Positive Psychology is a school of thought that takes psychological practice beyond the bounds of psychiatric illnesses and symptom resolution. It takes a more holistic view of the issues people may be facing and aims not just towards the management of symptoms, but also towards key aspects of life that make it happy. Traditionally, psychology was designed as the science of therapeutic treatment of mental disorders and reduce suffering. Positive psychology aims to go beyond the reduction of suffering, and towards happiness and positive experiences that make life worth living.
This positive wave of psychology was pioneered by Martin Seligman, and it is based on learning what makes life worth living. It aims to understand positive traits, positive emotions, and positive institutions. In other words, the theory is about trying to understand what are some of the traits and emotions that make people happier and live positive lives. These traits and emotions can be learned by all and generalized to many different situations. Similarly, an understanding of positive human institutions, ie groups of people or communities, can have a positive influence on well being of their members.
Positive psychology focuses on areas like happiness, optimism, self- esteem, well-being, motivation, flow, strengths and virtues, hope, resilience, mindfulness, and positive thinking.
Positive psychology promotes activities like gratitude and savoring. The aim is to make the best of all human experiences.
The 3 tiered aims of positive psychology are positive experiences for all at a subjective level, being a good person at an interpersonal level and civic virtues at a community level. It also focuses on character strengths and virtues like wisdom, courage, humanity, transcendence, justice, and moderation. These are important for all of us to build towards a positive and resilient life.
The Authentic Happiness Theory discusses concepts like The Pleasant Life and The Engaged Life, which is in turn closely related to the concept of Flow, and the Meaningful Life. The PERMA Model describes five factors of well-being: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and purpose, and accomplishment (PERMA).
Positive Psychology is widely popular and takes psychological practice beyond clinical need. The basic assumption is that people wish to function at their highest threshold level, and may wish to take support in achieving that level of thriving. So, a psychologist’s help is not limited to settings where there is clinical and symptomatic need. A positive psychologist can help all individuals achieve their highest potential and help them move their lives towards well being and happiness.
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