While happiness is a choice, you need to have something in your life, some hope, some goal, some something. This book touches on that, but the fundamental problem is that people are social beings and when people cloud their minds with things like sin, selfishness, greed, lust, etc, all these things make it harder to see the good in people and ultimately you do not connect to people as you should, making you depressed, making you unsuccessful, and making you worse and worse. Being susceptible to depression, I have to say reading a book about depression makes you more depressed because you know you are really depressed if you have to read about it. Decent book but I can't recommend.

I read this book many years ago and it made me mad. I sat there thinking how can you say happiness is a choice. The theme is repeated over and over in different stories. I read it within the last couple years again. My perspective has changed. I understand it now. Although, it is hard to choose happiness when everything is going wrong. It is possible though. This is a book more of stories and how people chose happiness. It is not a book that goes through a process of how to choose it. If you aren't ready for this book it will most likely make you mad. If you want a great book on happiness, that has really helped me, I recommend "Happiness Now". Happiness Now actually changed the way I looked at things so I could choose happiness. So, I believe starting with a book that shows you how to change your perspective is a better bet.

Happiness Is a Choice is a book that speaks almost what most depressed people have heard through their therapist. This book is great for a therapist but if read by a family member or friend of someone who has been depressed, they may be led to think that the depressed person chooses to be depressed. I read this book after the loss of a child and was very disappointed by it. Many people believe you can simply shake depression but myself and 1000s of other people can attest you can not. Maybe by false pretense but I learned that is not healthy either. Their biblical principles they cite are OK but even the Bible says Blessed are they that mourn...that tells me that God expects sorrow and pain and it is allowed. So over all I believe the book sends the wrong message and hurts those who are depressed. I have a friend who also read it with me and she couldn't believe the ideas set in place throughout the book.