Applied Keynesian Psychology

28th of October 2025

S pend in recession, save in the boom - this is the basic maxim with which John Maynard Keynes revolutionized fiscal policy. But if we forget for a minute that he meant government spending, this can be applied to many different domains. Instead of the tax rate regulating private investment, we could consider a damper regulating a pendulum. Here, we'll apply the idea to everyday psychology.

Psychotherapy, by construction, deals with the recession of the mind. For instance, both "mental illness" and "mental health" get about the same number of hits on Google Scholar (6 million), despite the fact that most works on mental health are about illness anyways. People who are doing great at the moment don't usually see a professional, and so it is only natural most research focuses on patients with an acute problem. What about prevention? A person with mental resources to spare surely can exert some influence over their future mental state. Perhaps they can put those resources as collateral to decrease the chances they will run into a psychological problem in the future.

This is what I do: When I'm doing well, I try to actively think about possible problems and how to prevent them. For instance, let's say I just won a prize and am feeling good about it. Instead of feeling grateful about it (which would be the current state-of-the-art pop psychology advice), I try to ponder my bad personality traits and how to fix them. Some other good boom activities are addressing upcoming obstacles in personal relationships, or processing a bad thing that happened before. When I'm feeling down, then, if I suppress thinking about my wretched personality, I can still get the same processing time over one emotional cycle.

The best counterargument I can think of is the following. Perhaps we need not stop at problem prevention. The goal of applied psychology should not just be to heighten the floor in terms of mental wellbeing, it should also work on ever-greater bliss, fulfillment and satisfaction. Nietzsche called this idea "Die Große Gesundheit", The Great Health. When in health, there could conceivably be a way to use the mental clarity and peace to aim for yet greater happiness, which could in turn compound forever. If someone figures out how to do that, I would be interested. Until then, you can find me at the poolside with a tequila and a big smile, pondering all the worst things in life.