As I mentioned in my last post, happiness is no doubt the central goal of every sentient creature on the planet. I also talked some about ways to increase our level of happiness, namely in expressing positive emotion and being altruistic toward others. In today’s post, I’d like to introduce and briefly outline a relatively new movement within psychology.
Introduction to Positive Psychology
Psychology has historically focused its energies on illness, and it has been largely successful in this regard. Many, if not most types of mental illness are now amenable to some sort of treatment, whether it be psychotherapy, medications, or a combination of these. The focus of mental health professionals has long been limited to relieving mental illness; the goal of optimizing individual strengths and positivity has not received as much attention.
This illness-oriented model remained the focus of psychologists and psychiatrists until the late 1990’s, when a psychologist by the name of Martin Seligman wrote of the need to shift our focus toward helping people become more fulfilled. This movement, which was cofounded by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, has come to be known as positive psychology. It’s mission, simply put, is to foster the development of virtues such as “…courage, optimism, interpersonal skill, work ethic, hope, honesty, and perseverance..” (Seligman, 1998) as protective buffers against mental illness. In other words, positive psychology aims to discover and nurture within us that which makes us happy, strong, and resilient.
There appear to be three general categories of human experience that are important in living a happy and fulfilling life. These are:
1) The pleasant life: living in the present, experiencing positive emotions about the past, and being hopeful for the future
2) The engaged life: using our so-called “signature strengths” in our life’s work (recognizing our talents and finding a career that allows us to use them)
3) The meaningful life: becoming involved in something that is greater than ourselves, such as a movement, institution, or group that promotes some greater goal within society
In other words, positive psychology looks not so much at what’s wrong with us so much as it searches for strengths and personal resources in order to alleviate or even prevent the development of psychological problems. However, it is not enough to simply remove the negative; on the contrary, it is necessary to look for and encourage the positive that is within all of us in order to achieve the goal of a happy and meaningful life.
Positive emotions not only make us feel good; they also instill us with greater psychological resiliency in the face of adversity. They appear to make negative emotions disappear more readily, and serve to reduce stress and promote physical health and longevity.
From a therapy standpoint, therefore, instilling hope, enhancing interpersonal skills, fostering the capacity for pleasure, increasing personal responsibility, and helping people become more genuine (among others) are ways in which we can help others experience positive emotions, develop different and more optimistic views of the world and of themselves, and perhaps live more meaningful and fulfilled lives.
Read more about Positive Psychology
References
Duckworth, A. L., Steen, T. A., & Seligman, M. E.P. (2005). Positive psychology in clinical practice. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1, 629-651.
Seligman, M. E.P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55, 5-14.
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Hi Barry ~ I just read your blog about positive psychology, and found it very interesting and well-written. I couldn’t agree more with the philosophy!