Transcript Document

Saint Louis Crisis Nursery Conference
Positive Psychology
Strengths-Based Strategies for Improving Well-Being
Bob Bertolino, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Maryville University-St. Louis
Sr. Clinical Advisor, Youth In Need, Inc.
Sr. Associate, International Center for Clinical Excellence
Tidbits
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From Pathology to Strengths
“What we have learned over 50 years is that the disease model does not move us
closer to the prevention of these serious problems. Indeed the major strides in
prevention have largely come from a perspective focused on systematically building
competency, not correcting weakness. Prevention researchers have discovered that
there are human strengths that act as buffers against mental illness: courage, futuremindedness, optimism, interpersonal skill, faith, work ethic, hope, honesty,
perseverance, the capacity for flow and insight, to name several. Much of the task of
prevention in this new century will be to create a science of human strength whose
mission will be to understand and learn how to foster these virtues in young people.
Working exclusively on personal weakness and on the damaged brains, however, has
rendered science poorly equipped to do effective prevention. We need now to call for
massive research on human strength and virtue. We need to ask practitioners to
recognize that much of the best work they already do in the consulting room is to
amplify strengths rather than repair the weaknesses of their clients.” (p. 6-7)
Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1),
5–14.
Strengths-Based Defined
A strengths-based perspective emphasizes the abilities and resources people
have within themselves and their support systems to more effectively cope with life
challenges. When combined with new experiences, understandings and skills,
those abilities and resources contribute to improved well-being, which is
comprised of three areas of functioning: individual, interpersonal relationships, and
social role. Strengths-based practitioners value relationships convey this through
respectful, culturally-sensitive, collaborative, practices that support, encourage
and empower. Routine and ongoing real-time feedback is used to maintain a
responsive, consumer-driven climate to ensure the greatest benefit of services.
Bertolino, B. (2014). Thriving on the front lines: Strengths-based youth care work. New York: Routledge.
Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder
Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder
Posttraumatic Growth
The Therapy Bias
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Freud thought the best we could hope for was “ordinary
misery” and questioned the quest for happiness.
As a field, we have focused on client pathology and
problems.
Until recently, psychological publications and studies
dealing with negative states outnumber those
examining positive states by a ratio of 15 to 1.
The bias of both psychology and psychotherapy has
been to get people back to zero.
A result has been the “empty person.”
Help adolescents and families to develop skills to
flourish by reducing negative symptoms and building
well-being.
By leveraging assets we create opportunities for
present and future change.
Positive Psychology Defined
Positive Psychology focuses on:
“What kinds of families result in
children who flourish, what work
settings support the greatest
satisfaction among workers, what
policies result in the strongest civic
engagement, and how people’s
lives can be most worth living.” (p.
5)
Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction.
American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–14.
Well-Being Contributors
Sales
Life Circumstances
10%
Set
Point/Temperment
50%
Intentional Activities
40%
Circumstances
Intentional
Activitiesto getting
Set Point/Temperment
Lyubomirsky, S. (2007).Life
The
how of happiness: A
scientific approach
the life you want. New York: Penguin.
Five Pillars of Well-Being
(Intentional Activities)
1. Positive Emotion
2. Engagement
3. Meaning
4. Relationships
5. Accomplishments
Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. New York: The Free Press.
Considerations
for
Leveraging
Assets
Considerations for Leveraging Assets
• Focus on fundamental skills such as listening, attending,
and eliciting client feedback and respond to that feedback
immediately as a means of strengthening the therapeutic
relationship. Researchers have identified several aspects of
the alliance (i.e., empathy, positive regard, congruence) that
are known contribute to contribute to better overall alliances.
(cont.)
• Collaborate with clients on determining which exercises
provide the best fit. Numerous studies in psychotherapy
have demonstrated the client’s rating of the therapeutic
alliance (i.e., the combination of client-therapist bond,
collaboration with the client on goals, and collaboration with
the client on tasks to accomplish those goals) as a reliable
and consistent predictor of eventual treatment outcome.
(cont.)
• Consider cultural and contextual factors with positive
interventions. Any fixed moral vision that sees happiness as
a yardstick of a good life should be avoided. For example, a
youth raised in a European-American culture may think of
happiness as a process of autonomy and self-determination,
whereas a client from another culture may see happiness as
relating to others and fulfilling obligations.
Rashid, T. (2009). Positive interventions in clinical practice. Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 65(5), 461-466.
(cont.)
• Encourage clients to use agreed-upon exercises in a routine
and ongoing manner, continue those exercises that have
proven beneficial, and experiment with new ones as needed.
In studies researchers have found that people with the highest
levels of happiness are the ones who maintain adherence to
the exercises they were asked to try.
“Circumstances happen to people, and activities are ways that people act on their
circumstance.” (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005, p. 118)
Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change.
Review of General Psychology, 9, 111-131.
(cont.)
• Package exercises to increase the likelihood of benefit. It
may not be practical for clients to do several exercises in
given day; however, it is suggested that therapists
encourage clients to try more than one exercise and do so
on multiple occasions over an agreed-upon time frame. In
doing so it can be helpful to work with clients on a
combination of exercises that can both contribute to an
immediate boost of happiness and those that can be
incorporated into everyday routines and provide longer-term
satisfaction.
Positive Emotion
“Our preoccupation has been the relief of
suffering, the alleviation of negative
emotions… It is clearly not the whole story.”
– Aaron Beck
Positive Emotion
• Happiness (and lastingly happier); Joy; Life Satisfaction
• Past, Present, and Future
• Positivity: 3:1 Ratio (Fredrickson)
• Signature Strengths
• The Language of Change
• Gratitude
• Savoring
• Mindfulness
• Focus on What Went Well (or 3 Things)
Positivity Ratios
• Give the person a notebook, journal, calendar, or piece of paper. Divide the paper
into sections with each section representing a day of the week. There should be
enough room for up to 20 entries per day.
• Have the person write down events that affect how they feel during the course of
the day. The person should write the event down in as close proximity as possible
to the actual time of the event.
• Next to each event, have the person select one of the following words to describe
how they felt about that event:
• Type 1: Amused, grateful, inspired, interested, joyful, love, proud, serene
• Type 2: Angry, ashamed, disgust, guilt, hate, sad, scared, stressed
• Add up number of Type 1 responses, then Type 2 responses. Divide the Type 1
total by the Type 2 total to create a Positivity Ratio.
• Examples: 5 events listed, 2 Type 1 and 3 Type 2 their ratio would be 0.67:1
• Example 2: 11 events listed, 8 Type 1 and 3 Type 2 their ratio would be 2.67:1
VIA Signature Strengths
• Values in Action (VIA)
• www.authentichappiness.org
• VIA Survey of Character Strengths
• Six Categories:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Strengths of Wisdom and Knowledge
Strengths of Courage
Strengths of Humanity
Strengths of Justice
Strengths of Temperance
Strengths of Transcendence
VIA Signature Strengths (cont.)
1. Wisdom and Knowledge: Cognitive strengths that entail the acquisition
and use of knowledge
2. Courage: Emotional strengths that involve the exercise of will to
accomplish goals in the face of opposition, external or internal
3. Humanity: Interpersonal strengths that involve “tending and
befriending” others
4. Justice: Civic strengths that underlie healthy community life
5. Temperance: Strengths that protect against excess
6. Transcendence: Strengths that forge connections to the larger universe
and thereby provide meaning
Character Strengths and Posttraumatic Growth
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Character Strengths found to predict Posttraumatic Growth:
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Bravery
Gratitude
Hope
Kindness
Religiousness
Character Strengths found to be important mediators of success in situations
characterized by significant cognitive, emotional, and physical challenges:
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Courage
Honesty
Leadership
Optimism
Self-regulation
Teamwork
Mathews, M. D. (2008). Positive psychology: Adaptation, leadership, and performance in exceptional circumstances. In P. A. Hancock & J. L. Szalma
(Eds.), Performance under stress (pp. 163-180). Aldershot, England: Ashgate.
Character Strengths and Common Concerns
Presenting Problem
Potential Character Strength Utilized
Effective prevention of depression relapse
Perspective, Curiosity, Judgment, Spirituality
Residual depressive symptoms
Curiosity, Perseverance
Anxiety
Self-Regulation, Bravery, Fairness, Curiosity
Body-image issues
Gratitude, Kindness
Drug Use
Self-Regulation, Bravery
Trauma
Perseverance, Bravery, Hope
Improved attention and working memory
Self-Regulation, Love of Learning
Reduced anxiety; adaptive learning dealing with
threat
Self-Regulation, Curiosity, Perspective
Improved romantic relationships
Love, Kindness, Social Intelligence
Decreased negative self-focused attention
Zest, Humor
Decreased negative affect
Zest, Hope
Rashid, T. (2009). Positive interventions in clinical practice. Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 65(5), 461-466.
Signature Strengths Exercise
• Take one signature strength and for the following
week use that strength in a new way, every day.
Peterson, C. (2006). A primer in positive psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions.
American Psychologist, 60(5), 410-421.
The Costs of Negativity
• A recent study shows that extensive discussions of problems and
encouragement of ‘‘problem talk,’’ rehashing the details of problems,
speculating about problems, and dwelling on negative affect in particular,
leads to a significant increase in the stress hormone cortisol, which
predicts increased depression and anxiety over time.
• People who are in a more positive mood are better liked by others and
more open to new ideas and experiences.
Byrd-Craven, J., Geary, D. C., Rose, A. J., & Ponzi, D. (2008). Co-ruminating increase stress hormone levels in women.
Hormones and Behavior, 53, 489–492.
Fredrickson, B. (1998). What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2, 300-319.
Gratitude
• A prized propensity in the Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian,
and Jewish traditions.
• Being thankful for and appreciating the actions of another.
• Emerges upon recognizing that one has received a positive
outcome from another person who behaved in a manner that
was costly to him or her, valuable to the recipient, and
intentionally rendered.
• Can also result from a nonhuman action or event.
Gratitude Visit
1. Think of someone who has done something important and
wonderful for you, yet who has not been properly thanked.
2. Reflect on the benefits you received from this person, and
write a letter expressing your gratitude for all he or she did
for you.
3. The letter should be approximately 300 words. Rehearse the
letter over and over until you know it by heart.
4. Arrange to deliver the letter personally, and spend some
time with this person talking about what you wrote.
Gratitude
• Journals; Diaries; Post-its
• Poster Boards
• Bulletin Boards
• Private and Public “Expressions”
Strategies for Savoring
• Share with Others: Seek out other to share an experience.
• Memory Building: Take a mental photograph or a physical souvenir of
an event and reminisce about it later with others.
• Sharpening Perceptions: Focus on specific aspects of an experience.
• Absorption: Become totally immersed in the pleasure and try not to
think about other matters.
• By Comparison: Once a day, take the time to enjoy something that is
usually hurried; note the difference.
Mindfulness
• Mindfulness is an overarching human strength closely linked with
human well-being and the ability to adaptively self-regulate feelings
and actions;
• In flexing the self-regulation muscle, a mindful disposition offers new
insights by enhancing cognitive flexibility, which decreases the need to
control or alter environment and experiences; the individual then
moves toward acceptance and genuine appreciation
Rashid, T. (2009). Positive interventions in clinical practice. Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 65(5), 461-466.
Mindfulness Exercises
• Identify key words that are validate, support, inspire, and increase
optimism. Then, say those key words, repeating them in different ways
while noticing the feelings, thoughts, and images that arise. When you
are done, write about your experience for 5-10 minutes.
• Capture a positive state (i.e., feeling joy, spontaneous, inspired, or the
like) and focus on the words for 15-20 minutes, becoming fully
immersed in the positive state.
• Breathing space exercise is when a 3-minute exercise in which the
person tunes into the present moment, focusing on the breath, and
then expanding the awareness to sense the whole body.
• Mindful walking and other forms of behavioral activation have been
linked with increased energy and well-being.
What Went Well?
1. For one week, identify and write down three good things
that went well each day;
2. Write down what influenced or caused those things;
3. At the end of the week reflect on the collection of good
things.
Creating Positive Emotion: Further
Exercises
• “Your Way” – (1) Ask the person to give his or her definition of “happiness”;
(2) Have the person rate his or her current level of happiness on a scale of 110; (3) Work with the person to identify two ways to boost his or her level of
happiness up to one point over the next week
• “Broaden-and-build” – positive emotions expand what an individual feels like
doing at any given time. (1) Have the person listen to a song, watch a movie,
or read a passage from a book; (2) Have the person identify one of five
emotions he or she feels (i.e., joy contentment, fear, anger, or neutral); (3)
Have the person list everything he or she would like to do at that moment.
Creating Positive Emotion: Further
Exercises (cont.)
• Help others to more easily adapt to changing circumstances
by trying something new “on the fly,” then writing or talking
with someone about how it felt to exercise creativity
• Encourage “practicing happiness” (start small – example:
smiling at others)
• Use music, stories, movies and other similar mediums to help
others experience positive emotion
Engagement
Engagement
• “Being at one” with some absorbing activity (Flow)
• Involves loss of self-consciousness
• Considered the opposite of Positive Emotion
• Goal-directed
• Art, sports, conversation
Flow in Action
• Choose an activity that the person can focus on without
interruption (e.g., a creative endeavor, conversation, etc.)
• Have the person engage in the activity for a minimum of 20
minutes
• Immediately following the activity, have the person write
down what he or she remembers about the experience
Positive Relationships
Positive Relationships
Numerous studies document the link between society and
psyche: people who have close friends and confidants,
friendly neighbors, and supportive co-workers are less likely
to experience sadness, loneliness, low self-esteem, and
problems with eating and sleeping. The single most common
finding from a half century's research on the correlates of life
satisfaction, not only in the United States but around the
world, is that happiness is best predicted by the breadth and
depth of one's social connections.
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Positive Relationships
• Building positive relationships and social connections
• People who are socially connected are more resilient to the
challenges of life
• Two kinds of social connections
1. One to one: friendships; pets
2. Group/community connections: neighborhoods, interest groups,
church communities, professional or work groups, groups of
friends, sports teams, military units, support groups and so on.
Exercises for Building Positive
Relationships
• Do Cognitive Mapping
• Learn about and invest in others’ interests. Let others know they are
valued by knowing the “little” things.
• Use activities, games, puzzles, or problems situations that
foster cooperation and “working together,” which creates “weness”
• Active Constructive Responding (ACR)
Active Constructive Responding
• Active-constructive responding (an enthusiastic response): “That’s great! I
wonder what other positive changes might be on the horizon for you.”
• Active-destructive responding (a response that points out the potential
downside): “So is that going to be their expectation going forward?”
• Passive-constructive responding (a muted response): “That’s nice, Mike.”
• Passive-destructive responding (a response that conveys disinterest): “I
didn’t get outside all day.”
Meaning
Meaning
• The “Meaningful Life”
• Subjective sense of meaning is strongly correlated with happiness
• Using what is best inside you to belong to and serve something bigger
than you are (the “larger” world and society)
• Positive Institutions (i.e., religion, politics, family, community, etc.)
• Practice Positive Deviance
• Altruism
• “Future-Mindedness” can help a person to become more creative,
optimistic, and hopeful
• Finding Life Purpose (and/or developing the spiritual self)
Pascale, R., Sternin, J., & Sternin, M. (2010). The power of positive deviance: How unlikely innovators solve the
world’s toughest problems. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.
Altruism
• Actions or behaviors that are intended to benefit another
person.
• Can be motivated by personal egotism, or it can be prompted
by “pure” empathic desire to benefit another person,
irrespective of personal gain.
• Exercise: Choose something that you can do for another
person to make their life better. Complete the act without telling
the other person. Write about what how you felt after
completing the act of altruism.
Future Pull
1. Find a vision for the future
2. Identify and dissolve perceived barriers to the
preferred future
3. Make an action plan to reach the perceived future
Finding Life Purpose or Direction
Four signals or life energies:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Blissed
Blessed
Pissed
Dissed
50
Meaning and Purpose: Further
Exercises
• Encourage youth to join the “movement” movement.
• Identify a new cause or effort to invest self in (sometimes it is
necessary to challenge youth and others to use their
dissatisfaction and/or sarcasm and take action)
Accomplishment
Accomplishment
• Often pursued for its own sake
• Self-discipline (Grit and Determination) is twice as important
as IQ
• Achievement
• Competence
• Mastery
• Development of New Skills
• Accomplishments over life span
• “Donors” and “accumulators”
Accomplishment: Exercises
• “Spread the Word”
• Diaries, journals, scrapbooks
• Artwork, music
• Public speaking