X-Message-Number: 3759
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 1995 23:26:44 -0500
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <>
Subject: Re: Depression

> Experimental studies ... show that depressed people are more accurate
> in estimating the degree to which their actions control the outcomes
> in the experiment. That is, "normals" are significantly over
> optimistic in relation to the true probabilities of control.

I've read that that experiment has been debunked.  It depended on very
contrived and un-life-like situations.

> A non-experimental study found that many people are happy with their
> lives. It also found that a minority of persons had a realistic view
> of their lives. However, the people who were both happy and had a
> realistic view amounted to only about 5 % of the total (this is from
> memory).

If the study said anything remotely like that, it's obviously bogus,
unless almost everyone I know just happens to be in that 5%.



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