Seligman laments people?s tendency to blame others

Psychologists? most important role is to help people discover why life is worth living.

By Sara Martin
Monitor staff

The funeral of Princess Diana?the event that many believe brought the world together as never before?is to Martin E.P. Seligman, PhD, a prime example of a mind-set that is boosting depression rates worldwide.

This depression springs not from the tragedy of a young mother dying when her life seemed to be on an upswing, but rather from a world that glorifies 'The People?s Princess' as the great victim.

To Seligman, Diana was no hero. She was a woman who failed to take responsibility for herself and attributed her woes to mistreatment by the royal family. 'She was the antihero,' said APA President Seligman in his keynote address to the International Congress of Applied Psychology. 'Bulimic, anorexic, suicidal?you didn?t think of her as the mother of kings.'

In fact, Seligman asserts that people have gone too far in blaming others for their problems. Those who reproach others and side with the underdog may feel better in the short term, he said, but such good feelings are transient. By ignoring their problems and failing to recognize their shortcomings, people lose a sense of responsibility for their lives. And, in turn, society?s real heroes become deformed?as exemplified by the number of people who wept for Diana compared with those who mourned for Mother Teresa.

This 'victim-ology,' as he calls it, is rooted in learned helplessness?people?s beliefs that nothing they do matters. Such thinking, said Seligman, makes people more susceptible to depression. Psychologists can turn this thinking around by helping people nurture their strong points and discover why life is worth living. In today?s prosperous society, psychology is poised to do that, he believes.

'When nations are poor, when nations are at war, when nations are in social turmoil, it?s perfectly understandable that their efforts should be about defense,' he said. 'But there have been times in human history?and we have come to one?in which a few nations are wealthy, at peace and in little social turmoil. And history tells us when that happens, nations can turn from damage and defense to the question of what makes life worth living.'

One example of a city that did just that is 15th-century Florence.

Today, we, too, can foster the best things in life by learning more about human strengths?courage, hope, optimism, honesty, perseverance and work ethic, he said. Those are the buffers against depression .

'Because psychology has so embraced the disease model, we don?t know much about what these things are,' Seligman said. 'But as the new millennium approaches, psychology and social science will turn their attention from healing and fixing broken things to measuring and understanding personal strength and civic virtue.'