It's Ok to Be Ok /// Bug Olsen

 I enjoyed this week’s reading for multiple reasons, but largely because it looked away from mental illness for once. Mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and other more serious illnesses have become much more prevalent, as they were increasing during 1999 when this was written (on that note, I would love to see what he thinks now after the dramatic increase in these illnesses during and because of COVID). In spite of this, Seligman focusses instead on how best to help those who do not suffer from mental illnesses. In this way, I believe that people who do not have these illnesses may at times feel neglected by psychology and receive no attention for what they’re doing in life. This then makes them feel like their ordinary struggles have no real bearing, or that perhaps there is something wrong with them for not having these types of illnesses or problems, since these illnesses have essentially become the new normal. Because psychology has become a more healing-based science, as he states in the reading, people who live ordinary lives are being ignored, and nothing is being learned from how they behave and act. While healing those who have legitimate issues is extremely important, it is also important that people who are considered ‘ok’ are studied, tended to, and learned from as well. This will give psychologists a new look into how to help better the lives of everyone in general. As such, I really enjoyed the reading and thought it was very applicable in modern times. I was glad that it addressed something other than those who have extreme mental illnesses, and instead focused on the ‘normal’ people living ‘ordinary’ lives.

I commented on Emma Landry's and Emory Cooper's posts.