Why so many successful and wealthy people
still feel unhappy?
Have you ever wondered
why some extremely successful individuals still feel unhappy even when they
have wealth and everything they want in life?
In fact, happiness is related to biological processes in our bodies. According to Professor Loretta Graziano, Dopamine and Serotonin are the happy chemicals in our bodies
that give us a feeling of happiness. These neurotransmitters are not meant to
always make us feel good, but rather to basically help us survive. Naturally,
they work by turning on and off at different times. The logic is that there is usually an
increase in the serotonin level of successful people when they first gain
social dominance and power, giving them a feeling of empowerment. This feeling however doesn’t last long, since
the human brain doesn’t allow these hormones to be released all the time as
well as in excessive amounts. Too much
of these would deplete our energy. Once
a person is used to the status of power and wealth it will no longer trigger
the same amount of serotonin as before. As a result, a let-down feeling is
created replacing the joyous feeling.
Dopamine
behaves the same way as serotonin. It spikes when people are filled with
excitement about achieving their goals or close to a win. This triggers good
feelings, motivates us to pursue more success. However, after attaining our goals, our dopamine
sags and returns to normal taking away the good feelings, which can make a
person feel really bad.
It is quite possible that
high achievers are constantly stimulating these happy chemicals more than the average
individuals. This situation puts them in
a
trap of falling victim to this cycle. As
health columnist Therese Borchard wrote in an article,
some biochemical factors were suggested to be associated with high achievers. Although work and success cause a sharp increase in dopamine and
serotonin, this doesn’t
last long. One begins to feel a sudden sense of loss when the amount of these
happy chemicals starts dropping. To some
extent, this explains why some wealthy individuals are battling with
depression.
Manfred Kets de Vries is a therapist who told The
Telegraph that the individual goes into a kind of inertia when money is
available in an almost limitless quantity, as he feels that there is nothing
more life can offer to him. Life
seemingly stops to move forward. As wealth
coach Susan Bradley says there is usually a constant rise in momentum prior to the period when
businesspeople make huge profits. Then, there comes a sudden drop of morale
after they make big cash outs, leaving them with a paralyzing feeling as all the
champagne is gone.
In order to restore
that happiness they once felt, they begin to search for more ‘feelings of
high’. Forbes Contributor, Alice Walton, stated in an article that substance and alcohol abuse is prevalent among
well-educated and high-functioning CEOs. In most cases, it is prescription
Medication and alcohol addiction. According to David Linden, a neuroscience professor at
John Hopkins’ School of Medicine, explained that the
brains of high powered people are more prone to addiction. It is quite possible that they are somewhat
addicted to
‘feelings
of high’ generated by happy hormones of
the brain. Alcohol and drugs helps to stimulate their production of serotonin
and dopamine temporarily. Continuous use causes them to become addicted.
In the long run, this worsens the vicious
cycle and causes more depression.
It’s true that our
personalities and attitude on how to deal with such circumstances play an
important role in our happiness. As
humans, we should learn to handle these ups and downs, accept our natural body
processes and appreciate the on-and-off state of our happy hormones.
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