https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/toxic-positivity-when-happiness-becomes-harmful/13749368
Around minute 11, the researcher talks about an experiment where they tried to prompt people to be more happy by surrounding them with inspirational posters etc. and how it did not work. What do you think is the best way to get people to be more happy? Should we even bother?
Have you ever experienced toxic positivity? What was the effect on you and how did you work with the aftermath of the interaction? like the woman who lost her baby, did it lead to less sharing of feelings or changes in relationships?
Do you think the pursuit of happiness just leads people to be more unhappy?
around minute 20, the researcher talks about the benefit of experiencing grief or other unpleasant emotions after an event and promotes the concept of “tragic optimism”. She then talks about post-traumatic growth (PTG)-the idea somewhat like “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. There is another perspective that not all trauma can be transitioned to post-traumatic growth, that for people, lots of trauma will remain as trauma. Do you think we do a disservice to people if we tout the idea of PTG when it simply won’t happen for some people?
