In a new study, University of Maryland sociologists John P. Robinson and Steven Martin sought to identify what activities contribute most to a happy life.

In their study, they analyzed two sets of data spanning nearly 30 years, gathered from almost 30,000 adults. In the first set of data, the participants had completed diaries regarding the activities they did in a 24-hour period and how pleasurable they found these activities. The second set of data came from the results of the General Social Survey attitudes study, which used in-depth surveys asking subjects how happy they felt and how they spent their time, among other questions.

Robinson and Martin found that the two sets of data mostly coincided with each other for most activities, with the exception of television.

The General Social Survey found that people who described themselves as happy were more socially active, attended more religious services and read more newspapers. Unhappy people, however, watched more television.

The 24-hour diaries told a different story, however. The diary participants, who were providing their ratings closer to the actual event, tended to rate television watching more highly as a daily activity.

The results, say the authors, seem to suggest that television watching provides temporary pleasure to unhappy people; but, in the long run, the participants considered it to be a waste of time and not particularly fulfilling.

Martin compares the transient pleasure provided by television to addiction: "Addictive activities produce momentary pleasure and long-term misery and regret," he says. "People most vulnerable to addiction tend to be socially or personally disadvantaged. For this kind of person, TV can become a kind of opiate in a way. It's habitual, and tuning in can be an easy way of tuning out."

The study will appear in the December issue of the journal Social Indicators Research.

In a study which appeared in the November 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers questioned the American Heart Association's recent suggestion that heart patients be automatically screened for depression.

Dr. Brett Thombs, of McGill and the affiliated Jewish General Hospital, and Dr. Roy Ziegelstein, of Johns Hopkins, said there was not enough evidence to support this "massive, expensive and labor-intensive undertaking." The doctors then went even further and presented evidence that depression testing would not benefit heart patients.

The 17 studies which were reviewed in their study were selected from more than 1,500 clinical studies from around the globe.

The researchers found that treating depression in heart disease patients accounted for only a 1-4% change in symptoms, compared to those given a placebo. This result, said Ziegelstein, is "too low to expect meaningful benefits for most people, particularly since screening methods are not very precise in identifying people who would benefit from treatment."

"Moreover, we found no connection at all between getting treated for depression and cardiovascular outcomes, like having a subsequent heart attack," said Thombs.

"That said," he added, "in no sense are we saying that depression doesn't matter. Depression leads to a great deal of suffering, cardiovascular effects aside, and it can definitely affect how people take care of themselves after they've had a heart attack. We're just saying we don't have the tools in cardiovascular care settings to identify and improve the lives of people who aren't already being treated for depression.

On Saturday, November 22, 2008, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) will be sponsoring its 10th annual National Survivors of Suicide Day. This event, designed to reach out to those who have lost a loved one to suicide, offers participants a chance to connect with other survivors for support and healing.

Conferences will be offered in cities nationwide, with those conferences being linked by a live national broadcast by satellite/webcast from 1-2:30 p.m. EST. The conference will be broadcast live on the AFSP website at the same time, followed by an online chat. Many of the conference sites will also hold panel discussions, workshops and other activities both for survivors and for professionals.

• List of Conference Sites
• Register for the Webcast
• Learn More

Related Articles:

• Resources for Suicide Survivors
• Suicide Prevention
• Suicide Hotlines

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have developed a new therapy program which will help depressed mothers in developing countries who otherwise would not be able to obtain treatment due to a lack of resources.

It was created by Professor Atif Rahman, of the the School of Population, Community and Behavioural Sciences, while working as a Wellcome Trust Career Fellow in Tropical Medicine in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

"Depression is one of the leading causes of mental illness in the world," said Rahman , "and when the condition affects mothers with newborn babies, it can lead to serious consequences. The impacts include low birth-weight, poor growth, frequent diarrhea and the mother failing to ensure the child is properly immunized."

The program, which was tested in Rawalpindi, would be integrated into the routine of village-based health workers who already visit pregnant mothers. These workers would be trained to use principles of cognitive behavioral therapy to help depressed mothers. Patients would receive weekly sessions in the last month of pregnancy, three sessions in the month following the birth of their babies and nine monthly sessions thereafter.,

When this plan was followed in the Rawalpindi study, results were good. At the six and 12 month points, mothers who had not received the therapy were twice as likely to be depressed as those mothers who had received the therapy.

The study was published in the September 13 issue of The Lancet