Too Much Optimism Can Be Depressing

How many time have you been told to “Look on the bright side”? Lots, right?  Did it help? Did seeking optimism help your mood? We're often told of the merits of being positive, but new data shows being optimistic has a darker side.

New York University researchers put it to the test asking a number of undergraduates to imagine themselves in a dozen different open-ended scenarios. The students were given a prompt for the scenario and told to imagine how each would play out.

What the study showed was that students who came up with more positive fantasies had lower scores on a scale measuring depressive symptoms, but when the same students returned a month later, those who imagined positive outcomes actually showed more depressive symptoms than those who imagined negative outcomes.

That’s science talk for short term fix long term trouble. A song from 1969 comes to mind. “Build Me Up Buttercup, Just To Let Me Down”