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If all our measurements and understandings of those problems are as bankrupt as our understanding of things like happiness then what business do we have trying to use psychology to treat those people?
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Discussion about depression usually isn't that politicised.
The problem isn't so much happieness but that you have certain problem when you have political stakes.
If would also be wary about a politician who would speak about reducing depression as his prime challenge.
If you speak about GDP is it relativly easy to measure at the end of an administration whether that admistration has succeeded in increasing GDP.
If you have a bad definined standard of happiness you will have the government saying that they improved happieness and the opposition that they lowered happiness.
I also don't know whether your measure of happieness would promote short term thinking.
There are a lot of policy that could increase happieness in the short term but that would have bad long term consequences.
If you seek for new measures of success it is vital to seek some that would increase long term thinking.