Talk:Euphoria

Exaggeration

"great (usually exaggerated) elation" Is this meant to imply that people usually exaggerate, even when nobody's around? That they aren't as elated as they seem? Why? Euphoria is a feeling, isn't it? How can one exaggerate something purely internal? Does the exaggeration make the feeling more or less intense, and why? It sounds like utterly incomprehensible nonsense to me. Unfree (talk) 03:17, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

I too think that the use of the word "exaggerated" could be made clearer. Exaggerated in what way? If you mean that drug-induced euphoria is more intense than euphoria achieved through more "natural" means (e.g. winning a race) then that should be made clear. As it is now it would be easy to confuse the intended meaning.74.108.34.227 (talk) 08:30, 29 May 2011 (UTC)

Medicine

Why "medically recognized"? Why is "medically" a link, redirected to "medicine"? Is euphoria unknown outside the field of medicine? More nonsense? Unfree (talk) 03:21, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Use in definition

"the term is often colloquially used to define emotion as an intense state of transcendent happiness combined with an overwhelming sense of wellbeing" How preposterous! How often, in colloquial speech, do we attempt to define "emotion"? Never! If one ever attempted to do such a thing, wouldn't it depend on the sentence we used "euphoria" in? How can one be "overwhelmed" by a sense of being well? What does happiness transcend? Since when does "emotion" have any such definition? Gosh, this gobbledygook is driving me nuts! Unfree (talk) 03:34, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Unfree, you do not seem to understand the Wikipedia Talkpage guidelines. Are you really trying to bring clarity to the subject, or just venting? This works for me: "the term is often colloquially used to give verbal expression to an emotion which is experienced as an intense state of transcendent happiness combined with an overwhelming sense of wellbeing" Yes, Unfree, no one is trying to "define emotion". It is clear in the context that someone is trying to give verbal expression to an emotion that they are experiencing. I have been "overwhelmed" many times in my life, sometimes by sadness, but often by euphoria. The sense of overwhelm means that the experience is inexplicable, often uncontrollable, and beyond comprehension. This feeling can be expressed in various ways such a person experiencing euphoria saying that they "felt oneness with god and all life". This is what is meant by "transcendent". It means that the experience transcends common human comprehension, and is beyond the normal experience of "happiness". This is not meant to be the definition of "emotion", but rather the experience of one type of emotion, commonly referred to as "euphoria". This might seem like gobbledygook to the naive or inexperienced. 72.83.77.21 (talk) 19:03, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

Actual meaning

Thanks to the link to the Online Etymological Dictionary at the bottom of the page, I found a more reasonable meaning for "euphoria":

1727, a physician's term for "condition of feeling healthy and comfortable (especially when sick)," from Gk. euphoria "power of bearing easily, fertility," from euphoros, lit. "bearing well," from eu- "well" + pherein "to carry" (see infer). Non-technical use, now the main one, dates to 1882.

That's more like it. Incidentally, from my Greek-English dictionary (not under "euphoria", which doesn't appear at all there, but under "euphoros"), I found "borne well", indicating that "bearing easily" above doesn't refer to childbearing, but rather to the more general sense of "enduring", "suffering" (in the old sense), or "holding up under". I don't have an ordinary dictionary at hand, but I understand the word to be used nowadays not only to mean "feeling healthy, especially when sick", but "feeling happy, marvelous, great, fantastic", and not meant to imply any sort of mental or psychiatric pathology at all. I feel sorry for anybody who, when experiencing a state of euphoria, considers it a pathological condition and rings up emergency services. Unfree (talk) 04:09, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Victory

"Euphoria is generally considered to be exaggerated, resulting from an abnormal psychological state ... not typically achieved during the normal course of human experience. However, some natural behaviors, such as activities resulting in orgasm or the triumph of an athlete, can induce brief states of euphoria." I see. The article tells us that when a swimmer wins a race, he may experience an "abnormal" (pathological?) "state" "not typically achieved during the normal course of human experience". Having won many, many such races myself, I don't know whether I ought to display my medals under bright lights or to hide them, to exaggerate or to underplay them. (Perhaps my experience is super- or subhuman.) Will Wikipedia *please* take a stand on my dilemma, and generally consider it to be exaggerated? Unfree (talk) 04:25, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Citation

"Euphoria has also been cited during certain religious or spiritual rituals and meditation." I doubt the source will support that statement, being familiar with meditation (and "certain religious and spiritual rituals") myself. When I'm meditating, I have more pressing concerns than to go about uttering citations to anything, much less to words devoid of contexts. Where in the Latin Mass does the expletive "Euphoria!" creep in? In the Dies Irae? Unfree (talk) 04:37, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Common

Following that psychiatric gateway link, I discovered that the page uses the word to introduce "affect":

"Common affects are euphoria, anger, and sadness."

Further down the page, it suggests that it isn't so normal. Strange. Surely they must have cures for all common affects. Unfree (talk) 04:48, 12 March 2010 (UTC

I thought it was a good article. It had a few words I needed to look at to make sure I was understanding the meaning. It has lots of different references I could check out. It also gave a few different ways euphoria can be achieved. I'm sure the article could have videos and charts and other things to make it even more informative, but it does tell you the basics. Stabers (talk) 18:10, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

Biology

Succeeding the obvious fact that euphoria occurs within someone, the biological processes associated with euphoria should be expanded upon. Neuroscientific research should be included in this article. Arossomanno (talk) 20:31, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

This seems like it would be a good addition to the article. --MTHarden (talk) 15:07, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Achievement

Through meditative or spiritual processes, the practices of attaining this state should be recognized as well as those who attempt or succeed in attaining it. What they have done, how they have done it, etc. Arossomanno (talk) 20:31, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

You'd have to be careful with how you add this to ensure an encyclopedic quality. --MTHarden (talk) 15:07, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Relevant Research

^ a b Deshmukh, Vinod (16). "Neuroscience of Meditation". TSW Holistic Health & Medicine 1: 285. doi:10.1100/tswhhm.2006.244. Retrieved 27 July 2011. ^ Hockenbury, Don, Sandra (2011). Discovering Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers. pp. 54. ISBN 978-1-4292-1650-0. ^ Boecker, Henning; , Sprenger, Spilker, Henriksen, Koppenhoefer, Wagner, Valet, Berthele, Tolle (21). "The Runner's High: Opioidergic Mechanisms in the Human Brain". Oxford Journals 18 (11): 2523-2531. Retrieved 27 July 2011. ^ Jasinski, DR; Nutt, Haertzen, Griffith, Bunney (11). "Lithium: effects on subjective functioning and morphine-induced euphoria". Sciencemag 195: 582-584. doi:10.1126/science.319532. Retrieved 27 July 2011.

Arossomanno (talk) 03:54, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

Passion Flower listed as a euphoric?

"Passion Flower (Passiflora incarnata) is widely used as a sedative that has calming effects on the nervous system and acts as a sleep aid. One harmala alkaloid present in this herb in the form of harmine is thought to induce meditative and euphoric effects.[13]" Passion Flower listed as a euphoric? I seriously doubt a medical reference would list it as such. Even the statement refers to it as calming (anxiolytic) and sleep aid (sedating), neither are directly euphoric (psychoactive tied to the pleasure system of the human body, commonly dopamine releasers). The Harmine page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmine) makes no mention of the term euphoria. 67.167.106.3 (talk) 08:21, 28 December 2011 (UTC)