Excessive Happiness Disorder

Are you as happy as this horse all of the time? If so, seek medical treatment immediately.

Do you know someone who by all appearances seems excessively happy all of the time? Do you consistently get annoyed when in the presence of such a person? If so, then you have already become well acquainted with the havoc that people with E.H.D. (Excessive Happiness Disorder) can wreak on the lives of those that have to deal with them. Any person who consistently displays behavior indicative of being highly cheerful, exuberant, giddy, or just plain content with life may be suffering from EHD. Although often misdiagnosed, EHD should not be confused with more severe psychiatric illnesses such as Bipolar Disorder, which is characterized by extreme mood swings. In contrast, people with EHD maintain a consistently elevated mood and never suffer from periods of depression. The key diagnostic feature that identifies EHD is the person’s profound sense of denial with regard to the reality that much of life is suffering. The denial is often so extreme that people can consistently maintain a chipper disposition and effectively go through life without ever experiencing strong negative emotions. In such cases, it is the loved ones of the person with EHD that incur the most pain.

I have often reflected on the intriguing phenomenon of excessive (or insufferable) happiness, long before it became identified as a legitimate psychiatric diagnosis. Years ago, while working the overnight shift at a local hospital, I often had the displeasure of coming into consistent contact with someone that would now likely be diagnosed with EHD. Every morning at 7am when I was gearing up to leave work, Jane, the human resources director, would cross my path. Then, with a beaming, yet completely unwholesome smile, she would say: “Goooooooood Mmmooooorrrnnning” in a high-pitched and infinitely annoying voice before continuing on her way. Waves of disgust and the pangs of anger would always flush over me after witnessing this site every morning. Why was I having this negative reaction to such a seemingly pleasant person? For the longest time, I thought it was some flaw in my own character that was to explain this curious phenomenon. I knew myself to be a person inclined toward the pessimistic and depressive side of things, so I figured I must really be angry about having to face the fact that this person appears to have something positive, something I most certainly lacked. This reasoning, however, did little to curb the unpleasantness of seeing this woman consistently at the crack of dawn. In order to make myself feel at least slightly better about my intense reactions to her, I assumed that she really could not possibly be this happy and that she must be masking some hideous secret that confronts her everyday when alone gazing in the mirror. It was not until Jane made a certain comment at a staff meeting that I began to see things differently. This is when I first suspected that her issue was more severe than I had thought.

The staff meeting was really a class designed to teach the employees about proper stress management. My co-workers and I were asked to identify certain things in our lives (both in and outside of the work environment) that triggered stress for us. The leader of the group then went around the room and asked everyone individually to talk about the stressors we had just identified. When it was Jane’s turn to share, she promptly disclosed that she does not encounter any stressors whatsoever! She was, in effect, claiming that she lives a 100% stress-free existence! Of course, she also made this comment while displaying her characteristic shit-eating grin on her face. I was infuriated and instantly started having fantasies of strangling her to death. Here was a woman pushing 60 years of age that seemed comfortable admitting that she has some inhuman capacity to avoid becoming flustered or upset by anything in her life. That was the moment I became aware of the depths of denial that had to be working in order for her to maintain the abnormal sense of cheeriness.

Thankfully, I only had to deal this woman infrequently in the workplace. Imagine, however, that someone you loved or had regular daily dealings with suffered from this condition. It can be enough to drive anyone mad. This is why it is so important for those suffering from EHD to seek treatment immediately. Unfortunately, those suffering from this condition are often in extreme denial and, as such, typically blame others for being jealous of their seemingly natural happiness. They fail to see the damage that their condition creates for those around them. The denial at work with these individuals is so extreme that they simply cannot comprehend the fact that proper mental health really lies in a balance between experiencing positive and negative emotions. They are essentially blind to the reality that life is not super-duper every second of every day.

If you suspect that you or someone you love may be afflicted with EHD, you should contact a psychiatrist or mental-health professional about seeking proper treatment. If you still do not believe that EHD is a legitimate mental disorder, please watch this informative clip.

~Wolf