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Positive Psychology

What is Positive Psychology?

positive psychology word collage

For most of the twentieth century psychology focused on mental illness and how to help people feel and cope better with their lives. While psychopathology remains a key focus of clinical psychology, a more positive turn in the way human behavior is thought about occurred. This positive turn is referred to as Positive Psychology. Positive psychology is based on the theory that, beyond helping people recover from depression, they can become happy. Whats more, people who are already happy can become happier. In other words, everyone has strengths along with weaknesses. By nurturing those strengths, people can flourish and meet their potential in life. Positive psychologists refer to their study as the science of happiness. Another way of stating the same concept is that psychology can build the healing human pathology while being concerned with people living lives that are fulfilling.

It's important to understand that positive psychology does not pretend that life is easy or as...More

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Resources

  • Articles

    • What is Positive Psychology?
    • Do You Seek Happiness?
    • In Pursuit of Happiness, Why Is It So Difficult?
    • In Pursuit of Happiness, How to Achieve It
    • In Pursuit of Happiness, Tips to Stay Happy
    • The Power of Forgiveness
    • Learned Optimism
    • The Effect of Your Mood on Your Thinking
    • Positive Psychology and Mindful Meditation: Intimately Linked
    • The Importance of Touch
    • An Interview with John Drimmer Psy.D. on Positive Psychology
    • Train your Brain for Social Success
    • Positive Psychology and Dialectical Behavior Therapy
    • The Happiness App

  • Book & Media Reviews
    • Kidding Ourselves
    • Restoring Resilience

  • Videos
    • Martin Seligman: The new era of positive psychology
    • Positive Psychology in a Pandemic, with Martin Seligman, PhD
    • The Happiness Advantage: Linking Positive Brains to Performance
    • What is Positive Psychology?
    • Martin Seligman: 'Flourishing - a new understanding of wellbeing'
    • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow, the secret to happiness
    • Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness
    • On positive psychology - Martin Seligman

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