Health and Well-Being

Are Politicians Ignoring

P R E V E N T I O N?

This is an excerpt from the North Carolina 2012 Research Divisions (for the NC House and NC Senate) that I felt could be beneficially impacted by knowledge and skills training in positivity, optimism, and happiness based on the current state of the knowledge base contributed to by many branches of science including positive psychology, biochemistry, neuroscience, epigenetics, and many more.

Federal legislators and the US Surgeon General are also ignoring these potential benefits.

These benefits P R E V E N T illnesses and societal problems - not just address symptoms.  There is no reason to wait!

The category is listed first.

• The individuals assigned are listed second.
• The third aspect are statements (not exhaustive) of the benefits science has demonstrated would be attributed to that area with the implementation of training in increased positivity, optimism and happiness.

The comments are made by Jeanine Broderick, President of Happiness 1st.  This is based on many years of research across many scientific disciplines fueled by passion for learning everything possible about the benefits of positivity to individuals, their families, their employers and their communities.

I was writing to all the NC elected representatives and came across this listing.  I felt inspired by the numbers of areas that have potential to be beneficially impacted.

There is solid science behind the statements made.

2012

A

Abortion Shawn Parker, Amy Jo Johnson,

Janice Paul, Kelly Quick

Increased Positivity and Optimism Reduces Teen Pregnancy and repeat teen pregnancy

Adult Care Homes Theresa Matula, Sara Kamprath,

Susan Barham

Increased Positivity and Optimism reduce End of life debilitating diseases - onset is later and closer to death

Adult Day Care Theresa Matula, Sara Kamprath,

Susan Barham

Increased Positivity and Optimism reduce the need because End-of-life debilitating diseases onset is later and closer to death

Aging

Theresa Matula, Sara Kamprath,

Susan Barham

Increased Positivity and Optimism End of life debilitating diseases onset is later and closer to death

Studies show that attitude about aging has tremendous impact; positive outcomes can be greatly increased.

AIDS Shawn Parker, Amy Jo Johnson

Increased Positivity and Optimism Improves decision-making

Alcohol Abuse

Shawn Parker, Janice Paul, Susan Barham

Increased Positivity and Optimism Reduces substance abuse

Often feeling unhappy is a strong factor in onset.  Alcohol is a path to feel better used by individuals who do not have the skills needed to feel better.  Teach the skills and alcohol as self-medication will decrease.

Assisted Living Theresa Matula, Sara Kamprath,

Susan Barham

Increased Positivity and Optimism End of life debilitating diseases onset is later and closer to death

B

C

Child Abuse & Neglect

Drupti Chauhan, Janice Paul,

Susan Barham, Kelly Quick

Increased Positivity and Optimism Reduces substance abuse

Increased Positivity and Optimism Improves relationships of all types

Increased Positivity and Optimism Improves ability to think

Stress reduction skills can help avoid reaching that crisis point

Children, Family & Marriage

Wendy Ray, Drupti Chauhan, Janice Paul,

Kelly Quick

Increased Positivity and Optimism Improves relationships of all types

Increased Positivity and Optimism promotes - More harmonious relationships

Increased Positivity and Optimism Increases stability

Increased Positivity and Optimism Reduces marriage for wrong reasons

Make earlier course corrections - with knowledge and skills

Colleges

Drupti Chauhan, Kara McCraw,

Sara Kamprath, Patsy Pierce, Dee Atkinson

Depression is rampant among college students, Increased Positivity and Optimism:

• reduces substance abuse
• reduces 'comfort' sexual encounters
• increases true self-esteem
• Reduces teen pregnancy

Suicide is a major problem in this age group - Increased Positivity and Optimism would reduce it

Increased Positivity and Optimism Increases emotional intelligence

Increased Positivity and Optimism Increases IQ

Community Colleges

Kara McCraw, Drupti Chauhan,

Sara Kamprath, Patsy Pierce, Dee Atkinson

Depression is rampant among college students, Increased Positivity and Optimism:

• reduces substance abuse
• reduces 'comfort' sexual encounters
• increases true self-esteem
• Reduces teen pregnancy

Suicide is a major problem in this age group - Increased Positivity and Optimism would reduce it

Increased Positivity and Optimism Increases emotional intelligence

Increased Positivity and Optimism Increases IQ

Corrections

Brenda Carter, Susan Sitze, Hal Pell,

Kelly Quick

Strongly believe Increased Positivity and Optimism would reduce recidivism - would like to study

D

Disabled Persons

Shawn Parker, Susan Barham,

Amy Jo Johnson, Patsy Pierce

There are many incidents of positivity improving ability beyond where physicians believed they could go

Increased Positivity and OptimismHelps with depression

Discrimination

Hal Pell, Brad Krehely, Kara McCraw,

Amy Jo Johnson, Kelly Quick

There is discrimination in the world but there is also perceived discrimination when it does not exist and both are damaging to living harmoniously as a society.  Helps with both types as increased positivity has been shown to reduce racism.  See our white paper on this topic for ways to reduce the experience of discrimination.

Diseases

Shawn Parker, Amy Jo Johnson, Susan Barham

Increased Positivity and Optimism 50% risk reduction in cardiovascular disease (Harvard Meta-Analysis)

One skill has been shown to reduce death, disability and stroke in those who already have heart disease

Increased Positivity and Optimism Provides preventative effect on cancers studied (including breast cancer)

Increased Positivity and Optimism Reduces risk of Type II diabetes

Increased Positivity and Optimism Reduces depression and chronic depression

Increased Positivity and Optimism Reduces impact of negative life events (which typically increase risk of disease & death)

Increased Positivity and Optimism isShown to have a positive impact on Alzheimer's

Increased Positivity and Optimism has a Positive impact on stroke

Divorce

Wendy Ray, Janice Paul

Increased Positivity and Optimism Improves relationships of all types

Increased Positivity and Optimism facilitates More harmonious relationships

Increased Positivity and Optimism Increases stability

Increased Positivity and Optimism Reduces marriage for wrong reasons

Increased Positivity and Optimism Make earlier course corrections - with knowledge and skills

Domestic Violence

Hal Pell, Wendy Ray, Susan Sitze, Janice Paul, Susan Barham

Increased Positivity and Optimism Improves relationships of all types

Increased Positivity and Optimism facilitates More harmonious relationships

Increased Positivity and Optimism Increases stability

Increased Positivity and Optimism Reduces marriage for wrong reasons

Increased Positivity and Optimism Make earlier course corrections - with knowledge and skills

Drugs – Crime

Hal Pell, Wendy Ray, Susan Sitze,

Kelly Quick

Increased Positivity and Optimism Reduces substance abuse

Often feeling unhappy is a strong factor in onset

Drugs – Pharmaceutical

Shawn Parker, Barbara Riley,

Susan Barham, Amy Jo Johnson

There are a number of drugs where the placebo effect is almost as beneficial as the strong drug (that comes with side effects).  Positivity can be nurtured to gain benefits from the same mechanisms that provide placebo effect deliberately.

There are also studies that show that positive mood reduces pain.  Positivity and Optimism can play an effective part in pain management.

Drunk Driving, DUI & DWI

Susan Sitze, Hal Pell, Brenda Carter

Increased Positivity and Optimism Reduces substance abuse

Increased Positivity and Optimism Improves decision making abilities

Provides skills and knowledge to deal with life stressors without need to medicate with alcohol

E

Econ. Dev. Incentives,

JSC Cindy Avrette, Trina Griffin,

Heather Fennell, Greg Roney, Judy Collier

It would be nice to have some incentives to adopt these practices as employee benefits.  The science is sound and the business benefits are robust but getting businesses to listen and understand the benefits is an uphill battle right now.  Happiness has a reputation as 'fluffy' and something you chase, not attain.  Creating case analysis would increase natural adoption of beneficial programs because the benefits include:  decreased absenteeism, increased productivity, decreased turnover, increased mental ability, increased creativity, decreased health care costs, less bickering in the office and more.

Economic Development

Cindy Avrette, Trina Griffin,

Heather Fennell, Greg Roney, Judy Collier

Adoption of programs could give businesses a competitive edge coming out of the recovery.

Education

Drupti Chauhan, Kara McCraw, Sara Kamprath, Patsy Pierce, Dee Atkinson

Emotional self-mastery and understanding of emotions will help children thrive at all ages. 

I believe that the ones I read about (at the bottom) who can't seem to improve no matter how many resources are thrown at them are often suffering from "Learned Helplessness" which is a state of mind where they just do not believe their actions matter.  It is possible to unlearn "Learned Helplessness" and a program to do this (both for children and adults) would, I believe, result in thriving like you've never imagined in areas previously thought hopeless.

Elderly

Theresa Matula, Sara Kamprath, Susan Barham

For the positively focused and optimistic individual - End of life debilitating diseases onset is later and closer to death

Studies show that attitude about aging has tremendous impact; positive outcomes can be greatly increased. The longditudinal study (Grant Study on Nuns) shows a 10.7 increase in life expectancy and a delay of 18 years for the onset of debilitating end-of-life illnesses.  

Emergency Management (Resilience)

Barbara Riley, Janice Paul, Kelly Quick

Resilience increases with optimism and positivity so the ability to rebound after an emergency and function well would be improved.

Employee Benefits

Theresa Matula, Karen Cochrane-Brown,

Brad Krehely

Until everyone is learning this in school providing it as an employee benefit is a good way to help those who have completed their schooling.  Providing tax advantages for employers to offer the courses would be beneficial.  For example, considering it a health care expense that employers can write off.  I do not believe we can make it eligible for flex benefits or HSA accounts at the state level but that would also be fantastic.

Environmental Health

Jennifer Mundt, Jeffrey Hudson,

Jennifer McGinnis, Mariah Matheson

Why does one person get sick and another not when exposed to the same environmental toxins?  The level of positivity plays a part with positivity providing some protections. The science showing that the immune system functions better when someone is positively focused, optimistic and happy is strong and clear.

Eugenics

Denise Huntley Adams, Susan Barham, Janice Paul

There is clear evidence that a positive environment has a beneficial impact on future generations (out up to 8 generations in the research I have seen on rats) but even more importantly, there is science showing negative impact on the next generation from depressed Moms-to-be including adverse impact on behavior, sleep patters, and increased incidence of asthma and depression in the offspring.

Epigenetics is a rapidly advancing science and the newest findings demonstrate the benefits of being positively focused.

F

Families

Drupti Chauhan, Wendy Ray, Janice Paul,

Patsy Pierce, Kelly Quick

Increased Positivity and Optimism Improves relationships of all types

Increased Positivity and Optimism facilitatesMore harmonious relationships

Increased Positivity and Optimism Increases stability

Increased Positivity and Optimism Reduces marriage for wrong reasons

Increased Positivity and Optimism Make earlier course corrections - with knowledge and skills

Federal Health Care Reform

Shawn Parker, Amy Jo Johnson

I was gravely disappointed that the National Prevention Council Action Plan: Implementing the National Prevention Strategy did not include taking advantage of the knowledge that exists regarding the impact of positive emotions on prevention across the board. I would be happy to participate in developing programs and recommendations to bring the advantages and known benefits of increased optimism to North Carolina.  On the bright side, this affords the state of North Carolina to be a leader in this change.

Food Stamps

Shawn Parker, Susan Barham, Janice Paul

Poverty is impacted by many factors that improve with the knowledge and skills including self-esteem, overcoming Learned Helplessness, re-framing failures as learning experiences and more.

The program makes individuals feel more empowered and thus more likely to take positive actions under their own volition.

Foreclosure

Karen Cochrane-Brown, Bill Patterson, Greg Roney, Janice Paul, Drupti Chauhan

Poverty is impacted by many factors that improve with the knowledge and skills including self-esteem, overcoming Learned Helplessness, re-framing failures as learning experiences and more.

The program makes individuals feel more empowered and thus more likely to take positive actions under their own volition.

Financial woes are currently made worse by some of the practices of the lenders.  They will often have the delinquent customer rehash the reasons for their late payments over and over again.  This focus further depletes their resilience and makes them feel even more of a failure which then becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.  As Henry Ford said "If you believe you can, you can.  If you believe you can't, you can't.  Either way you are right."  Reviewing practices that tend to further deplete the resilience and emotional resources of someone who is already struggling and making modifications that will help them recover instead of furthering the misery would be beneficial to both sides.

Freedom of Press

Kara McCraw, Brad Krehely

I believe in a free press but right now the press is actually very damaging to our society.  They focus upon negative events and circumstances.  They do not inform (if they wanted to inform them would tell us when things were fixed, resolved, etc.)  They sensationalize.

I attended a class by Dr. Robert Holden in NYC last November and my Mom was worried sick because I stayed in Times Square and the news reported that Times Square had been taken over by Occupy Wall Street.  My parents who diligently watch TV daily for hours to 'be informed" believed, from the reports, that I was in a virtual war zone.  I not only walked several blocks from my hotel to the class every day but also walked at night and never felt frightened nor did I see evidence of Occupy.  The news had clearly reported an erroneous picture of the true situation, one much worse than it actually was.

They are doing the same thing with Greece and Spain.  I have been asking those I meet who have been there recently about conditions because, once again, my Mom is quite frightened by the reports knowing that I am going there soon.  Everyone I have spoken with has enjoyed good experiences and not been frightened.

I do not watch television.  I turned it off in 1995 because the characters were people I would ask to leave if they were physically in my home.  Sometimes I go to a friends home and the news is on.  It can make me physically ill to listen to it in a few minutes.

There is so much good and wonderful in our world.  If the news was reported proportionately good and bad the bad news would last less than 1 minute in each 24 hours.  With the evidence we already have about the negative impact of this and the number of televisions that are on in most homes the negative impact is astronomical in terms of health care costs and illness.  I would like to see public service announcements educating people about the benefits of positivity, optimism, and happiness.  I would like to see a requirement that for every so much airtime of negative news, during the same show, a public service announcement made. 

We have a Surgeon General Warning on cigarettes yet smoking only takes an average of 7 years off a life.  Negativity takes 10 years.

Negativity also has a negative impact on our offspring.

Negativity has a detrimental impact on our success, our health, and our relationships.

G

Genetics

Amy Jo Johnson, Susan Barham

See comments above re: eugenetics

Grandparents

Wendy Ray, Janice Paul

Studies show that positively focused individuals maintain better relationships with their families because family members are more motivated to spend time with them.

H

H. Commerce Sub. on Science and Technology

Bill Patterson, Greg Roney

More studies need to be commissioned.  It is time to take the vast knowledge and create programs to benefit society and study the results so that tweaks can be made.

H. Education Sara Kamprath, Drupti Chauhan,

Kara McCraw, Patsy Pierce, Dee Atkinson

Right now the only positive psychology program in the country (for a doctorate) is at Penn State.  There are scientists who actually believe that understanding emotional self-mastery will eliminate many of the mental health diseases that currently exist.  They are seeing the correlation between not properly addressing negative emotions when they occur and developing those illnesses.  Understanding the benefits of positivity even further and across disciplines (many fields of science are contributing to the research including neuroscience, biochemistry, psychology, quantum physics, and more. 

H. Health and Human Services

Shawn Parker, Amy Jo Johnson,

Barbara Riley, Janice Paul, Susan Barham

Many of the chronic issues can be resolved using the knowledge and skills already developed in the area of positivity and optimism.

H. Military and Homeland Security

Hal Pell, Tim Hovis

What is the difference between post adversarial growth and PTSD?  Often it is mental state and having either knowledge and skills to deal with the trauma or following instinctive ideas that lead one to post traumatic growth instead of PTSD.

Health

Shawn Parker, Amy Jo Johnson, Susan Barham

Some Scientifically Shown Benefits of Increased Happiness

Positive emotions, optimism, and happiness have been scientifically shown to:

• Reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease by 50%[i]
• Provide a protective defense against breast cancer[ii]
• Increase resilience "We contend that the cognitive broadening that accompanies states of positive emotion expands and improves the ways people cope during crises".[iii]
• Increase problem solving abilities and negotiating skills[iv]
• Have the potential to create chains of events that carry positive meaning for others, positive emotions can trigger upward spirals that transform communities into more cohesive, moral and harmonious social organizations.[v]
• Reduce stress  which is being researched as contributing to Alzheimer's disease[vi] ^and [vii]
• Be the best coping strategies for life's 'downs'.[viii]
• Significantly reduces risk of stroke (study only considered optimism)[ix]
• Improved relationships of all types[x]
• Increase success[xi]
• Research suggests that negativity in social relationships is an important predictor
• of (adverse) mental health in its own right[xii]

This is just a sample of the scientifically proven benefits.  Research has found enough benefits to fill several books.  I apologize for the copious citations but I wanted you to see that the statements are based upon solid research. 

•         Improved immune system function

•         Reduced risk of heart disease and stroke

•         Reduced risk of Type II diabetes

•         Reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease

•         Reduced risk of depression

•         Reduced incident of illness

•         Shorter duration when illness occurs

•         Reduced inflammatory response to stress

•         Increased longevity

•         Lower blood pressure

•         Less pain

•         Improved sleep

•         Greater resiliency and adaptability

•          More likely to make good choices

•         Increased creativity

•         Increased success

•         Increased productivity

•         Increased optimism

•         Improved relationships of all types

•         Improved social support networks

•         Feel love and appreciation more

•         More likely to marry

•         More likely to be happily married

•         Become more likable

•         Greater clarity of thinking; the mind sees more possibilities

•         Increased ability to see the 'big picture'

Please see our website, www.Happiness1st.com, for greater details.

Scientific Citations

[1]Boehm, J. K., & Kubzansky, L. D. The heart’s content: The association between positive psychological well-being and cardiovascular health. Psychological Bulletin, April 2012

AmericanAcademyof Neurology (2001, July 13).  Keeping up your overall health may keep dementia away, study suggests.  Science Daily.

• Cardiovascular disease is a risk factor for Alzheimer's so this risk is also reduced. AmericanAcademyof Neurology (2001, July 13).  Keeping up your overall health may keep dementia away, study suggests.  Science Daily. 

[1]Ronit Peled, Devora Carmil, Orly Siboni-Samocha and Ilana Shoham-Vardi. Breast cancer, psychological distress and life events among young women. BMC Cancer

[1]What good are positive emotions in crisis? A prospective study of resilience and emotions following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11th, 2001. Fredrickson, Barbara L.; Tugade, Michele M.; Waugh, Christian E.; Larkin, Gregory R. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 84(2), Feb 2003, 365-376. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.84.2.365

[1]Content analyses revealed that physicians who felt good were faster to integrate case information and less likely to become anchored on initial thoughts or come to premature closure in their diagnosis. In yet another experiment, Isen and colleagues showed that negotiators induced to feel good were more likely to discover integrative solutions in a complex bargaining task. Overall, 20 years of experiments by

Isen and her colleagues show that when people feel good, their thinking becomes more creative, integrative, flexible and open to information.   The Value of Positive Emotions.  Barbara L. Fredrickson, Ph.D.

[1]The Value of Positive Emotions.  Barbara L. Fredrickson, Ph.D.

[1]Ioannis Sotiropoulos, Caterina Catania, Lucilia G. Pinto, Rui Silva, G. Elizabeth Pollerberg, Akihiko Takashima, Nuno Sousa, and Osborne F. X. Almeida. Stress Acts Cumulatively to Precipitate Alzheimer's Disease-Like Tau Pathology and Cognitive Deficits. Journal of Neuroscience, May 25, 2011; 31(21):7840-7847 DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0730-11.2011

[1]Robert A. Rissman, PhD,