The Origins of Happiness

Chapter 6

does the illness of a partner affect the other partner? As the

table shows, you feel worse when your partner is ill, for

whatever reason.^20

Adaptation to Disability

But do people adapt to being disabled by illness (either

physical or mental)? In Britain and Germany we know

whether a person is on a disability benefit;^21 in Australia we

know if they have a health condition that limits their ability

to work. Unfortunately the data do not distinguish between

mental and physical disability. As Figure 6.4 suggests, there

is little significant adaptation to disability, but this may be

0.0

–0.5

–1.0

–1.5

–4 –2 0

Britain

24 +

Eec

t o

n life

-satisfa

ct

ion (

0–

10

)

Years before and after becoming disabled

–4 –2 0

Germany

24 + –4 –2 0

Australia

24 +

Figure 6.4. Adaptation to disability