HAPPINESS is Serious Business

Magnitude of the Problem 24 % of people in the US will be diagnosed with mental illness each year; 450 million people currently suffer from mental illness, 9.6 million Americans; 65-80% of the worlds population will be diagnosed with a mental illness; By the year 2020, Depression will be the second leading cause of disability in the world; Two-thirds of people with mental illness never seek help from a health professional; 41,000 Americans died in 2013 from suicide; 33% of countries allocate less than 1% of their total health budgets to mental health; One psychiatrist per 100,000 people in 50% of the countries in the world 40% of countries have less than one bed reserved for mental disorders per 10,000 people

DSM-V Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-Fifth Edition 157 Diagnoses spanning 22 categories

Psychological Diagnoses Negative side- severe diagnoses Positive side- well-being

Happiness Scales Satisfaction with Life Scale (Deiner et al., 1985) CES-D Scale- Center for Epidemiological Studies- Depression (Radloff, 1977) Use in reverse order OQ-45- Outcome Questionnaire-45 (Lambert et al., 1994) VIA-IS- Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004)

Nearly all people are capable of much more than they achieve thus far “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to their grave with the song still in them”. - Henry David Thoreau

God’s Plan for Happiness Fully Alive Vice and Virtue Balance Sacraments Blessings

Mindfulness Meditation Paying attention to purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally, to the unfolding of experience from moment to moment Intentional, accepting, nonjudgmental focus on one’s attention on the emotions, thoughts and sensations occurring in the present moment “Drop in on yourself” Thoughts and feelings are constant Not facts- can be chosen or not chosen

This is God on Your Brain… Franciscan Nun Study

Lectio Divina

Gratefulness & Self-Sacrifice “You say grace before a meal. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and the pantomime, and grace before I open my book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing, and grace before I dip my pen in the ink.” “Gratitude produced the most purely joyful moments that have been known to man.” - G.K. Chesteron

Epigenetics & Epidemiology: What can we control?

The Nun Study: Aging & Alzheimer's 668 School Sisters of Notre Dame Only positive feelings predicated longevity Age 85 90% most cheerful quartile alive 34% least cheerful quartile alive Age 94 54% most cheerful quartile alive 11% least cheerful quartile alive (Dunner et al, 2001)

They all have the same “habits”

Education & Support Groups Using Science & Faith

Educational Platforms Happiness and Wellbeing Hope Redemptive Suffering Empathy and Compassion Meditation and Prayer Mercy and Forgiveness Grief and Loss Relationship Development and Emotional Virtue Striving through Adversity

Happiness is SERIOUS. God WANTS us to be happy, So LETS GET SERIOUS!