Why isn’t this in the list of therapies? Well it could be, as it is the main model for coaching. However, it is different, whereas psychotherapy and counselling focus on diagnosing pathology or what is wrong in the person's thinking, emotional state or behaviour, Positive Psychology (PP) focuses on what is right, on the strengths and talents, the innate resilience and positive emotions generally. The argument used against PP, especially from those therapists of the psychodynamic approach, was that therapy is focussed on negatives (emotions, behaviours, thoughts and physical sensations) in experience and uses techniques that enable a change, from those attitudes to a more realistic perspective, or at least one that no longer shows a consistently selective bias towards negative interpretations of experience.
We now know that positive and negative emotions operate independently and both can be addressed in the process of change. We can broaden and build our repertoire of positive feelings as well as understand and try to resolve persistent negative feelings and thoughts. Building on whatever is positive in your life will build your resilience to life stress and increase your positive feelings about yourself, other people and life in general. In my opinion it is usually an essential element in helping people to maximise their potential, whatever the core model being used in therapy.
Positive Psychology Books
In this groundbreaking, heart-lifting and deeply useful book, Martin Seligman, internationally esteemed psychologist and the father of Positive Psychology, shows us that happiness can be learned and cultivated.
Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors integrates a neurobiologically informed understanding of trauma, dissociation, and attachment with a practical approach to treatment, all communicated in straightforward language accessible to both client and therapist. Readers will be exposed to a model that emphasises "resolution"