Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/30/2005 | City tops a survey on sadness

Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/30/2005 | City tops a survey on sadness


Oh, we'd like to be happy about this...

By Art Carey

Inquirer Staff Writer


. . . Life here is easy. Philadelphia is an intimate city so deeply imbued with a Quakerly tolerance of mediocrity that it is a cinch to stand out, even if you are not particularly talented or ambitious.

Penn psychology professor Martin Seligman, author of Authentic Happiness, thinks the survey is poppycock.

"Depression and happiness are not opposites, so it's incorrect to infer from Prozac statistics that a city is unhappy," he said.

"From my point of view, happiness is about three things: positive emotion, engagement and meaning. El Paso may rank high when it comes to the giggly, ebullient, cheerleader sort of happiness. But if you look at the history of Philadelphia as far as meaning and engagement are concerned, I think we're right up near the top."