Giving up hope makes you happier [View All]

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Abandon Hope, all Ye Who Enter Here

Giving up hope makes you happier

Researchers have found that giving patients with serious illnesses hope for a cure can actually make them more depressed.

Giving up hope can make those living with a serious illness happier, according to psychologists.

Researchers found that patients who continually hoped for a cure for their condition were likely to be more miserable than those who accepted their illness and tried to get on with life.

Peter Ubel, director of the University of Michigan Centre for Behavioural and Decision Sciences in Medicine, spoke about "the dark side of hope".

"Sometimes, if hope makes people put off getting on with their life, it can get in the way of happiness," he explained.

"We think they were happier because they got on with their lives. They realised the cards they were dealt and recognised that they had no choice but to play with those cards."

Mr Ubel, one of the authors of the Happily Hopeless study, looked at a group of adults who had their colons removed.

Of the 71 patients, 41 were told they could have surgery to repair their bowels, while the rest were told that there was nothing more they could do.

Those who had resigned themselves to living with a colostomy bag were happier six months after the news than those with a chance of recovery.

Mr Ubel said: "We're not saying hope is a bad thing.

"What we're pointing out is that there can be a dark side of hope. It can cause people to put their lives on hold.

"Instead of moving on and trying to make the best of circumstances, you can think, 'my circumstances are going to change eventually – no point in dealing with these circumstances'."

I just knew that's why I was so happy these days.