Positive psychology forged its reputation as the study of happiness with a goal of increasing the tonnage of happiness on the planet. Less attention has been paid to the role that positive psychology could play in dealing with the shadow side of life, in reducing the global burden of depression.

A year ago I joined a local gospel choir to put ‘sunshine into the soul’ during the long winter months, and it’s undoubtedly been one of the most powerful interventions in my experience. Every time we sing in harmony I can sense the presence of a bunch of positive emotions feeding into my positivity ratio, and it seems I’m not the only one.

This summer the UK was rocked by riots with young people playing the major role. I came across disaffected young people such as these when I was carrying out my MAPP research working with the charity In-Volve to apply positive psychology with young people abusing alcohol. Given that the motivation to drink is related to wanting to be happy, to change mood, escape from troubles and deal with stress, surely positive psychology is well-placed to help adolescents to alternative routes to happiness, positive emotions, and resilience?

The arrival of the First Dog, Bo, into his new kennels at the White House, has got me thinking this month about how our canine companions contribute to our well-being. The health and well-being benefits of having a dog include making fewer visits to doctors, having less stress and anxiety, and having lower blood pressure.

“… but just to be on the safe side, we’ll need to operate.”
Those are words many of us will have to deal with at some point in our lives and which happened for me earlier …

Miriam Akhtar, MAPP ’09 from University of East London, was one of the first positive psychologists to go into practice in Europe. She graduated with Distinction from the Masters in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) …