Q: Do you really think you can define happiness or well-being and quantify it? Are you not attempting to quantify the unquantifiable?

A: Happiness means different things to different people.

Regardless of one’s definition, happiness and depression are not steady states, but can change from one moment to the next.  In other words, psychological experience is a quanta and is discontinuous. It occurs in spikes of thoughts, feeling and actions.

For this reason, the three spheres as defined by Self, Intimacy and Achievement (and the 41 parameters on the Lifetrack tracking sheet) is really just a snapshot of moments. Even with a simple 10 point scale tracking three psychological spheres, assessments may differ depending on when the person rates himself or herself. A rating may be different if the same person performs the exercise only a few minutes later (depending on what happened in the meantime) or what the person might have happened to think about when another self-assessment was being made.

Despite this fundamentally subjective and changeable nature of the self assessments (objective subjective), in the experience of Lifetrack therapy, repetitive self assessments according to the same fixed model yield highly valuable information.

To use an analogy, one can imagine that each individual rating is much like a droplet in our psychological experience. These droplets when viewed individually or in isolation may not tell us much.

However, when a patient uses the same model consistently over time, the droplets accumulate creating patterns, which take the shape of a fountain.

In this sense, one can think of one’s overall psychological state as a fountain, which keeps a certain shape, but consists of constantly changing and discontinuous droplets. While we may not objectively compare the level of happiness of one patient to another, we can compare the level of happiness in the same person at different points in time, particularly if such self assessments are performed frequently and regularly (daily for example). Although memory is short, one can reliably observe if one is happier or more depressed than the day before.

For more information on Quantifying the Unquantifiable see section under Approach: Happiness Defined? Quantified?

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FAQ

Q: What do you think of medications such as Prozac?

Recent studies such as in the Journal of Public Library of Science Medicine suggest that Prozac, the bestselling antidepressant taken by 40 million people worldwide, does not work and nor do similar drugs in the same class. Patients that take it do improve – but those on placebo improved just as much as those on the drugs. Perhaps, the only exception is in the most severely depressed patients, but the authors claim that it is probably because the placebo stopped working so well, rather than the drugs having worked better.

Brain Chemistry Alone can not Explain Human Existence

Even if more effective and side-effect free medications in the future could suppress or even eliminate some stress symptoms such as depression, this does not present proof that the cause of the problem is chemical. Brain chemistry alone will never adequately explain the full human experience. Chemicals cannot replicate past individual experiences, nor can they help a person experience his or her full creativity, a successful close relationship or a meaningful existence.

Rather than becoming a Prozac nation, or indulging in drugs to dullen our sensations of pain, we need to build inner health.  Of course, when necessary, pain relief is humane and can be part of the process.  Regardless of whether we use medication or not,  the ultimate goal is not mere symptom relief, but happiness and health in all spheres of our life.

Medication is Symptom Relief

Rather than viewing stress as something that must be reduced or as an abnormality that can best be addressed by medication (some illnesses do require them such as psychosis, manic-depression, or perhaps severe depression). Yet most often medication is often purely symptom relief. In the process of treating these symptoms we need to view stress as a natural signal of an overwhelmed mind.

Stress as Opportunity for Growth

Dr. Ishizuka believes distressful setbacks are an integral part of a human being’s coping mechanisms. To indiscriminately use chemicals such as Prozac (or more effective medication given most antidepressants work as placebos) is to deprive the mind of its capacity to get distressed when it should. This may be detrimental to our optimal functioning and growth. Where there is nothing wrong with wanting to reduce pain in our lives (sometimes it is necessary and humane), to deal effectively with stress we have to recognize its nature and source. When we do so, we can learn to use stress as an opportunity to build health in the present: a stronger self, closer intimate relationships and meaningful achievement.

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Q: What are the similarities between Lifetrack and organismic or systems theory that views personality as an open system of interacting parts?

A: Organismic or systems theory, may be used to understand personality as a unity, and focuses on the integration of normal personality or health.  It does not analyze parts of personality in isolation, but in relation to the whole.

Lifetrack theory has much in common with organismic theory.  The lifetrack model of positive mental health as developed by Dr. Yukio Ishizuka proposes a comprehensive understanding of the individual both in distress and at his or her best.  The primary drive is towards self-actualization, and all parts of the tripod personality model (self, intimacy and achievement) interact with and influence each other dynamically.

Unlike strands of organismic theory, which often assumes a constant equilibrium among parts, the parts of personality in the Lifetrack model influence and are influenced by the environment. A sense of self is not created in a vacuum.  There is no assumption that human beings are good and are perverted by the environment. A balanced personality organization is not the natural state of the organism, nor is disorganization always a sign of pathology.

Crisis and disorganization can be painful but are sometimes necessary to help the individual challenge and change the way he or she thinks, feels, and acts in key areas of life. In this sense disequilibrium, however painful, can become an opportunity for fundamental change.

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Q: How is your approach different from Henry A. Murray’s large list of more than 20 motives or needs?

A: Henry Murray is best known for developing the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) a test to determine personality and unconscious motivation.  He is also well known for his list of 27 psychogenic needs, a list of needs largely at the unconscious level.

According to Murray, we both have primary needs which are biologically based such as the need for water, food, air, sex and the avoidance of pain, and secondary needs that derive from biological needs or are part of human nature.   Of the long list of 27 psychogenic needs, the most often cited for their importance in research are: achievement, power (dominance), affiliation, and nuturance.

The Lifetrack tripod Model is More Succinct than Murray’s

Because the three-sphere model seeks to determine the essence of, rather than great detail about, human personality, it is more succinct than Murray’s 1938 lengthy list of more than 20 motives or needs.  Lifetrack groups all psychological needs in three primary spheres: self, intimacy and achievement.  These needs can be just as important as biological needs and are not placed in a hierarchy.  They are not in a natural state of disequilibrium; they can co-exist in all healthy and distressed individuals.

To compare with Murray, the achievement sphere incorporates the need for power or control over the environment.  Affiliation and nuturance fall into the intimacy sphere.   Notably absent in Murray’s list is the self sphere.

Interaction Amongst Psychological Needs Provides Insight

In the Lifetrack model, the intimacy sphere encompasses all forms of intimacy, but focuses in therapy on the adult couple relationship.  The couple relationship is seen as the most direct, inter-dependent and intense human adult relationship in three dimensions: emotional, intellectual-social, and physical sexual.  As such, its impact on the human psyche is important.  Intimacy in this definition goes far beyond geneal feelings of associations or friendships amongst people or nuturance.

According to Dr. Yukio Ishizuka, each of the three spheres interact amongst each other and can influence change in the other.  In Lifetrack therapy, the most important catalyst for deep transformational change has proven to be the intimacy sphere (see breakthrough intimacy), even if the source of the problem may be found in the self or achievement sphere.

The three spheres (self, intimacy and achievement) are helpful to patients and lay people precisely because they remain conceptually broad enough to encompass all critical psychological events, yet simple enough to be remembered. At the same time, the tripod model has been further broken down into three dimensions or nine elements for each sphere (love definition , self definition and work definition).  Each of the elements are tracked and measured over the process of therapy by the individual.

Personality:  Patterns of Thinking, Feeling and Acting in one’s Self, Intimacy and Achievement Spheres

While Murray differentiated real environmental forces and perceived, in his model it is the psychogenic needs that give rise to personality.  How the environment will ‘press’ or put pressure on individuals and force them to act defines our personality; ie. which of the 27 psychogenic needs are expressed most strongly.

In Lifetrack therapy, the emphasis is on the perceived or subjective interpretation of life events that contribute to happiness or distress.  It is not on the actual ‘objective’ event in our self, intimacy or achievement sphere that ultimately matters, but on the individual’s experience of that event (objective subjective).  Personality can be defined as patterns of thought, feeling and action amongst our three spheres.  Some extreme personality types may emerge when one sphere is consistently given precedence over the others.

The spheres provide a conceptual means to cluster essential elements of our personality. People can grasp the essence of three spheres, but need not remember more.  For those who wish to actively improve in the spheres, the Lifetrack model of positive mental health is broken down into 41 parameters that are defined and can be tracked daily.  The Lifetrack model provides a definition of positive mental health which takes into account the rigourous criteria set forth by Maria Jahoda.

Using a visual model of the three spheres one can illustrate how individual spheres and elements overlap and interact.  The definition of each element enables us also to quantify subjective areas of life that create fundamental change.  Over time, we can better understand and measure how spheres of psychological existence contribute to our happiness or distress.  Each element in the tripod model of health is a small lever that can help us control subjective experience that determines our experience of health and distress.

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Happiness and Health

Happiness means different things to different people.  Some seek it above all else, others believe it will arrive by accident.

The Aspiration for Inner Happiness

Most of us wish to be free from conflict, suffering, struggle or pain.  Many aspire to be happy, to go beyond pain and experience positive peaks of wellbeing.  Of course happiness means different things to different people.

Defining Happiness and Health?

Inner health in the Lifetrack model is defined as positive peaks of peace, friendliness, physical well-being, happiness and mastery.  They are inner states but can also be accompanied by their opposites: anxiety, anger, physical symptoms, depression or psychosis.

As we attempt to increase the positive peaks in our life, negative peaks will also arise. That is normal and to be expected.  Positive and negative peaks are not self-exclusive. With the good can come the bad and vice-versa.  With a loving relationship can come its loss or termination, with the achievement of a goal can come disappointment or a new goal to replace the old one.

Accept the Inevitable Negatives and Increase Positives

To be happy, we have to accept the inevitable negatives in life as we continue to increase our experience of positive peaks.   We do this by being fully aware of the self, being present in our intimate relationships and by meaningful achievement.  When we successfully increase positive peaks while accepting the inevitable negative peaks, we can maintain longer states of well-being.

Definition of Wellbeing:

Positive peak : Positive Peak experiences (within a given rating period)

Peace :  Feelings of peace, relaxation and safety
Friendliness : Friendly, positive feelings toward those around you
Physical Wellbeing : A feeling that you are healthy and strong
Happiness :  Feelings of happiness and contentment; a feeling of being fulfilled
Mastery : Confidence and optimism; a feeling that you are master of your own fate

Well-being: Peace, Friendliness, Physical Well-being, Happiness and Mastery

Definitions are Stepping Stones to Experience Health

Do not get caught up in definitions.  Your definition of happiness may be different from someone else’s.

In inner health, it is your experience that counts and not a definition.  Definitions are stepping stones to the experience itself.   They are only a useful beginning, and can not substitute the experience.

To help individuals experience happiness and health the Lifetrack positive mental health approach contributes:

• Definition of Spheres that contribute to building Psychological Well-being and Health in Positive Terms: Self, Intimacy & Achievement
• Quantification of Positive Mental Health allowing one to track the subjective inner experience of Health and Well-being
• Self rating providing individuals with a handle on the subjective factor that determines happiness and well-being; instant graphs and feedback available
• Active advocacy role for Positive Mental Health by therapist or coach (objective subjective).  The therapist or coach gives feedback on self-ratings and reinforces gains, placing setbacks into perspective

The Lifetrack model of positive mental health  presented on this site meets all the criteria for models of Positive Mental Health (science of health) proposed by the renown psychologist Jahoda in 1958.  Since the Lifetrack model can explain the mind both in distress and well-being it is a useful model for the sick, the well and everyone in between.

Visit the Positive Mental Health Foundation to support a study of human beings at their best, happiest, and most creative form.  Link to us to promote health and happiness.

Opt in for more on Health and Happiness

Use the resources on our site to build, fortify, and develop each sphere of life (self definition, love definition and work definition) far beyond a previous best or optimal level.  Opt in to our newsletter and also our blog.  Read our section a Science of Health (life way), Criteria for Health Models (science of happiness), Happiness Defined? Quantified?  (cycle of life),  Happier? (fear of the unknown),  Why Positive Mental Health Works (objective subjective), Insights (life purpose), Applications (international behavior).

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