pendell
2011-02-28, 11:23 AM
Seen in New Scientist (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20162-most-lockedin-people-are-happy-survey-finds.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news)
Imagine that you are totally paralysed but still have all your mental faculties. You can communicate only through rudimentary speech or limited movements such as blinking or moving your eyes. You wouldn't be happy, would you? It turns out that you probably would: contrary to most people's assumptions, happiness is the norm among people with locked-in syndrome (LIS).
In the largest survey ever of the feelings and emotions of people with LIS, 72 per cent communicated that they were happy with their lot.
...
Joseph Fins, a professor of medicine and authority on the neuroethics of consciousness disorders at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, agrees. "The results show that contrary to opinion, people adapt and adjust, and with help from their carers they can find meaning even in this state," he says. "They have the potential to move beyond the usual caricature, showing they're real people."
Fins cautions, however, that all the participants were members of a particularly active French association that supports people with the condition. This meant that about two-thirds of the respondents were able to live at home, adding to their comfort and sense of belonging. He wonders whether the responses would have been so positive in other countries without such robust support networks. "One of the major challenges is to reduce the isolation of these people," he says.
Adrian Owen of the Center for Brain and Mind at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, said that the study challenges preconceptions about life in a lifeless body. "We cannot and should not presume to know what it must be like to be in one of these conditions, because many patients can find happiness in ways we simply cannot imagine."
I'm just ... astounded, shocked, and humbled. These people are happier than I am, yet I have more reasons to be happy than they do.
Still .. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that human beings can adapt to miserable situations and find comfort or happiness in them. That's how marriage works, after all :smalltongue:
Respectfully,
Brian P.
Imagine that you are totally paralysed but still have all your mental faculties. You can communicate only through rudimentary speech or limited movements such as blinking or moving your eyes. You wouldn't be happy, would you? It turns out that you probably would: contrary to most people's assumptions, happiness is the norm among people with locked-in syndrome (LIS).
In the largest survey ever of the feelings and emotions of people with LIS, 72 per cent communicated that they were happy with their lot.
...
Joseph Fins, a professor of medicine and authority on the neuroethics of consciousness disorders at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, agrees. "The results show that contrary to opinion, people adapt and adjust, and with help from their carers they can find meaning even in this state," he says. "They have the potential to move beyond the usual caricature, showing they're real people."
Fins cautions, however, that all the participants were members of a particularly active French association that supports people with the condition. This meant that about two-thirds of the respondents were able to live at home, adding to their comfort and sense of belonging. He wonders whether the responses would have been so positive in other countries without such robust support networks. "One of the major challenges is to reduce the isolation of these people," he says.
Adrian Owen of the Center for Brain and Mind at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, said that the study challenges preconceptions about life in a lifeless body. "We cannot and should not presume to know what it must be like to be in one of these conditions, because many patients can find happiness in ways we simply cannot imagine."
I'm just ... astounded, shocked, and humbled. These people are happier than I am, yet I have more reasons to be happy than they do.
Still .. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that human beings can adapt to miserable situations and find comfort or happiness in them. That's how marriage works, after all :smalltongue:
Respectfully,
Brian P.