**7. About the relationship between life purpose and more intense happiness**

In Aristotelian philosophy, every human being has a responsibility as a species, a general life mission, so to speak: to make his rational potential a reality, in order to consolidate the habit of acting rationally (which occurs with the practice of virtues), which represents being in a state of "good functioning"; functioning according to the type of being we are. The reward for this endeavor is to experience the pleasure of being proud of the result of rational choices on a regular basis [24, 25]. However, common experience shows us that this pleasure can vary in intensity. The pleasure a writer feels at the moment he realizes, he has managed to fix a shower is certainly not the same as when he sees his work finished, or even a paragraph [26]. But why is that?

We are beings naturally interested in "whys", and among the "whys" we are interested in is knowing why we exist, what is the purpose of being here. Saying that we are here to fulfill our natural responsibility to act rationally is not enough for us as an answer [27], as we want to know not only why the human species exists, but also why we, as individuals, exist; that is, we want to know what is our specific function, our individual responsibility, in the whole, that we believe to be inserted [19, 28, 29] (and here it doesn't matter the size of this whole, it can be from the microgroup "you and your child" to the entire planet, for example). Thus, it is once we find an answer to this question (regardless of whether it is objectively true), which generally involves understanding our own specific interests and abilities (which includes understanding our specific moral virtues), that we started, then, to recognize what our responsibility would be, our specific role in the whole that we believe to be inserted. As a result, we can acquire the notion that we have something to do in this world that no one else is capable of; that we have a mission, which, it is worth noting, can vary in "size" (it can range from caring for a child to preparing a treatise on human nature, for example) [30]. And from there, when we take responsibility for a specific mission, we come to feel the kind of pleasure that the writer of our example experienced: a more intense pride in the result of rational choices; more intense because it is a result that indicates that we are fulfilling, to some extent, our mission; it means that we are managing to fulfill the "why" of our individual existence.

Finally, it is worth noting that, as we have the ability to be proud also with regard to a macro set of results and actions, we can also feel a more intense type of pride if we see that this set of results and actions represents the successful realization of our life purpose. Bringing again the writer's example, he will feel happiness of the most

<sup>2</sup> It is possible to note that from our perspective, all emotions that depend on agency awareness are derived from basic emotions, including happiness, which we consider to be a type of joy.

intense kind when, after publishing his works, he looks at them together and assesses that his specific mission, or a good part of it, has been fulfilled [5].

### **8. Psychopathologies in an evolutionary perspective**

In this work, we are assuming that the human mind is a product of evolution [4, 31]. As a result, we are offering a perspective grounded in the theory of natural selection, which is the theory that best explains "how other animals function" (at least for now); and if we didn't land by parachute on this planet, it is certainly the theory that best explains how we function too, and how we should function, given our peculiar nature [32]. In this way, holding firm to such perspective, we understand that a better understanding of the pathologies that plague humanity can be achieved if we first look at them in their rudimentary form, that is, how they are manifested in other animals; for then, based on this first notion, to analyze how they are amplified in us due to specificities of our nature. This implies looking at pathologies based on the notion of the role of BCPs, and our ability to elaborate theories and act on them. We are not going to offer a canonical list of psychopathologies, but just three of them, as an example, to show how it is possible to understand psychopathologies in the direction we are proposing.

#### **8.1 Depression: psychopathology most related to the emotion of sadness**

The perception that there was a failure to achieve a goal, as we said, generates sadness, the emotion that seems to have a role in encouraging the use of other means in the future It turns out that when a non-human animal is faced with a threat that it categorizes as "not possible to be eliminated", and tries, unsuccessfully, to achieve the goal of escaping the threat by successively employing one or more forms of "runaway", this animal may simply end up giving up on escaping the threat, accepting that it is "imprisoned", which in practice means accepting that there is nothing to do; in other words, that the failure is consummated, which would lead the animal to a chronic experience of sadness [33, 34]. This, in our view, would be the rudimentary form of what we know in humans as depression.

However, in the case of humans, such sadness would be amplified by the ability we have to realize that there is really no way out of an unwanted condition, that we are trapped in it: the notion that we are not capable of causing a better future for us, which has to do with what we call hopelessness [6, 33]. This is the case, for example, of a relationship termination, in which the person who has been "abandoned" is afraid of being alone, believing that he or she is not able to find another partner (a possibly false theory), which would likely make this person to behave in the direction of proceeding with countless attempts at reconquest, which, in essence, are attempts to avoid the threat of losing the relation of reciprocity (stage of grief known as "bargaining"). However, there may come a point, after unsuccessful attempts to avoid such a threat, that the person ends up giving up trying, which represents reaching the stage of grief known as depression [35].

It is worth noting that, within the perspective that we are offering, the vulnerability of a person to go into a depressive state is directly related to: (1) although the person has the wisdom to understand that he or she is not facing "a threat that cannot to be eliminated", even so almost thoughtlessly accepts this assessment (and the others that follow), acting in accordance with them (lack of rationality); and (2) the person does not have the wisdom to understand that he or she is not facing a "threat that cannot be

eliminated" (because of having false theories), and, at the same time, does not have the wisdom as to how to accomplish the goal of elimination of the threat (if that person has this wisdom, he or she could eliminate such a threat, even if it is not objectively a threat) (lack of wisdom).

#### **8.2 Anxiety: psychopathology most related to the emotion of fear**

In the animal kingdom there seem to be two types of contexts in which the emotion of fear becomes something chronic: (1) when an environment is in fact hostile, as in the case of being in a place full of predators; and (2) when, in the case of animals that live in groups, the individual is perceived by others as being of lower status (usually because of being defeated in fights), which makes it more difficult for this individual to have access to resources, such as food and sexual partner, especially because of being frequently attacked by other members also interested in such resources. In addition, a low-status individual tends to receive less protection from predator attacks [24]. This implies that those at the bottom of a dominance hierarchy actually end up in a hostile environment, similar to being in a place full of predators. We see that in these two cases, there is a chronic classification that "something is a threat that cannot be eliminated", and with it the chronic experience of fear, which we can classify as the rudimentary version of anxiety [36]. It is worth mentioning that, in the case of anxiety, unlike depression, the individual sees escape routes and can follow them in order to achieve the objective of escaping the threat [33].

In the case of humans, anxiety can be amplified by our ability to construct or accept theories that reality is far more threatening than it actually is, which causes us to engage in the frequent practice of mislabeling something as "a threat that cannot be eliminated", and that, therefore, we must seek to escape from it. Some examples of this are internalizing theories that: (1) all people, including close friends, will harm us if given the opportunity to do so (type of theory that supports the establishment of social anxiety disorder) [37, 38]; and (2) if we do not perform such a procedure, like knocking twice on the wood, something bad will happen to us or our family members (the kind of theory that supports the establishment of obsessive-compulsive disorders) [39].

Again, it is worth noting that, within the perspective we are offering, a person's vulnerability to go into a state of anxiety is directly related to : (1) although the person has the wisdom to understand that he or she is not facing "a threat that cannot to be eliminated", even so almost thoughtlessly accepts this assessment (and the others that follow), acting in accordance with them (lack of rationality); and (2) the person does not have the wisdom to understand that he or she is not facing a "threat that cannot be eliminated" (lack of wisdom).

#### **8.3 Food addiction: psychopathology more related to the emotion of craving**

Luckily for other animals, so to speak, there is, due to the competition for resources necessary for survival, a shortage of highly palatable foods for their species; so it is not common for us to observe food addiction in its rudimentary form in non-human animals. However, experiments show us that they can develop this pathology [40], which, in our view, refers to the chronic categorization that "something is a benefit", which leads to the chronic experience of the emotion of craving.

In the case of humans, such pathology is possible to be frequent because we are able to generate an environment permeated by highly palatable food; but still, that would not be the cause, just the removal of a barrier. It is possible for two people to enter a candy store, and only one of them feels tempted to buy sweets in quantity, which may be the case for someone with food addiction (if this is not just a one-off behavior, aiming, for example, at a celebration or relaxation) [41]. Such pathology can be amplified in us because we can make or accept probably false theories and live on the basis of them; for example: (1) that the best way to alleviate emotional pain is to eat tasty foods, or even that (2) we came to this world to enjoy life, and such enjoyment boils down to experiencing the pleasures of the senses (possibly believing that this is happiness) [5].

Once again, we can note that the vulnerability, now to food addiction, is due to lack of wisdom, in case the person does not know that eating a certain tasty food with a high frequency is likely to cause serious damage to his or her health; or lack of rationality, in case the person has this knowledge, but still almost without thinking accepts the categorizations that he or she is facing a benefit (and those that follow, especially the one that "suggests" that he or she should "seek the acquisition of this benefit").

### **9. The essence of human psychopathologies**

It is possible to see that, from our perspective, human psychopathologies (at least those that do not have a physical cause, such as damage to some region of the brain) can be better understood as phenomena specifically caused either by lack of wisdom or lack of rationality. Making a parallel with the cognitive therapeutic approach, we can consider that the possession of false core beliefs, such as those of the unlovable dimension (e.g., "I will always be rejected when my flaws are perceived") [38, 42], means lack of wisdom if such beliefs refer to the person's most advanced knowledge of the matter; so, it is worth emphasizing, acting on that knowledge would not be irrational from that individual's point of view. However, this rationality can lead this person to a condition of psychopathology because he or she is acting based on false knowledge.

On the other hand, if such a person, despite having internalized false beliefs (probably arising from childhood experiences), but managed to reach true conclusions, such as that their "defects" are tolerable (he or she is not a serial killer, for example), this person, then, in this matter, possesses wisdom. However, the person can still fail to make decisions based on conclusions that better reflect reality, and then it would be the lack of rationality that would lead him or her to develop a condition of psychopathology.

Another thing that can be seen, with the help of the relational emphasis that we gave in the previous topic, is that human psychopathologies are related to emotions, that is, the chronic experience of emotion means being in a psychopathological condition. Of course, unless reality doesn't actually call for evaluating things in the same direction almost always, like when we are in a hostile environment and categorizing things as a "threat that cannot be eliminated" should be highly frequent (and with that, the experience of fear), for example. By this we mean that as the stimuli, in objective terms, must be of the most varied types, categorizing them almost always in the same way (or treating them almost always as neutral) probably means being in a psychopathological condition. The chronic experience of joy or indifference when

*True Happiness as a Shortcut to Mental Health: A New Theory of Psychopathology… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.103131*

facing friends in difficult situations, for example, rarely feeling compassion for them, is related to what we know as psychopathy3 [43].

The point we want to reach is that, in our view, the chronic excess or lack in experiencing each of the seven emotions represents being in a psychopathological state (i.e., vices of lack and excess, paralleling what we talked about earlier), which in essence, as we said, means that we are chronically evaluating things in some direction, or treating them almost always as neutral4 [1, 44]; and this, in turn, bringing out the main idea of our perspective, has to do with either a lack of wisdom or rationality. Bringing up the example of psychopathy, a person diagnosed with this psychopathology may be in such a condition for actually believing that "his or her good does not depend on the good of others" and acting consistently in accordance with this knowledge, that is, acting rationally but on the basis of false knowledge (which denotes lack of wisdom); or the person may be in this condition because they are unable to act consistently based on a notion that he or she already has (and that reflects reality reasonably well), such as that "his or her good depends, to a large extent, on the good of others" (which denotes lack of rationality).
