Trauma-Related Happiness and Pleasure

Associating Happiness and Pleasure with Trauma

In the mid-1970s, some researchers believed that happiness is closely related to being young, well-educated, and healthy, with a high personal income. However, the advancement of research in [Page 744]happiness has shown that older adults, people who are severely injured, those who suffer a serious illness, and others can be as happy as others who are healthy and young. This data opened the discussion for the relationship between happiness and unhappiness. Currently, research findings support the notion that there is no linear relation between happiness and unhappiness. Actually, it seems that there is coexistence and sometimes independence between the two rather than an antagonism. In other words, one who is mentally ill might be happy, too. Also, that a person is not sad or does not have depressive symptoms does not necessarily mean that he or she is happy. Research data support that the thinking patterns are different between a happy and an unhappy person.

Trauma severely affects many nuances of one's life. However, can we imagine a traumatized person being totally sad without being able to be happy at all? Based on the information in this entry and using it as an analogy, it seems that traumatized individuals also retain the ability to be happy and to enjoy the pleasures of life. Even though coexistence between trauma and happiness might sound paradoxical, research data suggest that the one cannot exclude the other. People who were imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps often lacked even a piece of bread to eat. For them, simply having a piece of bread may have been sufficient reason to feel happiness. It seems that, in the extreme traumatic experience of the Holocaust, the happiness of getting a piece of bread had two sides: the hedonic because they were able to somehow satisfy their hunger drive, and the eudaemonic because they were struggling to get a piece of bread and they appreciated its importance, hence changing the way they viewed the world around them. Furthermore, an interpersonal violence survivor might spend time with her friends going for dinner to a serene place. This experience of interacting with her friends makes her happy even though she is traumatized. Moreover, a sexually assaulted woman might participate in a social justice forum, fighting for the rights of women. Based on the Aristotelian view of happiness, her social action and fight for the welfare of the society makes her happy. These are some examples that support the perspective that traumatized people are still able to enjoy pleasures, have positive emotions, and be happy.

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