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Summary: Most people recognize that exercise can make life longer and healthier by strengthening the muscles, bones, heart and lungs. But an even bigger key to health and happiness, two nationally known psychologists suggest, is changing our thinking and thickening our skin.

"We can choose how we think," writes Dr. Martin Seligman, author of the 1991 best seller "Learned Optimism". 

[His new book is Authentic Happiness]

"Styles of thinking become habits. We can control our thoughts as we can our muscles."

Seligman, as his book title suggests, preaches the power of optimism. A California psychologist, Dr. Salvatore Maddi, emphasizes "hardiness."

They agree that the way we react to failure and disappointment will do more to shape our lives than the setbacks themselves. And while it's hard to convert a lifetime of pessimism and fragility into optimism and hardiness, they say it's possible.

Maddi, a professor of psychology at the University of California- Irvine, runs the Hardiness Institute in Newport Beach, working with businesses, schools and individuals to teach coping skills in the face of conflict and disruption.

[Dr. Maddi is author of the book Resilience at Work]

From 1975 to 1986, he tracked 450 employees at Illinois Bell Telephone before, during and after the breakup of AT&T. Illinois Bell almost halved its work force in one year. Job descriptions and chains of command changed regularly.

Even so, one-third of the people excelled, maintaining their performance, morale and health. Two-thirds fell apart, suffering problems such as anxiety, depression and high blood pressure.

Maddi found that those who excelled - the "hardy" - shared these characteristics:

They stayed involved rather than feeling isolated; tried to influence outcomes rather than lapsing into helplessness; and chose to learn from their experience rather than feeling threatened by it.

Instead of blaming themselves or bosses for their firing, they recognized that the layoffs were due to forces beyond the control of anyone in the company.

"Seeing that in a broader perspective makes it less terrible. Less personal," Maddi said in a telephone interview.

They were good at giving and receiving help and encouragement, neither too passive to be effective nor too assertive to be sensitive.

Seligman is one of many proponents of optimism in 20th century American culture. They range from the earnest (Norman Vincent Peale, author of the 1952 book, "The Power of Positive Thinking") to the comical (Stuart Smalley, the fictional neurotic played by Al Franken early this decade on "Saturday Night Live." His mantra: "I'm good enough. I'm smart enough. And gosh darn it, people like me!")

But Seligman said his message isn't so simple.

"Learned optimism is not the rediscovery of the 'power of positive thinking,'" he wrote. "The skills of optimism do not consist of learning to say positive things to yourself. What is crucial is what you think when you fail."

The professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania defines pessimistic thinking by three measures: permanence, pervasiveness and personalization.

"Pessimists tend to believe bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do and are their own fault," he wrote.

"Optimists tend to believe defeat is just a temporary setback, that its causes are confined to this one case. Optimists believe defeat is not their fault: Circumstances, bad luck or other people brought it about."

In a five-year study of thousands of insurance agents, Seligman found that salespeople with optimistic styles outsold pessimists by 88 percent and were three times less likely to quit. Optimistic real estate agents sold 250 percent to 350 percent more than pessimistic colleagues.

Seligman also argues that mental outlook affects long-term physical health.

Evidence of that link is "very strong," said Dr. Laeth Nasir, a family physician with University Hospital in Omaha.

One example, Nasir said, is the sadly frequent story of older couples dying within weeks or months of each other. Recent widowers are 40 percent more likely to die than other men their age, said Dr. James Thorson, gerontologist at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Another example, Nasir said, is the link between depression and heart disease. Last fall, New York researchers who had followed more than 6,000 depressed people for five years suggested that depression raises the risk of a heart attack more than smoking or high cholesterol.

Depression harms health more than optimism helps, according to a study published in January's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Psychologists from Ohio State University followed 224 middle-aged or older adults for four years. About half were caregivers for a family member with dementia.

Among both caregivers and non-caregivers, pessimists reported more stress and anxiety and poorer overall health a year later. Optimists fared better, but the link between optimism and good health wasn't as strong.

"It may be more important that you're not pessimistic than that you are optimistic," said the study's lead author, Dr. Susan Robinson-Whelen, now a research psychologist at the Houston VA Medical Center.

The study also indicated that optimists can become pessimists, and pessimists can become optimists. But it's not easy, Robinson-Whelen said.

A researcher from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln believes one good way to become hardier is to take on new challenges.

When depressed people come under stress, it causes a quick drop in their levels of mood-enhancing brain chemicals such as serotonin, said UNL psychologist Dr. Richard Dienstbier.

Experiments with rats have shown that regular exercise can help regulate levels of key brain chemicals.

Dienstbier said physical or mental stimulation can do the same for people.

"When people are understimulated, they essentially lose stress tolerance," Dienstbier said. "Somebody who's really active daily becomes much stronger, more resistant.

"That's one of the reasons exercise seems to be so useful for depression-prone people."

The best time to develop optimism or hardiness is during childhood. Seligman offers tips for parents in his 1996 book, "The Optimistic Child."

One key to raising hardy children, Maddi said, is to introduce them to many experiences and help them perceive change as richness rather than chaos.

That requires adult role models to perceive change the same way.

Maddi considers himself hardy. He grew up in a New York City slum as the son of desperately poor, illiterate Sicilian immigrants. His father sank into alcoholism and gambling and was rarely home.

Because Maddi did well in school, neighborhood gang members beat him up. But he said teachers helped develop his hardiness by praising and encouraging him. His mother helped, too.

"She was deeply religious," Maddi said. "I think that helped her a lot."

Religion isn't always a source of hardiness, Maddi said.

"There are two kinds of religiosity," he said. "The religiosity I grew up with taught that God helps those who help themselves. But I've encountered people who say, 'You're just in God's hands. There's nothing you can do: Things will turn out or they won't.'"

The Optimist

The more optomistic candidate won nine of 10 presidential elections between 1948 and 1984, psychologist Martin Seligman says. Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter in 1980 Walter Mondale in 1984.

From Ronald Reagan: "We have every right to dream heroic dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do."

The Pessimist

Adlai Stevenson was one of the best speech writers in 20th century presidential politics - and one of the gloomiest. He lost in landslides in 1952 and 1956 to World War II hero Dwight Eisenhower.

From Adlai Stevenson: "The ordeal of the 20th century - the bloodiest, most turbulent era of the Christian age - is far from over. Sacrifice, patience and implacable purpose may be our lot for years to come."

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Omaha World-Herald Date: 19980302

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