The Science of Happiness: Mood Genes, the Set Point, and the Search for the Perfect Drug

"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.

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.

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.