by Martha Darwin

How would you describe positive psychology to someone who doesn’t know anything about it?

Picture the word “psychology” at the top center of a page.  Draw 2 lines down from it – one on each side of the page.  At the end of the first line, write “therapeutic”.  At this point, I would explain that the field of psychology began in this manner.  It had an illness focus, and practitioners were trained to seek illness in their patients.  But clearly, from looking at the diagram on the page, you can see that this arrangement is out of balance, and that is what psychology had become.  It was sorely needed in the area of therapy, but was woefully lacking for those healthy individuals who were more oriented toward growth and fulfillment of themselves.  At this point, write the word “positive psychology” at the end of the line on the right side of the page.  This represents RESEARCH that has been conducted over the last several decades that reveals to us ways that people can improve their mood, have more control over it – AND the benefits that come from a greater percentage of positivity to negativity.  These benefits include health, longevity, creativity, productivity, improved relationships – just to name a few.  There is now enough evidence that we can view this similarly to the way we view caring for our bodies – getting it in shape, in a sense, by following healthy practices.  It’s an exciting time to live because of the body of work that has been generated thus far, and continues to be generated.