Psychology should be just as interested in building the best things in life as in repairing the worst and be as concerned with making the lives of normal people fulfilling as with healing pathology. Positive psychology is a new branch of psychology which aims to understand and promote factors that allow individuals, groups and organisations to thrive. Though not denying humanity’s flaws, positive psychology has focused on studying strengths, virtues as well as happiness. To date, there have been number of definitions used in the literature to define happiness, ranging from life satisfaction and appreciation of life to momentary feelings of pleasure, or the frequent experience of positive emotions. Numerous studies demonstrate that happy individuals are successful across life domains, including marriage, friendship, income work performance and health. Positive psychology interventions not only help individuals who are suffering from depression and anxiety disorders, but also assist individuals who are well adjusted to add more meaning and purpose in their life and help prevent them from developing mental health problems. Positive psychologists strive to build a collection of positive interventions and tools that will assist people to work on character strengths such as resilience, optimism, gratitude, intrinsic motivation, and self-efficacy which have been regarded to contribute to subjective well-being and happiness. Some positive psychology interventions include savouring the moment, practicing acts of kindness, using strengths and virtues in new and innovative ways, thinking about three things that went well each day and why they went well. These interventions have been found to improve relationships and foster positive thoughts and feelings.
Peter Kyriakoulis
Director of the Positive Psychology Centre
Clinical Psychologist
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