I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did, but I found myself thinking about some of the stories long after I read them. I especially enjoyed the stories by individuals who personally experienced mental health disorders. They described the essential features of their recoveries, some of which are completely unexpected. Each story, whether by a therapist or a patient, is well-written from a personal perspective and reads like a mini-novel.
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How do therapists identify and incorporate strengths in the therapy process? Read on to learn about five themes and associated interventions.
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I believe that Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Positive Psychology: The Seven Foundations of Well-Being is the first book to look at the commonalities and differences between positive psychology and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Steven Hayes, founder of ACT, sums up the message of this book in its last chapter, “What you hold in your hands is the beginning of a conversation.”
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Positive Psychology for Depression is a book specifically designed to help people with a predisposition toward depression foster and maintain a more positive mood. The author, has suffered from depression herself. She includes many personal anecdotes that show how positive psychology has helped her to combat her depression and maintain a more cheerful mood over time.
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A Mindful Approach for Chronic Depression
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), developed by Segal, Williams, and Teasdale, has been shown to be effective in reducing relapse among people with three or more depressive episodes. Like positive psychology, MBCT helps participants to observe their negative thoughts with curiosity and kindness, to accept themselves and stop wishing things were different, to let go of old habits and choose a different way of being, and to be present and notice small beauties and pleasures in the world.
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Evolution of Psychotherapy: Resilience through Client Strengths
Earlier this month, I attended the Evolution of Psychotherapy. Billed as the world’s largest psychotherapy conference, it is held every 4-5 years and attracts over 6,000 people. I first attended…
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Inside the Love Lab: Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work
In the “Love Lab,” researchers claim they can predict with 91% accuracy whether a couple will thrive or fail after watching and listening to them for just five minutes. The…
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In Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility, Ellen Langer, a psychology professor at Harvard, says that “knowing what is and knowing what can be are not the same…
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This month’s theme of savoring got me to thinking about how the concept of savoring can be used by my clients with eating disorders. I work with people who struggle…
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In the Character Strengths and Virtues Handbook, emotion regulation is included within the classification for self-regulation. Self-regulation is conceptualized as self-control, or “how a person exerts control over his or…
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Looking back on my sessions with clients, I notice that I find humor and laughter refreshing and it helps strengthen the bond I feel with my clients. Recently after an intake with a new client, my supervisor said, “I heard a lot of laughter in your office. Must have been a good session.” Sometimes my clients bring humor into the session, lightly poking fun at themselves. Other times, I use gentle humor to help bring awareness to issues with which they’ve been struggling.
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Beyond Resilience: Growth after Adversity
Growth occurs not through the suffering itself, but through the individual’s struggle and reconstruction of shattered assumptions. Many people then make dramatic life changes and shift priorities based on this new way of seeing the world. In doing so, they can also change the world.
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When clients come to us, whether in a coaching or counseling relationship, we assume they are ready to change. But what if you find they don’t yet appear ready for change. What can you do to get your client to talk more about change? There is a counseling approach called Motivational Interviewing (MI) that can be defined as a “client-centered, directive method for enhancing intrinsic motivation to change…”
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I look forward to the day when the word “positive” is no longer needed to describe psychology or psychotherapy because the association will automatically be there. How is the field of psychotherapy integrating with the positive psychology movement to re-gain its original focus on helping people to achieve their potential?
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Laura L. C. Johnson is passionate about integrating the science of positive psychology with evidence-based psychotherapy and counseling.