My own experience shows me that thinking about ethics and utilitarianism is risky. It bears the risk of making you feel down, due to all the suffering in the world and the possibility of even greater suffering in the future. Thinking about such matters is not only mentally, but also emotionally challenging.

A few days ago I started writing an essay about the possible ethical dynamics in a posthuman world and came to a relatively pleasant conclusion. Unfortunately, the next day I realized that I have been way too optimistic. That ruined almost my whole day.

How do you stay sane and avoid feeling depressed?

Of course, taking antidepressants helps, but it would be better not getting depressed in the first place. And actually I'm already taking Bupropion, but it's not always sufficient to stay sane. My life circumstances are problematic enough to make it difficult to remain reasonably happy all the time.

Luckily I've found the self-help book Feeling Good by David D. Burns. It's based on cognitive therapy and it turned out to be astonishingly effective for treating depression, both in studies and in my own experience. The basic premise is that depression results from (irrational) negative thoughts. Well, they certainly feel like one of the major contributors of depression, and the good thing about negative thoughts is that it is possible to fight them rationally.

Not all negative thoughts are irrational, though. It's hard to deal with difficult situations without getting into a dark mood that lets negative thoughts arise easily. Being rational implies acknowledging problems and dangers. But that's an emotionally rather unpleasant activity and drains personal energy. If there are enough positive aspects to your life, it's still possible to feel reasonably fine. Otherwise you get unhappy, and eventually lose effectiveness and rationality.

It seems that emotional balance is a very important topic for rationalists and utilitarians, but I think it gets addressed far too rarely.

• I've found that reading very interesting books and chatting with good friends are some of the best things I can do to get into a positive mood.
• Recently,I've also noticed that just pretending to be happy and doing things I do when I'm happy is miraculously effective at making me really happy.
• Being well organized and having a clear daily routine are also factors that help me tremendously, unless I neglect them, of course.
• When it comes to sports, I've noticed that bodyweight exercises are the most efficient way for me to boost my mood.
• Watching animes and cartoons certainly isn't the worst way of collecting some happiness. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is surprisingly good (seriously!), but with only 26 episodes the fun won't last too long.

Any other ideas?

personally i had been annoyed and frustrated for a few months that people werent more utilitarian and then i was like

"hey, why do i expect humans to be utilitarisn? i dont expect tigers to be utilitarian"

and then i wasnt angry and everyone anymore

i know what you mean though but when you look at the possibilities that may exist in the future, that we could really maybe make a universe with no suffering, thats pretty comforting

as regards the whole being positive to feel happier stuff, while i think its good, if things are bad, they're bad, and although being positive is awesome this doesnt mean you shouldnt try and fix the situation! i see my friends live in bad circumstances sometimes and instead of spending their time fixing the situation some of them just "try and stay positive". so i think its good but i think we should always improve things too!

otherwise i love people, dancing, parkour, adventures - experiencing new things, wilderness, sleeping outside, rescue, kisses, people, dancing with people, more people

edit: The main constituents of happiness seem to be two--tranquility and excitement -- John Stuart Mill

I like listening to happy music. I have listened a lot of indie pop over the past years (David Pearce is a great fan too). I am listening now bluegrass, what is pretty fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy_CZDtIuz0

I like playing Go too.

It seems to me that the greatest force contributing my happiness is that I surround myself with people who I like. People who are good at what they do. People who have passions. People who I admire. People who have a sense of humour. This has an enduring positive effect on my wellbeing.

What about the short term kick out of a lot of other stuff I do. Browsing reddit and facebook? In my opinion, these hardly lead to long-term satisfaction. Their stimulation is brief and unpredictable (e.g. how many notifications do I have today!), which lends them their addictiveness. They can fill out my spare time, something I'll later regret. So I would honestly rate these as significant drags on not only my long-term productivity, but also my happiness.

Two more factors that contribute to my happiness are my loves of music and comedy. These do occupy a significant amount of my time. But they then give me a sustained, wholesome feeling of wellbeing. I hardly think my music or comedy would be off-limits to a depressed person either. There's plenty of really satisfying gloomy music and black comedy that I think could help to draw me out of a low mood. However, I'll disclaim that I haven't had to deal with proper depression yet.

Thanks for all your answers.

Perhaps it helps to mention that my mood issues seem to come from a chronical health problem. Most likely I have some kind of intestinal dysbiosis (i'm not 100% sure, because that condition is hard to diagnose reliably). Some intestinal diseases are clearly linked to depression. Unfortunately, it's rather complicated to cure such diseases - usually treatment requires months or even years. And interestingly, my mood only gets really bad in spring or summer (I can't stand heat).

At least it's worth to mention that good health makes it much easier to be happy. And the more I read about it, the more I get the impression that nutrition is the most important factor for good health, while everything else is rather secondary. So, yeah, eat your vegetables

Ruairi wrote:"hey, why do i expect humans to be utilitarisn? i dont expect tigers to be utilitarian"

That's a very interesting thought. But I guess it's easier to convince humans of the benefits of utilitarianism.

Daniel Dorado wrote:I like listening to happy music. I have listened a lot of indie pop over the past years (David Pearce is a great fan too). I am listening now bluegrass, what is pretty fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy_CZDtIuz0

I like listening to dark or very uplifting music. I guess I better listen more to uplifting music, because that really improves my mood. But I don't like indie pop (yet?).

I don't have an emotional connection to utilitarianism the way some people here seem to. It just seems like the natural way of viewing the world. So I get frustrated that I can't do more, but that's more the selfish desire to stand out from the crowd. I don't particularly suffer from other people's suffering. Maybe that's healthier?

I do things I like and avoid doing things I dislike.

- Hang out with friends.
- Watch movies.
- Read stuff I like.
- Ride my bicycle while I listen to music.
- Have sex, alone or with others.
- Avoid housework.

Also, you're conditioned to feel worse during adolescence.

Mike Retriever wrote:Also, you're conditioned to feel worse during adolescence.

What do you mean exactly? How does this work? And how can you reverse that conditioning?

Mike Radivis wrote:How do you stay sane and avoid feeling depressed?

I actually just don't. But as for ideas to create hedons, I would add selected TV shows and highly immersive high-quality computer role-playing games, such as the Mass Effcect series. Unfortunately, it takes quite a bit of free time to really enjoy them.

For social activities, anything which encourages you to be more extroverted is supposed to be a good idea - the more extroverted we act, the happier we tend to be, according to a piece I recently read for Charity International. I think it also helps to get good at a skill related to extroversion - I've found a lot of satisfaction in salsa dancing and improv.

Mike Radivis wrote:

Mike Retriever wrote:Also, you're conditioned to feel worse during adolescence.

What do you mean exactly? How does this work? And how can you reverse that conditioning?

Hormones are the cause. The truly effective solution is growing out of it eventually.

I don't think I have much to add - you've all given some really good, collectively comprehensive advice.

My personal story: My teenage years were a journey into deeper and deeper depression, which I think was almost entirely hormonal (although when it got really bad that was triggered by pressures of being at Oxford). Prozac (fluoxetine) has been a godsend - I've been on it for 15 months and am on about 1/2 what I started on. Since I've been on it, my mood has been almost constantly positive.

Other likely contributing factors to recent good mood:
- Having the opportunity to easily make utilitarian projects a huge part of my life (satisfaction from doing good + pure enjoyment from organising & planning things)
- Rarely feeling pressured to do more utilitarian stuff by others or myself
- Knowing utilitarians and interacting with them regularly on a social and more purposeful basis
- The fun things that university brings - constantly meeting new people, loads of societies to get involved with, events, talks etc.
- Being in a very stable, comfortable relationship

Other things that would probably make me happier but probably result in reduced net productivity:
- Exercise
- Dancing
- Sticking with my drama group (acting, singing, socialising)

Other things that would probably make me happier but are probably unattainable:
- More encouragement, praise and support from people about my utilitarian activities
- Knowing that all there is, has been, and ever will be, is happiness (maybe a bit ambitious that one)

Haha LadyMorgana, I think it might be possible to see the entire history of the physical universe as a transition towards ultimate happiness! No joke.
1. All matter has experience. It 'feels' forces that act on it.
2. Matter has preferences. We know what matter prefers because it does what it prefers. If matter follows gravity, perhaps that's why. Ultimately, all matter moves towards a less stable state then towards pure heart. Obviously, matter prefers to progress towards pure heat, otherwise, why would it?
3. Therefore, pure heat, the inevitable end of the universe must be a state of universal bliss.

I used to find the idea of the universe all turning into heat really depressing, but it's more uplifting when looked at this panpsychist way.

I'm not convinced, RyanCarey!

1. What's your reasoning behind this (or what exactly do you mean by it)?

2.
a) If I pick up a sandwich it's because I'm hungry.
b) If I fall down a well it's because somebody pushed me, not because I necessarily want to.
I know from experience that when my movements are not the result of my conscious decisions, they tend to be neutral wrt my happiness.
If I die (i.e. permanently lose the ability to make conscious decisions), all of my movements become Type B, just like the rest of non-living matter.

3. This is suspicious in itself because it reflects the kind of story that humans like to hear: "Things are bad now, but they will get better"/"Protagonist X was sad, but at the end of the story she was happy".

Mike Radivis wrote:Luckily I've found the self-help book Feeling Good by David D. Burns. It's based on cognitive therapy and it turned out to be astonishingly effective for treating depression, both in studies and in my own experience.

I happen to be reading that book now. One thing I've noticed about the techniques is that they require a significant amount of work, whether it's writing, keeping track of thoughts with a wrist counter, or tracking your depression-inventory scores over time. I've read several science-based self-help books (59 Seconds, Learned Optimism, The Procrastination Equation, and Authentic Happiness are good), but I think they've been of limited use because I haven't consistently implemented the techniques that they suggest. So it might be helpful to set goals and report your progress to someone else (or whatever you do to motivate yourself).

Mike Radivis wrote:Watching animes and cartoons certainly isn't the worst way of collecting some happiness. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is surprisingly good (seriously!), but with only 26 episodes the fun won't last too long.

Remember that you have the second season to look forward to. And remember: "I am not worthless. I am eminently worthwhile!"