Introduction
Mental well-being is crucial for personal development and social interactions and can be enhanced through positive psychology. Various interventions for mental illness have been developed, including positive psychology, psychotherapy, and dual diagnosis treatment. Positive psychology involves a scientific study of positive subjective experiences, individual traits, and institutions. Positive psychology aims at establishing elements and human interactions that make life worth living. Positive psychology is a multifaceted approach to mental illness, and gratitude and savoring are the most outstanding interventions. Healthcare providers can utilize gratitude and savoring interventions to promote happiness and sense-making among patients with psychological problems.
Positive Psychology
Traditionally, medical and therapeutic interventions were considered basic approaches to psychological disorders. However, it has been established that activities which enhance positive human interactions and behaviors can be integrated to promote mental wellness (Shen et al., 2022). Positive psychology was developed in 1998 when the president of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman, identified it as his theme (Pawelski, 2022). âPositive psychology is the scientific study of positive human functioning and flourishing on multiple levels that include the biological, personal, relational, institutional, cultural, and global dimensions of lifeâ (Pawelski, 2022, p. 142). Happiness and psychological well-being can be enhanced through positive psychology.
Positive psychology utilizes various concepts to promote mental well-being and general body fitness. Happiness, quality of life, contentment, and meaningful life are interrelated concepts that make up the positive psychology (Abbas et al., 2022). The approach premises that individuals are often more driven by the future than the past. Therefore, a personâs mental wellness can be determined by their perception of what the future holds for them (Shen et al., 2022). For instance, a pessimistic judgment on future academic performance can lead to anxiety and depression. Therefore, it is crucial to promote activities and thoughts that enhance optimism among people with psychological problems.
Importance of Positive Psychology
Positive psychology can be utilized as a medico-social intervention by medical practitioners and institutional leaders. The approach has various benefits that serve both medical and effective social roles. Firstly, it increases self-esteeming among individuals who are subjected to its interventions. For instance, some positive psychology interventions (PPIs) involve showing appreciation and encouraging individual efforts. An individual who is appreciated and encouraged gain confidence in what they do. Secondly, positive psychology helps in improving the relationships between the family and social members. PPIs bring together various community members and enhance team-working for positive social growth.
Thirdly, positive psychology promotes a greater outlook on life and difficult situations. The approach postulates that gratitude, social connection, and kindness are all important to living our best lives (Waters et al., 2021). Therefore, individuals who are subjected to PPIs are encouraged to take every life situation from a positive perspective. Consequently, individuals are more focused on the positive outcomes of their actions than negative ones. The importance of positive psychology is fundamental in its application in various social settings (Shen et al., 2022). For instance, business organizations encourage PPIs for increased productivity, employee proactiveness, and overall increased profitability. Successful business organizations have integrated positive psychology into their human resource development.
Limitations of Positive Psychology
Although positive psychology gives a broad perspective on mental wellness, it has various limitations. Firstly, the approach presents confusion on what clinicians and patients regard as âpositiveâ. For instance, some patients with mental illnesses may consider substance abuse as a positive act that relieves them from pain. However, it is medically proven that substance abuse exacerbates mental illnesses and related health conditions (Kwok et al., 2022). Secondly, positive qualities such as excessive optimism can be detrimental to health, thus, regarded as negatives (Waters et al., 2021). Moreover, there is no clear-cut trajectory on what should be considered positive and negative. Therefore, medical practitioners avoid the integration of positive psychology due to its conceptual confusion.
Thirdly, positive psychology is criticized for its too much focus on an individual and not society as a whole. Focusing on individuals may deter the identification of social factors that lead to mental illnesses. Lastly, positive psychology fails to place enough focus on the treatment of mental health problems (Pawelski, 2022). Mental disorders such as depression can be too serious to be cured with mere stories and changing individualsâ perceptions. Instead, administering anti-depressant drugs combined with other medical interventions can help alleviate conditions (Kwok et al., 2022). While positive psychological approach to mental health is criticized, PPIs can be combined with other interventions for an effective treatment outcome.
Positive Psychology Interventions
Enhancing happiness and overall wellness involves the application of various strategies and approaches. PPIs involve a set of scientific tools and strategies that help increase happiness, wellness, and other positive emotions and cognitions (Abbas et al., 2022). Unlike many medical interventions, PPIs are focused on prevention and treatment. Therefore, from a positive perspective, PPIs are better than psychotherapy and assessment approaches that offer solutions to mental anomalies like depression and anxiety (Paucsik et al., 2022). Different types of PPIs have been developed and vary in their applications and complexities. The common PPIs are savoring, gratitude, kindness boosters, empathy, optimism, strength-building measures, and meaning-oriented PPIs, among others.
Gratitude Interventions
Happiness can be found in gratitude and reduces mental disorders. Finding happiness is the precise target of gratitude intervention of positive psychology (Abbas et al., 2022). Gratitude involves being thankful for things an individual has and focusing on what is good in life (Waters et al., 2021). Psychologists regard gratitude in three dimensions: as an affective trait, as a mood, and as an emotion. Gratitude can enhance a personâs overall tendency to have a grateful disposition, as an effective trait (Li et al., 2021). While gratitude as a mood involves daily fluctuations of individual feelings, as an emotion it involves temporary feelings that are experienced such as after receiving a gift. Therefore, gratitude can be applied to promote positivity which is crucial for mental wellness.
Application in Psychological Wellness
Gratitude interventions can be applied in various ways to enhance mental wellness. Self-reflective practices such as gratitude journal writing can be applied for self-reflection. The journals help individuals focus on beneficial outcomes and experiences rather than negative ones. Consequently, they have a clear mind on their achievements and possible areas for future improvements (Li et al., 2021). Additionally, the intervention can be applied by direct use of gratitude words such as âthank youâ and acts such as giving small tokens of appreciation. The application leads to an effective relationship between a person and others. Consequently, negative feelings that cause depression and anxiety are encumbered.
Benefits and Limitations
Although the application of gratitude interventions is multi-dimensional, it presents various benefits. Firstly, it increases happiness and satisfaction in an individualâs effort outcomes. Consequently, it is easier for a person to put more effort into activities that make them happy and socially effective. Secondly, gratitude interventions do not require specialized training or professional help. For instance, writing a gratitude journal is a personal effort, and only needs practice and discipline (Li et al., 2021). Therefore, integrating gratitude intervention is less costly but more beneficial than medical and psychotherapy approaches to mental wellness.
Although gratitude interventions are beneficial, they are limited in various ways. Firstly, gratitude intervention cannot be used in treating complex mental illnesses. For instance, depression that is associated with substance use requires professional intervention. Secondly, the absence of professional help in developing tools such as personal journals may cause one to deviate from the set objectives. The intervention can, therefore, lead to undesired results of mental wellness alleviation (Pawelski, 2022). Lastly, the approach lacks a specific framework that defines when it can be applied and what steps are needed to be followed for effective and desirable outcomes. Intensive research on gratitude intervention should be conducted to improve its effectiveness in encumbering mental illness and promoting psychological well-being.
Savoring PPIs
Personal experiences can be crucial in enhancing and maximizing happiness. Savoring PPIs help individuals to focus on particular experiences, and enhances their effects in maximizing happiness (Paucsik et al., 2022). The interventions are centered on principles of encouraging persons to grab every little aspect of the experience including sensory, physical, emotional, and social (Li et al., 2021). Consequently, savoring PPIs emphasizes wholesome perception, resembling mindfulness strategies. The intervention is categorized into three kinds: reminiscence, savoring the moment, and anticipation (Paucsik et al., 2022). Through savoring, individuals can reflect on their past experiences and relate them to the present and future.
Application in Psychological Wellness
Savoring PPIs can be adopted to promote psychological wellness among individuals, and involves three levels of application. First, it involves savoring experiences which include an intentional focus on the individualâs attention to appreciating positive events (Su-Keene & DeMatthews, 2022). The level integrates sensations, emotions, perceptions, thoughts, and behaviors that are linked to the particular environment in which an individual seeking psychological wellness is immersed. The second level involves connecting a positive event to positive emotions by modulating different positive states. The last level of savoring involves responses: specific behaviors or thoughts emerging as a response to a positive event (Su-Keene & DeMatthews, 2022). An individual with a psychological problem can be subjected to the three stages to adopt positive behaviors that discourage psychological illnesses.
Benefits and Limitations
Savoring PPIs in promoting mental well-being have various benefits for individuals. The intervention counterbalances unpleasant emotions and experiences during stressful events. Additionally, the intervention boosts happiness among individuals with routine sad events. Consequently, the intervention does more than just promote psychological wellness. Furthermore, savoring PPIs can help predict higher levels of life satisfaction, and preparation for the same (Kwok et al., 2022). However, the intervention is limited in several ways including the lack of a specific application approach. Moreover, the intervention cannot be used in treating complex mental anomalies such as depression and excessive anxiety.
Conclusion
The level of mental wellness help determines a personâs success in life and socialization activities. While psychotherapy and medical interventions have been adopted in solving cognitive anomalies, positive psychology can be integrated to prevent and treat the conditions. The psychological approach involves interventions that promote individualsâ happiness and positive perception of life. Gratitude and savoring PPIs are some of the common positive psychology interventions. Although the interventions help promote happiness and social well-being, they are limited to complex psychological problems such as excessive anxiety and serious cases of depression. Therefore, further research should be conducted to enhance the effective application of positive psychology in promoting mental wellness.
References
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