Positive psychology is a branch dedicated to the study of what people do “right” in this life. What makes them happy, how happiness works, etc…

So last night in group seminar, our leader blurted out what seems like a spell: “A study showed that optimism in cancer patients allowed them to survive better. There’s another in which even “dumb” optimism about fictional things is beneficial.”

…. I …. I just sat there and inhaled that.

“Does anyone find that depressing?” I asked. – They laughed.

Thing is, despite the pun, it was an honest question.

My philosophical brain turned on: If people are mentally and physiologically better off with a well-constructed, long-lasting lie… why pursue truth at all?
And I’m not talking about just rational truth, but emotional, personal truth becoming less useful than an illusion. Which, if true.. is by far the darkest idea I’ve ever encountered…. and I’ve touched actual occult, demonological texts in my life.

What is the point of figuring out the human soul and the various mechanics that hold it together, tending to its many problems, like trauma ..etc. Why psychoanalyze at all? Psychologists are completely un-necessary. Give the people a clever illusionist. Fuck truth.

Why even bother salvaging a person’s inner potential, hindered by emotional constructs, if they don’t even really want it ..or need it? Just make em watch cartoons, they’ll be happy…

I felt like the biggest idiot in the psychology department.
“You mean, the best way to help someone is to lie to them?”

I should have been studying parlor magic tricks instead.
To hell with Freud, where’s Houdini?