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Interview with Helen Morrison

Aired December 09, 2002 - 14:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to turn the corner now just a bit to look at a very different type of science. You could call it the science of joy, and psychologists tend to focus on what makes people sad, but now a movement within that profession is trying something different.
Fittingly enough, it's called positive psychology. Joining us now to talk more about it, from Chicago, psychiatrist Helen Morrison -- hi, Helen.

HELEN MORRISON, PSYCHIATRIST: Hi, how are you?

PHILLIPS: I need a little boost of joy right now, OK. Now, we're talking about this article that came out in "USA Today." I know that you have had a chance to take a look at it, and it talks about -- so much about forgiveness and how that plays such a big part in this new type of psychology that we're talking about. Help me out, would you? Forgiveness is so difficult.

MORRISON: Forgiveness is probably one of the most difficult things that human beings have to do because what it does, it requires you to give part of yourself. You have to be able to say -- whatever that event meant to me, I am able to say to the person or to the institution or whatever, I forgive you. It's extremely difficult to do, and I think that one of the reasons that people tend to hold on to their hurts or to their upsets is that it does require giving up part of yourself.

PHILLIPS: Something else this article talks about. It says the happiest people spend the least time alone. Now, I thought we were healthy if we were able to spend time alone and be OK with that. But this is saying just the opposite.

MORRISON: Not necessarily. I think happy people tend to always want to be around other people. And happiness is a funny definition, and I think that really depends on the age of the person, but I think for most people, happiness is a sense of contentment of the fact that no matter what situation they happen to be in, they're contented, and when they talk about -- the researchers talk about being alone, they're talking about someone who's isolated, not just someone who's not surrounded by people, but the isolated individual who really can't share very much, because there's not much to share.

PHILLIPS: Talking about sharing, let's talk about the holidays and gift giving, and kind of the spirit of the holidays. In the article, it talks about materialism being toxic for happiness. So, giving and receiving is such a wonderful part of the holidays, though. It makes me feel good. I know -- and it's fun to receive things, too, and makes you feel good. How do you find a balance?

MORRISON: Well, you're very fortunate, because many people find gift giving to be a chore, and many people can't accept gifts very well. They feel embarrassed or they feel that somehow they don't deserve it. But the happy person is able to say, I'm willing to -- they don't even think about it. They just automatically give. They automatically are capable of sharing, and what people have to start remembering is that it's not the thing, but it's the spirit of the thing. We always talk about the spirit of the holidays, and part of that is happiness.

PHILLIPS: The scientists in the article also talk about a person's cheer level is half genetic. They call it a cheer level. Is it really genetic?

MORRISON: People do feel that emotions have a genetic basis. We see that in our studies of depression and mania. We see it in our studies of other mental illnesses. So by virtue of carrying that a little further, obviously the sense of happiness, however that's defined, also has a genetic and biological basis.

PHILLIPS: All right. I want to read another quote from this article. It says, "Life satisfaction occurs most often when people are engaged in absorbing activities that cause them to forget themselves, lose track of time, and stop worrying." Flow is the term that has been coined here. Do you agree with that?

MORRISON: I think that somehow in many ways some of those things are a bit unrealistic. I don't know that human beings are capable of not worrying. I think what they're saying is the self-absorption is what causes people to maintain their level of sadness or unhappiness or discontent and that someone who is happy is capable of going beyond that.

PHILLIPS: We need to savor the small pleasures of life, don't we?

MORRISON: We do. And you know, there aren't very many of them for a lot of people. But savoring that moment, that glimmer, it doesn't mean that we're giddy or ecstatic or climbing the walls and running around saying yippee and whatever, but that small moment in which we're very satisfied.

PHILLIPS: This new book is called "Authentic Happiness." Maybe we should all pick it up for a friend this holiday. Helen Morrison, thank you so much, what a pleasure.

MORRISON: Thank you. Nice to see you again.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 9, 2002 - 14:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to turn the corner now just a bit to look at a very different type of science. You could call it the science of joy, and psychologists tend to focus on what makes people sad, but now a movement within that profession is trying something different.
Fittingly enough, it's called positive psychology. Joining us now to talk more about it, from Chicago, psychiatrist Helen Morrison -- hi, Helen.

HELEN MORRISON, PSYCHIATRIST: Hi, how are you?

PHILLIPS: I need a little boost of joy right now, OK. Now, we're talking about this article that came out in "USA Today." I know that you have had a chance to take a look at it, and it talks about -- so much about forgiveness and how that plays such a big part in this new type of psychology that we're talking about. Help me out, would you? Forgiveness is so difficult.

MORRISON: Forgiveness is probably one of the most difficult things that human beings have to do because what it does, it requires you to give part of yourself. You have to be able to say -- whatever that event meant to me, I am able to say to the person or to the institution or whatever, I forgive you. It's extremely difficult to do, and I think that one of the reasons that people tend to hold on to their hurts or to their upsets is that it does require giving up part of yourself.

PHILLIPS: Something else this article talks about. It says the happiest people spend the least time alone. Now, I thought we were healthy if we were able to spend time alone and be OK with that. But this is saying just the opposite.

MORRISON: Not necessarily. I think happy people tend to always want to be around other people. And happiness is a funny definition, and I think that really depends on the age of the person, but I think for most people, happiness is a sense of contentment of the fact that no matter what situation they happen to be in, they're contented, and when they talk about -- the researchers talk about being alone, they're talking about someone who's isolated, not just someone who's not surrounded by people, but the isolated individual who really can't share very much, because there's not much to share.

PHILLIPS: Talking about sharing, let's talk about the holidays and gift giving, and kind of the spirit of the holidays. In the article, it talks about materialism being toxic for happiness. So, giving and receiving is such a wonderful part of the holidays, though. It makes me feel good. I know -- and it's fun to receive things, too, and makes you feel good. How do you find a balance?

MORRISON: Well, you're very fortunate, because many people find gift giving to be a chore, and many people can't accept gifts very well. They feel embarrassed or they feel that somehow they don't deserve it. But the happy person is able to say, I'm willing to -- they don't even think about it. They just automatically give. They automatically are capable of sharing, and what people have to start remembering is that it's not the thing, but it's the spirit of the thing. We always talk about the spirit of the holidays, and part of that is happiness.

PHILLIPS: The scientists in the article also talk about a person's cheer level is half genetic. They call it a cheer level. Is it really genetic?

MORRISON: People do feel that emotions have a genetic basis. We see that in our studies of depression and mania. We see it in our studies of other mental illnesses. So by virtue of carrying that a little further, obviously the sense of happiness, however that's defined, also has a genetic and biological basis.

PHILLIPS: All right. I want to read another quote from this article. It says, "Life satisfaction occurs most often when people are engaged in absorbing activities that cause them to forget themselves, lose track of time, and stop worrying." Flow is the term that has been coined here. Do you agree with that?

MORRISON: I think that somehow in many ways some of those things are a bit unrealistic. I don't know that human beings are capable of not worrying. I think what they're saying is the self-absorption is what causes people to maintain their level of sadness or unhappiness or discontent and that someone who is happy is capable of going beyond that.

PHILLIPS: We need to savor the small pleasures of life, don't we?

MORRISON: We do. And you know, there aren't very many of them for a lot of people. But savoring that moment, that glimmer, it doesn't mean that we're giddy or ecstatic or climbing the walls and running around saying yippee and whatever, but that small moment in which we're very satisfied.

PHILLIPS: This new book is called "Authentic Happiness." Maybe we should all pick it up for a friend this holiday. Helen Morrison, thank you so much, what a pleasure.

MORRISON: Thank you. Nice to see you again.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com