Positive Psychological Analysis

Dr. Martin Seligman is the founder and leading authority in the field of Positive Psychology. Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living. Dr. Seligman’s work primarily focusses on Positive Psychology, resilience, learned helplessness, depression, optimism, and pessimism. He is also listed as being a leader in interventions that prevent depression, as well as build strengths and well-being. Dr. Seligman is also from my hometown, Albany, New York.

Resilience, fundamentally, is the ability to bounce back from hardship and the phenomenon of overcoming stress or adversity, for example: personal crises, poverty, mental illness and trauma (Occupational Health & Wellbeing, 2012). This skill can help individuals overcome the most difficult of situations (Occupational Health & Wellbeing, 2012). Resilience theorists generally agree that the presence of protective factors can reduce the effects of exposure to adversity. The more protective factors (or “assets”) available, the more resilient a person will be. Protective factors are conditions or attributes that help people deal more effectively with stressful events and eliminate risk. On the contrary, risk factors are attributes or characteristics

During our lives we come across many difficult times in which we learn important skills. However, our actions choose what skills we've gained. For instance, a person who makes rational choices, keeps aware of what these choices do, and never letting the situation over take them have the characteristics of a resilient perosn. People with resilience have a way of dealing with problems in the most effective way possible, like Louie Zamperini, who was lost at sea for months after his plane malfunctioned and crashed. His fight for survival brought forth these traits and caused him to outlive his situation.

Resilience is something that some people would give anything to have, the price however is sometimes steep. The price of resilience can be personality, a relationship with family, or a person's modesty. By hardening themselves against the outside world some people lose a part of their personality and become much different than they were before, such as Allen Wheelis from “Grass”. Other times people sacrifice a relationship with someone they care about to become resilient, shutting them out so that they can not hurt them anymore, Elizabeth from “Jericho”, a short story by Margaret Price, is an example of this. Lastly some people who are resilient get what is called survivor’s pride, and in turn become arrogant, an example

Resilience has been topic that we have learned and are discussing in my English class. When you can overcome hardships faster and easier when you are more resilient person. We have been analyzing an article called “The Science of Bouncing Back” by Mandy Oaklander. Oaklander discusses methods of many people on their experience, becoming a more resilient person. People respond to emotion and hardships in their life differently, and people with more struggles overcome it more gradually, and Mandy Oaklander made me consider the possibilities resilience has, and can offer in everyday life.

According to the Center, “Positive psychology is the systematic study of human strength, resilience and qualities that empower individuals and group of people to succeed” (Positive Psychology Center, 2014). Positive psychology’s founders learned through study that people usually place more emphasis on what goes wrong in their lives; they focus on their failures. For instance, divorce, financial obligations, or losing a job. It is imperative to comprehend the characteristics of undesirable experiences in an individual’s life. As an alternative to focusing on failure, focus can be placed on the positive situations in life and understand those are the occasions worth living for. Positive psychology emphasizes strengths and weaknesses, magnifying the positive aspects of life, and healing the effects of negative experiences. Positive psychology focuses on a person’s strengths and the hope of something larger then oneself to lead individuals to a more meaningful

Researcher define resilience as a broad cluster of personal characteristics that facilitate the ability to manage despite trauma. These characteristics include hardiness, optimism, self-enhancement, repressive coping, positive affect, and a sense of coherence (Agaibi & Wilson,2005; Bonanno, 2004; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). Collectively, these characteristics permit such people to emerge from trauma with less psychological wounds and relatively unchanged.

Attention getter: Everyday, thousands experience moderate to severe traumatic life events and how an individual copes with it is known as resiliency.

Many of us may have specific personality traits (dispositions to behave in a certain way, as expressed in the behavior of a person in a variety of circumstances, Cervone & Pervin, 2013) that might be negative, particularly when coping with stress and or facing challenges. Some of these traits have been due in part to inherited factors, copied from our parents or caregivers during childhood, or due to environmental influence. Regardless of the case, there is good news for all of us; we can change our brains. However, it takes persistent practice and time. We can develop new habits by training our brain.

Throughout a person's life, they are faced with many different kinds of adversity. The only way to overcome this adversity is through resilience. Being resilient is one of the best attributes a person can have because when one is resilient they never give up.

All individuals have to face a problematic situation at some point in their lives. It can vary from the death of a loved one, serious illnesses or any traumatic experience. Most people become very emotionally drained, mentally exhausted and tend to experience different feelings. Generally, people manage to adapt over time to major life changing events and many stressful situations. This is enabled by resilience, which is an ongoing process that requires plenty of time and a lot of effort in taking several steps. Resilience is a key quality that every person requires in order to make their life smoother. Resilience can be applicable to anyone including, individuals, families, communities, healthcare professionals, organisations as everyone is bound to experience rough times at any stage in the journey of life.

Researchers theorize the use of positive psychology in the treatment of cancer patients can diminish or eliminate depression. Researchers determined a structured positive psychotherapy program, designed to address the psychological challenges that cancer patients traverse. Breast cancer patients are taxed with medical, physical, emotional, and psychological stresses, that consume their lives. The natural instinct to survive allows patients to override the emotional and psychological fallout of the disease and focus on the eliminating the physical attack of the cancer, with medical interventions. This time proves to be chaotic, overwhelming and stressful; with patients inundated with fear, medical jargon, choices,

In Anna Harrington’s article, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”, resilience and the importance it has on successfully overcoming an obstacle is discussed. Emotion, spiritual, social, family, and physical are key elements that construct personal resilience (Harrington, 2012). There is no specific guide or “by the book” method to achieving

For as long as I could remember my dad wasn’t in my life. Ever since I was in the fourth grade he was constantly in and out of the hospital, had multiple strokes, and towards the end of his life on and off of life support. Even though I still saw him a few times a week, and tried to keep in touch with him as much as I could, but I was already learning at a very young age how to live without him. Then one day in my junior year of high school he passed away. Losing him was probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to endure. I was out of school for two weeks, and when I got back, learning was not on my mind. Almost to the point to where I didn’t even care about school anymore. My grades dropped and I ended up failing my junior year. I had so much guilt in me asking myself “why couldn’t I have done more?”, and “Why did I not go see him more when I could?”. But I knew I had to change and get back on the right track but at the time I did not know how. I did not know to move on from my dad dying and

The field of positive psychology is about “valued subjective experiences” such as; well-being, satisfaction, hope and happiness. “ At the individual level, is about positive individual traits” of having the capacity for love and vocation, forgiveness, originality, high talent and wisdom. “At the group level, it is about the civic virtues and the institutions that move individuals toward better citizenship” (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000, p.5). Gable and Hidt defined positive psychology as “the study of the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups, and institutions”. Sheldon and King (2001) describe it as “ nothing more than the