[Dr. Bruce Campbell directs the educational CFIDS and
Fibromyalgia Self-Help website (www.cfidsselfhelp.org), and
online self-help group discussion courses focused on practical
ways to deal with the daily challenges of chronic illness.]
Gratitude has long been extolled by religion and in recent
years, has drawn attention through books such as The Simple
Abundance Journal of Gratitude. Now, thanks to new research,
there is scientific evidence that gratitude produces health
benefits. The research is summarized in Robert Emmons' new book
Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier
(Houghton Mifflin, 2007). Emmons and his colleagues at the
University of California at Davis are among the pioneers in
research on gratitude, part of a larger movement called positive
psychology. Positive psychology, instead of focusing on illness
and emotional problems, studies health-promoting behavior and
the pleasurable parts of life. Emmons' book reports on several
studies. In the first, he and his colleagues di