Positive Psychology in Therapeutic Treatment - Assignment Example

[Teacher’s Psychology Positive Psychology Positive psychology is a branch of study that focuses on improving the well being of anindividual in addition to therapeutic treatment. Most psychological interventions focus on treating conditions such as depression, aggression, suicide; however positive psychology aims at improving the quality of an individual’s life after treatment and his or her prognosis. The ideologies of positive psychology were first implemented by two scientist; Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Martin Seligman. Positive psychology aims to prepare patients for life after treatment and is not a replacement but rather an addition to conventional methods of psychology. This paper will analyze the different strategies and methods used in positive psychology and illustrate how these methods positively affect an individual’s well being. Journal A journal or diary is one way of increasing a patient’s feeling of gratitude and can help him or her reminisce on the positive aspects of each the day. The individual will be given a journal and required to record five or more good things that happened each day. This can be in the form of a diary. Sometimes psychological patients often present feelings of despair, insecurity and rarely appreciate the positive things in life. They mainly focus on the negative aspects and creating a journal that contains positive feelings from each day can help an individual relive his or her happy moments. It also allows the individual to pay more attention on the positive aspects of life. This also helps a patient in other aspects of life as he or she has a positive attitude and has a drive to reach his or her goals. Thankfulness An individual may also be introduced to a therapeutic plan where he or she expresses gratitude for the things he or she has. The patient must also be equipped with the ability to feel and express humility. The treatment plan can involve family members or other close individuals in the patient’s life. Increasing a patient’s awareness and feelings of humility best equips him for the harder situations in life such as disappointment. Learning to cope with such situations not only prepares a patient emotionally but also prevents other psychological disorders such as depression and in extreme situations suicide. Kindness Performing acts of kindness for others has been known to increase an individual’s personal happiness. It enables an individual to be able to communicate well with others in the community at the same time gaining inner joy from the process. Acts of kindness also help with an individual’s communication skills once he or she begins to interact with others. Such acts will create a positive attitude in other members of society towards this individual as he /she likely to attract many friends due to his kind acts. It also reduces the level of selfishness in an individual as he or she lessons to perform kind acts for others. Strength Identification Another key objective in positive psychology is to install confidence into the patient. This enables him to apply himself in a social setting and allows him or her to try new things and reach his or her targets. One way of helping the patient gain confidence is by requiring him or her to document his strengths on a daily basis. This will enable him to visualize his goals and see how best he can apply his strengths in achieving them. It also builds confidence in the patient as the individual as able to analyze himself from another angle. Reverse focus This method can be used to reduce the level of stress in an individual. Stress is a major area of concern amongst most psychology patients. One of the main sources of stress is the fact that individuals tend to over think the negative and unfortunate events in their lives. Reducing these negative thoughts can in turn reduce the level of stress in an individual. This can be done by helping the patient focus more on the good things in his life instead of the bad. This can be done by asking the patient to record every bad thing that occurred to him or her daily. However, for every bad thing the individual should write two good things. This will help reduce the negative thoughts as they are substituted by the positive ones. Hope Fostering hope in a patient will allow hum or her to deal with the negative aspects of life. This can be done in a way that makes the patient pay less attention to the problem he or she is facing and instead look at it from another angle that makes it look less devastating. In addition, the patient should also be equipped with ways of coping with certain situations associated with his problem. This can be done by creating hypothetical situations that will also allow a patient to analyze his reactions and see if they are appropriate. If not the psychologist and the patient should formulate methods of approach that are more suitable for the situation. Strength use In addition to identifying their strengths, patients should be encouraged to apply at least one of these strengths on a daily basis. This will enable them to come to terms with their abilities and allow these strengths to become a natural part of their daily activities. Most individuals are aware of their abilities; however, very few of these individuals can implement these ideas into life situations and use them to their advantage. Hence, this strategy is ideal in helping an individual integrate into the community. In fact, it might even put him or her at an advantage to other individuals as he is more self-aware and able to apply himself. Positive psychology is an important branch of psychology that can make a vast difference in the prognosis of a patient. Applying the appropriate strategies equips an individual with sufficient knowledge and skill to integrate with the community and improves the way in which he applies himself. Furthermore, this branch of psychology can be implemented into a large amount of therapeutic methods. Read More