University of Sunderland expert explains why it is okay not to be happy in lockdown

Dr Helen Driscoll, the principal lecturer and team leader for psychology at the University of Sunderland, says that it is is fine to feel unhappy during lockdown and questions if the pursuit of happiness is the right approach.

It follows a plea from GPs in Sunderland to seek help for mental health issues, following a drop in people using the services since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The latest lockdown is expected to be in force until around March, with schools set to be closed until at after the February half-term at the earliest.

Dr Driscoll has put together 11 reasons to question the happiness pursuit and just be content with where we are:

*Happiness is sometimes seen as the only thing that matters when times get tough, and the only emotional state that has value. But, remember, this belief in itself may lead to unhappiness.

*Does enjoying a sad film or book mean we are unhappy people? I don’t think so. Sadness and happiness are not always opposites. Sometimes I am happy feeling cheerful, but sometimes I am happy feeling sad.

*Some research indicates that listening to sad music – as we often do when times get challenging or difficult - can provide a positive emotional experience and can be pleasurable.

*Research suggests we have a genetically influenced happiness ‘set-point’ and our happiness varies only to a limited extent around this. So, regardless of what happens to us, our happiness will at some point return close to this point.

*When people earn more money, their desired living standards rise, they desire ever more expensive things but in the long term they may be no happier because they still want more than they can afford.

*Imagine a world in which we were blissfully happy all the time. Would we be driven to develop, to achieve, to seek partners, have children? If we were completely happy, why would we do those things?

*While many changes in the world have led to increased happiness, we struggle with other changes like when something unprecedented occurs, like a pandemic, and we are unable to see clearly.

*During human evolutionary history, being happy signalled that we were behaving in adaptive ways. But will this happiness last?

*If something happens to us, like dealing with a dramatic change in our day-to-day lives, that results in sadness, the reflection that brings has some meaning – and can lead to a positive change in the long-run.

*Life is a rich and complex emotional quilt, full of different colours and textures of different depths. It is not supposed to be flat, uniform and joyous pink and yellow.

*Would we be happier if we concerned ourselves less with happiness? If we didn’t expect it to always be with us, but knew it was always likely to return? And if we embraced the range of human emotions a little bit more?

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