What is Positive Psychology and How Can it Help Me?

For many of us, when we think of Psychology, we think of mental illness, hours of therapy, and desperately trying to fix the problems in our lives; only to find that although we may have felt better at that moment, it didn’t really last, or create the joy and peace in our lives that we hoped for! But what if I told you instead it could be about discovering your strengths, learning to flourish, becoming more resilient, and living out your life with meaning and purpose?

Positive psychology is a subfield of psychology developed in 2000 by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Their goal was to shift the focus away from the painful and negative things of life, and instead find scientifically researched and proven techniques and practices to increase the human experience of all that is good in life. Help People increase their level of happiness and well-being, demonstrate the power of using your character strengths, increase moments of exceptionalism and accomplishment. Essentially, teaching people to Flourish in their own lives.

Positive Psychology is:

1. The study of what makes life worth living.
2. A science and all of the theories, findings, techniques, and practices that are based on peer-reviewed scientific researched studies.
3. A way for people to better understand how to improve their life experience to find more joy, strength, and overall well-being.
4. A discipline that teaches the power of shifting and expanding our focus and perspective, to open the door to experience more joy.

Positive Psychology is not:

1. Untested self-help theory.
2. A way to never experience the bad things in life.
3. Proposing we ignore the need to deal with and help people suffering from different forms of mental illness. On the contrary, these more traditional disciplines of psychology are essential to help people handle the painful circumstances of life.

Positive Psychology is the newest discipline within the field of psychology. It is a great way to improve your overall sense of well-being. If you would like to try one of our self-paced classes to fit your schedule, take a moment to check out our options.