ARE ANTI-DEPRESSANTS KILLING CREATIVITY?

JOHN PITCHER, OMAHA WORLD-HERALD Imagine that just before composing his dark masterpiece, "Nebraska," Bruce Springsteen had come across the writings of Dr. Phil.

Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch might never have produced his most famous painting, "The Scream", if he had suppressed his existential angst and - as many people do today - simply put on a happy face. The rocker, in a melancholic mood, might have read about five easy steps to beat his depression or about the antidepressants that would cure it.

You laugh, but North Carolina writer Eric Wilson thinks America's current addiction to happiness threatens the arts. Wilson writes about it in his new book, "Against Happiness", which paints a disturbing portrait of what happens to art in a world filled with "happy types."