrupt drug development, approval and marketing. Braun also takes exception to biological psychiatry's view of depression as a solely neurochemically-based disease; he advocates a holistic approach to mental illness that recognizes that "talk therapy" is a vitally important component of the battle against depression. The most interesting part of the book is the nuanced epilogue, which details in diary-like fashion Braun's own successful experience with a new drug, Celexa, after Prozac and Ritalin failed.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471243779
• ISBN-13: 978-0471243779
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,771,582 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science Update and Philosophical Questions about Drugs, September 18, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Science of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Mood (Hardcover)

A key element of this book is to describe the latest scientific research on how mood-lifting drugs work. Initially, it was thought that products like Prozac worked through increasing neuroreceptors. If that was so, why did it take weeks for mood to improve after the neuroreceptor levels increased? The latest research suggests that these drugs are really causing the brain to grow many new connections by expanding dendrite growth, a process that takes weeks to occur.

Next, Mr. Braun points out that developing a new class of mood-improving drugs will soon be able to benefit from genetic and brain mapping reserach so that scientists will know how to adjust the brain to influence mood most effectively. Before that happens, he suggests we start thinking about some basic philosophical questions that are outlined in this intriguing book.

The book argues that contrary to prevailing disease theories of avoiding mood dips as harmful, these changes are necessary to healthy life. He cites a young woman who was unable to feel physical pain and died young, because she kept unknowingly injuring herself in severe ways. The latest research shows that we each have a set point for happiness (like a thermostat) and we soon come back to the set point, except when we have a mental illness like chronic depression. He sees a role for drugs as part of a regimen to help these people restore their set points. In the end of the book, he also describes his own experiences with anti-depression drugs.

The main message of the book is to warn against being too aggressive about providing mood-altering drugs. If we are too happy, we'll be unresponsive to our environment. Also, drugs can be designed that will make us prefer to take drugs. That risk is very great. He further points out that drug treatments are cheaper for HMOs and more profitable for the pharmaceutical companies, so there will be institutional pressure to do too much with drug therapy.

To make these risks seem more relevant, he describes four cases of seemingly too-aggressive pushing of drug therapies. I was fascinated by his assertion that Prozac was not really justified by the data in the original research, so the research was reconstructed to get Prozac through the FDA. As a result, he argues that many people may be helped by Prozac due more to the placebo effect than by anything else.

He nicely connects his investigation back to Aldous Huxley's concept of Soma in Brave New World, and you will enjoy what he has to say against the Soma concept.

After you have read this book, you may find it interesting and valuable to track your moods. Consider which states of happiness last the longest, which ones cause the most good things to happen, and which ones can be misleading to you. This greater self-awareness will probably serve you well.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Step at a Time: Understand Your Moods at the Source, March 10, 2002

By 

M. D. MCGINLEY "Chief Highliner" (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Science of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Mood (Hardcover)

"The Science of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Mood," by Steve Braun, 2000. Well-researched and beautifully written. I admire Braun's naturally-written, eloquently styled nonfiction work. He has a special talent to translate scientific research and discoveries into the vernacular, so that you and I can better understand advanced subjects so that we can better enjoy life (well, of course, unless you're already a scientist).

The excellence of Braun's work in "The Science" is manifested by his uncanny ability to properly define his subject. He stays within those boundaries, being careful not to stray into an extensive treaty on the nature of neurotransmitters, hormones and other electrochemical interactions not part of the main subject. This he does adeptly, starting out at Chapter 1, "Prozac: The Next Generation" by telling us about the past, present and future of this wonder drug--and how it actually works and what we can expect when the monopoly lifts. Chapter 2, "Set Point" starts off with the fascinating account of a lottery winner, and spends a good portion of the chapter discussing whether or not those with all the money they need are really happier than the rest of us. The other chapters, 3 through 6, describe "The Machine of Mood" (he doesn't mean to say that our moods are robotic like a machine, but rather as complicated and intricate as a machine), "Listening to Depression," "Selling Happiness" and "Zen and the Art of Prozac." This book doesn't bog us down with needless details, it only covers what is relevant to the book's title (and that's a skill that seems to be hard for some writers to grasp--albeit as simple as it sounds). No fluff, no useless anecdotes, no religious preaching. Most of the fun from reading books like this is watching the author work. Don't expect miracles from "The Science..." It doesn't treat any one area of human emotions or behaviors exhaustively. It's not about depression, or even evaluations of depression in conjuction with finding "happiness." It was written only to whet your appetite for a deeper understanding of neurological occurrences in relation to human moods in general, based on generally accepted theories to date.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!, November 28, 2001

By 

Osanan L. Barros "Sam Barros" (Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Science of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Mood (Hardcover)

After having read and throughly enjoyed his other book, "Buzz; the science and lore of caffeine and alcohol" I decided to read The Science of Happiness based on my liking for Stephen Braun's writing style alone. He uses the quest for the ultimate antidepressive as a central point for a discussion on what it means to be happy, why unhapiness is important, and what the implications of a perfect "happy pill" would be. He also goes off into some very interesting tangents such as the inner workings of the human brain, the effects of other mind altering substances on the brain, and the body's means of adaptation to artificial chemical stimulation. Highly recommended to anyone interested in the human brain and in a psychological discussion on the meaning of happiness.