Molded by Life’s Experiences

Thank you for the article "Happiness: Enough Already" by Sharon Begley. I have had friends suggest that I should be taking medications for depression during periods when I was apparently not meeting society's "standards" for happiness. These were legitimately difficult times when I was struggling through the awkwardness of adolescence, suffering from an abusive relationship or dealing with the frustrating realities of lengthy unemployment. Experiencing negative emotions from time to time is part of joie de vivre. They motivate us to make changes and help us fully appreciate true happiness. The American medical system needs to start diagnosing more carefully and stop overmedicating the population. Too often it treats the symptoms and not the problem.
Lindsey Gerkens
Zionsville, Pa.

Happiness and sadness do not exist in a vacuum. It is amazing and unfortunate that we've begun to believe that they do, and worse that a generation is coming of age that has never known anything else. While I'm glad the doctors and scholars featured in Sharon Begley's piece are speaking out against this trend, I suspect that Americans' conception of happiness as an inalienable right and sadness as a disease will only be reinforced in the years to come. The self-esteem movement teaches it in schools; pharmaceutical companies sell it directly to consumers on TV. And ironically, the more intent we become as a society on attaining constant happiness, the less we teach our children about how happiness actually works. Happiness comes only from knowing  others, from achieving goals, from doing  things.
Cassandra Nelson
Brookline, Mass.

This noteworthy article illustrates a downside to our culture's emphasis on enduring happiness. However, it also misleads the public by characterizing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders diagnosis of a major depressive episode as "remarkably broad" and failing "to take into account the context or trigger for sadness." In fact, the DSM requires that a psychiatric diagnosis take into account five unique factors. The first is clinical symptoms, such as those of major depressive episodes. The other four are personality conditions; medical conditions and physical illness; social and environmental factors contributing to the disorder (e.g., recent breakups), and overall level of functioning. An appropriate diagnosis includes all five factors and places depressive symptoms in their proper context, thereby avoiding the tendency to classify ordinary sadness as illness.
Michele Cascardi, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Glen Ridge, N.J.

A Child ' s Questions About God
I appreciate Kathleen Deveny's practice of Roman Catholicism and the desire to pass the faith on to her daughter ("Talking to Kids About God," Tip Sheet, Feb. 11). In case a child asks about topics in the article such as evolution: The church's teaching is not opposed to evolution and actively supports scientific investigation. When it comes to human evolution, the church would have no problem with science's conclusion that the human body evolved, for example, from a monkey. However, the church does teach that the soul is created immediately by God. Souls don't fit into test tubes or under microscopes. And if one talks critically about birth control and abortion, one can easily come to the same conclusion as church teaching: that marriage and the dignity of the human person are so profound that birth control and abortion are always offensive to each. Regarding stem-cell research, the church enthusiastically supports it. What it does oppose is human embryonic stem-cell research, because such research is the destruction of a human life.
Rev. J. Brian Bransfield
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Washington, D.C.

Worship vs. Veneration
As a Roman Catholic, I must differ with Lisa Miller's statement that "relics this precious are not intended to be owned by individuals but worshiped by the whole Christian community" ("4 Sale: Bones of the Saints," PERISCOPE, Feb. 11). Christians venerate or honor the relics of saints, but never worship them. Worship and adoration are reserved solely for God himself.
Kristy Kutch
Michigan City, Ind.

Corrections
In "The Wrong Experience" (Feb. 11), Fareed Zakaria wrote that Hillary Clinton "won't say" whether she supports an initiative, proposed by Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, William Perry and Sam Nunn, to reduce America's nuclear arsenal. In fact, Senator Clinton has supported the initiative.

The Feb. 11 graphic "Lessons From the Front Line" incorrectly identified the military rank of two presidents. George Washington was a general of the Armies and Dwight D. Eisenhower, general of the Army.

Periscope's Feb. 11 election quiz, "Which of Us Just Ran for President?" incorrectly referred to former U.S. senator Mike Gravel's presidential candidacy in the past tense. In fact, Gravel is still actively pursuing the Democratic nomination. NEWSWEEK regrets the errors.

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