I doubt that there will ever be a one-size-fits-all for appropriate interventions. Some people will only benefit from drugs because insight is difficult: others will only benefit from group/individual talking-therapy. From when I was studying with Seligman, I do know of a wide variety of applications of positive psychology in the US: there are excellent preliminary results for improving people's mood and chronic pain management. Some people would find even the idea that such an approach could work to be offensive or derisory: several CBT studies for chronic symptoms have reported that more than half of the patients who had enrolled in the study did not attend a single session.
Unhappiness does seem to be widespread. Depending on its severity and its impact on people's ability to function socially or at work/school, it can be as debilitating as clinical depression. It is not that every stereotypical grump can be transformed into a Goldie Hawn-style giggler, but the research does indicate that it is possible to find a meaning in life that makes it bearable in the absence of other destructive forces.
tonyplant
May 14, 2006 - 15:19I doubt that there will ever be a one-size-fits-all for appropriate interventions. Some people will only benefit from drugs because insight is difficult: others will only benefit from group/individual talking-therapy. From when I was studying with Seligman, I do know of a wide variety of applications of positive psychology in the US: there are excellent preliminary results for improving people's mood and chronic pain management. Some people would find even the idea that such an approach could work to be offensive or derisory: several CBT studies for chronic symptoms have reported that more than half of the patients who had enrolled in the study did not attend a single session.
Unhappiness does seem to be widespread. Depending on its severity and its impact on people's ability to function socially or at work/school, it can be as debilitating as clinical depression. It is not that every stereotypical grump can be transformed into a Goldie Hawn-style giggler, but the research does indicate that it is possible to find a meaning in life that makes it bearable in the absence of other destructive forces.
Tony Happystance
»