Hi, I’m Carin Rockind, welcome to PPND Bites, where we give you 60-second helpings of the Positive Psychology News you need to know. We’ve seen a lot in the news lately about depression with the very sad, tragic deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, both by suicide. And of course, there are 45,000 deaths by suicide in the U.S. every year and 800,000 around the world.
The question is, can positive psychology help, and a recent research study says yes. 115 research participants ages 19 to 69 were given a self-help book, a positive psychology self-help book and some were given the control and some were given a cognitive behavioral therapy book and then eight weeks of follow up from the professionals. And what they found is that the positive psychology self-help book was just as effective in decreasing depressive symptoms as the cognitive behavioral therapy book. This is great news because if you have a friend in need or a colleague or yourself, a positive psychology with some email follow up can help. With that, we hope that this 60-second news bite helps you take a bigger bite out of life, bye for now.
Watch more episodes HERE.
References
Depression and Positive Psychology:
Hanson, K. (2018). Positive psychology for overcoming symptoms of depression: A pilot study exploring the efficacy of a positive psychology self-help book versus a CBT self-help book. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465818000218
Akhtar, M. (2012). Positive Psychology for Overcoming Depression: Self-Help Strategies for Happiness, Inner Strength and Well-Being. London: Watkins.