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I speak with Louise Koch as we contrast the claims that the Danes are some of the happiest people in the world with real life experiences. Louise, aka "Fruity Lou", is from Denmark and we struck up a conversation about a meme that makes the connection between the happiness of the Danes and their extensive welfare state. But are things really as good as the propaganda suggests? I had to interview her to find out more and do some research of my own. The research institutions that produce happiness reports are funded by governmental agencies and of course they tell us that government intervention helps to make people happy. To find out more about Louise and her great work visit http://fruitylou.com/ Sources Depression and Antidepressants: A Nordic Perspective http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3854846/ The number of persons with alcohol problems in the Danish population http://sjp.sagepub.com/content/39/2/128 Happiness Research Institute http://www.happinessresearchinstitute.com/

I have been taking care of my sisters kids for about 9 months while she has been in Rehab.. I am living at my mothers house during this time. My mother is a savage beast and an alcoholic. She takes no responsibility whatsoever for my sister being in Rehab. If I stay here much longer I am going to lose my mind. I want to help these poor kids who have been born into chaos. I have made the case over and over with my mother about the practicality of using time outs and yelling and the fact that it just makes things worse in the long run. I have sent her multiple links to articles and books explaining this. If I talk to her in person she just laughs at me saying something like "they need to learn they can't always have their way" She accuses me of "just letting them do whatever they want". The reality is she wants the kids to be broken so she can force them to do whatever she wants. She literally just a few moments ago put the little girl in time out because she wanted to wear her recital dress. My mother tricked her into giving her the dress by saying she was helping her take off the dress so she could go to the bathroom. But afterwards my Mother wouldn't give it back. So of course the little girl started crying and asking for it back. Because this behavior bothers my mother she picks up the little girl while she is still screaming and puts her in her room and locks the door. The little girl sobs and cries pressed up the door begging to be let out.. I am living in a nightmare. Not only am I stuck with this fucking beast of a person but I am powerless to protect the children from her. If I try to intervene she will go psychotic screaming and yelling at me threaten me insult me, she is capable of anything. I want them to have a chance in life and I am worried that I am just sealing their fate by being a part of all this. I am 100% committed to virtue and of course peaceful parenting, my mother is the exact opposite she just wants to get her way at any cost(so long as she can't get in trouble for it) I have recently come to accept the definition of the word sociopath to describe her, I could write a whole book on the horrors she has forced me to endure in childhood. The children have a strong bond with her and I worried that I am just making it stronger by tending to their wounds so she can rip them open again.. I want these kids to be able to identify monsters like this and avoid them not "love" them. I plan on moving out with the next 6 months but what then? I don't see any way of getting her out of my life so long as I am in the kids life. And when my mother is in my life I don't exist I am a just a chew toy for her insatiably sadistic appetite. Right now I am easily startled by noises, if I see my mom moving fast out of the corner of my eye I tense up and prepare for an attack. I am stressed to the point where its effecting my health. I am exhausted all the time. Anytime I am around her I feel nauseous. Its extremely difficult for me to be vulnerable and connected with the children around my mother, I can't be myself with them when she is lurking over my shoulder. Am I doing more harm then good by giving them this model even tho I am relatively able to give them the model I want when she is away Mon-Fri 6am-5pm?

Forgive me if this is in the wrong forum section, general knowledge seemed to be the only one fitting for this rather specific topic. My question is in relation to alcoholism and addiction. I can only imagine that Stef has addressed the topic in the past but I can't recall, does anyone know where his best discussion on this is? I grew up in a religious institution that was very rigid and determined at age 24 that it was not making me happy anymore. I figured at that point I was atheist and began studying in the area of philosophy to come to a better understanding what my individual perspective was, and not what others had taught me. What also occurred though was a period of experimentation and trying new things as I was now untethered from dogmatic moral restrictions. I believe issues with depression and anxiety and a relative confusion as to how to deal with that left me prone to struggling with drug and alcohol abuse. For the last 3-4 years I've dealt now with an entirely knew community that seems to be steeped in its own brand of dogma. I don't want to single out the AA and 12 step philosophy but it is the dominant one. These past few years I have developed a belief that the entire rehabilitation business is capitalizing on an epidemic ailment in modern society without any definitive and apparent impact. I can't say my rehab experiences were entirely without merit, but I feel like they are addressing mindfulness more than really determining the biological problems that exist and occur in people who become addicts (or always were addicts) however you want to term it. It seems to me there is a HUGE lack of philosophical perspective on this dilemma. The psychology community has all but given it over to this rehabilitation money mill as I believe there is economic incentive to do so. Anyway, I'm essentially looking for more opinion, ideas, and thoughts in the area of reason when it comes to addiction. I believe there is far more to the problem of addiction then merely being genetically predisposed. In my experience, I've recognized a rather fundamental existential crisis that lies at the core of my personal struggle. In terms of the recovery community, I am not keen on the idea that now my life is essentially defined by being "in recovery". This isn't to say I want to be able to drink or use recreational drugs, but I'm opposed to some of the black and white thinking, the dogmatic perspectives, on what it takes to either remain sober or avoid the pitfalls of substance abuse.I've said a lot so I'll leave it out there to the folks to bat around. Any response will be appreciated Thanks Mike V