Welcome

Bowden McElroy received his Master of Education degree in Counseling Psychology in 1983 from the University of Central Oklahoma and his Bachelor's degree in 1981 from Oklahoma State University. In addition, he has studied at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Bowden has been in the counseling field for over 25 years. His work experience includes serving as an Associate Pastor/Church Counselor from 1983-1984 and working as a therapist in a Community Mental Health Center in 1985. From 1986 to 1996 he worked in Inpatient (psychiatric hospital) settings in both therapeutic and administrative roles. He has been in private practice in Tulsa since 1996.

Recent News

Eating right, exercising regularly, being blessed with good genes: all are thought to promote good health and a long life. Now, we can add being happy to the list.¹

Happiness does not heal, but happiness protects against falling ill. As a result, happy people live longer. The size of the effect on longevity is comparable to that of smoking or not. This is concluded from an analysis of 30 follow-up studies published in a recent issue of the Journal of Happiness Studies.

First, who knew there was a Journal of Happiness Studies?

Second, always remember that a positive correlation isn’t the same as a causal relationship. In other words, we don’t know if being happy leads to a long life or if one of the benefits of a long life is happiness. Or, maybe there is something else - a character trait or biological predisposition - that is responsible for both longevity and happiness.

Too much happiness, however, could lead to poorer health.² One theory is that people who are very happy may be too content to pay attention to the signs and symptoms that signal the beginning of a more serious illness.

Too little happiness and we become stressed out, angst ridden people; the negative effects of stress on health are well documented. Too much happiness and we take Bob Marley’s advice and don’t worry about health care and prevention.

The moral of the story is: All things in moderation.

Blog

• Happy Enough · August 13, 2008
• 10 Healthy Marriage Tips · August 11, 2008
• Another Wedding · August 9, 2008
• SBC Impact! · July 31, 2008
• Counseling Notes · July 27, 2008
• Growing Older (but not up) · July 24, 2008
• High School Reunions · July 15, 2008
• Cohabitation · July 10, 2008
• Beach Therapy · June 24, 2008
• Gilligan? · June 23, 2008
• Fathers & Sons · June 16, 2008
• One Big, Happy Family · June 14, 2008
• Mini Rant · June 4, 2008
• On Funerals · May 28, 2008
• Post-Modern Poster Child · May 15, 2008

Recent Comments

• bowden mcelroy: Most of us don’t stop and think about how we’re feeling at any given moment. And...
• Steven: I don’t give too much thought to how happy I am. It’s not something I think about too often. I...
• bowden mcelroy: Debbie, Thanks… all I did was summarize an article I found on line. BTW, I think it’s...
• Debbie Kaufman: Excellent post. I personally needed this today. Thank you Bowden. I pray all married couples read and...
• Bowden McElroy: Bob, I got the idea from Taran. Taran, I just spent the week playing camp shrink/crisis intervention...