Hello again. As I read through your beautifully written post, I had several thoughts about some of the points you made. Let me see if I can recall them all.

You mentioned that even though the people in the Cognitive Therapy/ ADM research got better, it does not mean that they would not need help anymore. I completely agree with this even though I'm not an expert in these things. In fact there is a saying where I come from which says:


**A crazy man could never be so completely cured that he would stop soliloquizing

Of course, this is not to suggest that soliloquy is a symptom of craziness but the point is whatever caused mental illness in the first place including the life pressures that encouraged it, would still be there if the subject is immersed back in the society without the appropriate support to help him or her cope with these ever present challenges.

You mentioned people who think that psychology only studies the negative and you are right again. Most people from this side of the world think there is no need for the psychologist when everything is going well. But, really what is the definition of things going well? In my opinion, there is no normal and we are all slightly unbalanced and as you said, we all go through some of the things people with mental illness go through repetitively. So who is to say what event would trigger one of those events into a recurring one that would require a cure?

Another reason why saying that psychology studies only negative conditions must be wrong is that it is impossible to study only negatives and achieve anything because there would be no reference point. There would be nothing to compare a condition with and determine it to be less than a perfect condition. Having said that, I must add that I love positive psychology. I'm sure that what Shawn Achor calls The Science of Happiness is a part of it.

Finally, I particularly like the part you mentioned that majority of what stresses us is seeking immediate gratification. I read a definition of suffering somewhere about ten years ago and it stuck. It said that suffering is a product of seeking gratification that are likely to fail. In other words, we suffer when we want satisfaction from things that we cannot have.

One thing I will not change about myself are the difficulties which I experienced early in life which made me adopt the attitude that everything that has happened or would ever happen to me, is preparing me for the wonderful life that awaits me.

Thank you so much for your work. You are everything we hope for in a human being. ❤️