Mental Health and Well-Being: Positive Psychology

Few publications have changed the landscape of contemporary psychology more than Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman's landmark work, Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. Its publication in 1984 set the course for years of research on the dynamic processes of psychological stress and coping in human beings. Now more than a quarter-century later, The Oxford Handbook of Stress, Health, and Coping pushes the field even further with a comprehensive overview of the newest and best work in this dynamic subject. Edited by Susan Folkman and comprising chapters by the field's leading scientists, this new volume details the expanded knowledge base that has emerged from extensive research on stress and coping processes over the last several decades. Featuring 22 topic-based chapters -- including two by Folkman -- this volume offers unprecedented coverage of the two primary research topics related to stress and coping: mitigating stress-related harms and sustaining well-being in the face of stress. Both topics are addressed within their relevant contexts, including chronic illness, calamity, bereavement, and social hardship. The Oxford Handbook of Stress, Health, and Coping is an essential reference work for students, practitioners, and researchers across the fields of health psychology, medicine, and palliative care.

A New York Times Bestseller What makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? A good life? In their "captivating" (The Wall Street Journal) book, the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, show that the answer to these questions may be closer than you realize. What makes a life fulfilling and meaningful? The simple but surprising answer is: relationships. The stronger our relationships, the more likely we are to live happy, satisfying, and healthier lives. In fact, the Harvard Study of Adult Development reveals that the strength of our connections with others can predict the health of both our bodies and our brains as we go through life. The invaluable insights in this book emerge from the revealing personal stories of hundreds of participants in the Harvard Study as they were followed year after year for their entire adult lives, and this wisdom was bolstered by research findings from many other studies. Relationships in all their forms--friendships, romantic partnerships, families, coworkers, tennis partners, book club members, Bible study groups--all contribute to a happier, healthier life. And as The Good Life shows us, it's never too late to strengthen the relationships you already have, and never too late to build new ones. The Good Life provides examples of how to do this. Dr. Waldinger's TED Talk about the Harvard Study, "What Makes a Good Life," has been viewed more than 42 million times and is one of the ten most-watched TED talks ever.

Mattering, which is about feeling valued and adding value, is essential for health, happiness, love, work, and social well-being. We all need to feel valued by, and add value to, ourselves, others, co-workers, and community members. This book shows not only the signs, significance, and sources of mattering, but also presents the strategies to achieve mattering in our personal and professional lives. It uses research-based methods of change to help people achieve a higher sense of purpose and a deeper sense of meaning. Each chapter gives therapists, managers, teachers, parents, and healthcare professionals the tools needed to optimize personal and collective well-being and productivity. The volume explains how promoting mattering within communities fosters wellness and fairness in equal measure. By using the new science of feeling valued and adding value, the authors provide a guide to promoting happier lives and healthier societies.

When you have difficulties managing your emotions, it can feel like you're losing control of your whole life. Anger, hurt, grief, worry, and other intense feelings can be overwhelming, and how you react to these emotions can impact your ability to maintain relationships, succeed at work, or even think straight! If you find it difficult to understand, express, and process intense emotions--and most of us do--this book is for you. Calming the Emotional Storm is your guide to coping with difficult emotions calmly and responsibly by using powerful skills from dialectical behavior therapy. This method combines cognitive behavioral techniques with mindfulness practices to change the way you respond to stressful situations. By practicing these skills, you can stop needless emotional suffering and develop the inner resilience that will help you weather any emotional storm. This book will teach you how to: * Establish a balanced life for an everyday sense of well-being * Let go of unwanted worries and fears * Become better at accepting yourself and others * Work through a crisis without letting emotions take over

Mental Health: A Person-centred Approach equips students with the tools they need to provide exceptional person-focused care when supporting improved mental health of diverse communities.The third edition has been updated and restructured to provide a more logical and comprehensive guide to mental health practice. It includes new chapters on trauma-informed care, different mental health conditions and diagnoses, suicide and self-harm and the mental health of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Significant updates have been made to the chapters on the social and emotional well-being of First Nations Australians and mental health assessment. Taking a narrative approach, the text interweaves personal stories from consumers, carers and workers with lived experience. Each chapter contains 'Translation to Practice' and 'Interprofessional Perspective' boxes, reflection questions and end-of-chapter questions and activities to test students' understanding of key theories. Written by experts in the field, Mental Health remains an essential, person-centred resource for mental health students.

Positive Psychology on the College Campus provides innovative strategies that can be employed with students to enhance both their personal development and educational experiences. The book also provides an overview of the state of college students' mental health and relevant developmental issues. Individual chapters, all written by experts in their fields, describe practical strategies for readers to use with students. Additionally, the authors explain how positive psychology can be applied in general to the college experience. With its wide-ranging topics and distinguished contributors, Positive Psychology on the College Campus is a must-have resource for all those who work with college students, including faculty, academic advisors, administrators, residence-life staff, counselors, and student-activities staff.

"The perfect recipe for fulfillment, joy, peace, and expansion of awareness." --Deepak Chopra, MD, author of Metahuman Cultivate hope with strengths-based practices grounded in positive psychology. If you suffer from depression, sub-clinical depression, or low mood, you may have days where you feel like you've lost hope--hope that you'll ever feel better, that the world will be a better place, or that you'll someday find the happiness that always seems to elude you. You aren't alone. Many people struggle with feelings of sadness and hopelessness--especially in our difficult, modern world. The good news is that you can change. Learned Hopefulness offers powerful exercises grounded in evidence-based positive psychology to help you identify your strengths; ditch the self-limiting beliefs that diminish your capacity for positivity; and increase feelings of motivation, resiliency, and wellness. You'll also learn to untangle yourself from rumination over past negative events, while shifting your perspective to the present moment and anticipating your future through a more positive lens. With this unique, compassionate, and life-affirming guide, you'll find the tools you need to break free from hopelessness and start living a life of happiness and vitality.

The third edition of Positive Psychology is an accessible introduction to this rapidly growing field. It covers all major positive psychology topics including wellbeing, character strengths, optimism, gratitude, savouring, flow, mindfulness, emotional intelligence, creativity, giftedness, wisdom, growth mindset, grit, self-esteem, self-efficacy, adaptive defence mechanisms, functional coping strategies, positive relationships, and positive psychology interventions. Positive Psychology retains all of the features that made previous editions so popular, including: * Learning objectives * Accounts of major theories * Reviews of relevant research * Self-assessment questionnaires * Self-development exercises * Chapter summaries * Key term definitions *  Research questions for student projects * Essay questions for student assignments *  Personal development questions for student exercises * Relevant web material * Further reading This new edition has been completely updated to take account of the exponential growth of research in the field.　 It will prove a valuable resource for students and faculty in psychology and related disciplines including social work, nursing, teaching, counselling, and psychotherapy. This edition also provides access to online teaching resources.

Stop Seeking Happiness; Just Get Out of Its Way! Happiness is our natural state, for each of us and for humanity as a whole, argues John Izzo. But that happiness is being stolen by insidious mental patterns that he depicts as thieves- the thief of control, the thief of conceit, the thief of coveting, the thief of consumption, and the thief of comfort. He discovered these thieves as he sought the true source of happiness during a year-long sabbatical, walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain and living in the Andes of Peru. This thoughtful and inspiring book describes the disguises these thieves wear, the tools they use to break into our hearts, and how to lock them out once and for all. Izzo shows how these same thieves of personal happiness are destroying society as well. This book will help us all discover, develop, and defend the happiness that is our true nature while creating a world we all want to live in.

★ "Informative, diverse, and highly engaging; a much-needed addition to the realm of mental health."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review Featuring real-life stories of people who have found hope and meaning in the midst of life's struggles, Heads Up: Changing Minds on Mental Healthis the go-to guide for teenagers who want to know about mental health, mental illness, trauma and recovery. For too long, mental health problems have been kept in the shadows, leaving people to suffer in silence, or worse, to be feared, bullied or pushed to the margins of society where survival is difficult. This book shines a light on the troubled history of thinking about and treating mental illness and tells the stories of courageous pioneers in the field of psychiatry who fought for more compassionate, respectful and effective treatments. It provides a helpful guide to the major mental health diagnoses along with ideas and resources to support those who are suffering. But it also moves beyond a biomedical focus and considers the latest science that shows how trauma and social inequality impact mental health. The book explores how mental health is more than just "in our heads" and includes the voices of Indigenous people who share a more holistic way of thinking about wellness, balancing mind, body, heart and spirit. Highlighting innovative approaches such as trauma-informed activities like yoga and hip-hop, police mental health teams, and peer support for youth, Heads Upshares the stories of people who are sparking change.

Philosophers defend theories of what well-being is but ignore what psychologists have learned about it, while psychologists learn about well-being but lack a theory of what it is. In The Good Life, Michael Bishop brings together these complementary investigations and proposes a powerful, new theory for understanding well-being. The network theory holds that to have well-being is to be "stuck" in a self-perpetuating cycle of positive emotions, attitudes, traits and accomplishments. For someone with well-being, these states -- states such as joy and contentment, optimism and adventurousness, extraversion and perseverance, strong relationships, professional success and good health -- build upon and foster each other. They form a kind of positive causal network (PCN), so that a person high in well-being finds herself in a positive cycle or "groove." A person with a lesser degree of well-being might possess only fragments of such a network -- some positive feelings, attitudes, traits or successes, but not enough to kick start a full-blown, self-perpetuating network. Although recent years have seen an explosion of psychological research into well-being, this discipline, often called Positive Psychology, has no consensus definition. The network theory provides a new framework for understanding Positive Psychology. When psychologists investigate correlations and causal connections among positive emotions, attitudes, traits, and accomplishments, they are studying the structure of PCNs. And when they identify states that establish, strengthen or extinguish PCNs, they are studying the dynamics of PCNs. Positive Psychology, then, is the study of the structure and dynamics of positive causal networks. The Good Life represents a new, inclusive approach to the study of well-being, an approach committed to the proposition that discovering the nature of well-being requires the knowledge and skills of both the philosopher in her armchair and the scientist in her lab. The resulting theory provides a powerful, unified foundation for future scientific and philosophical investigations into well-being and the good life.

Boost wellbeing and build a robust, productive culture in your workplace Your workplace's most powerful resource is its people. That's why it's critical to balance the needs of your business with the needs of the employees who make that business happen every day. At the heart of the matter is your workplace culture: the environments and relationships that shape your business, whether physical or virtual. How to Heal a Workplace shares the insights and hands-on advice that you need to better understand how your culture impacts your team. You'll learn how to manage interpersonal challenges--and anticipate the impact of policies and procedures--to create a healthier, happier and more productive environment. Drawing on real-world stories from diverse industries, in-demand workplace mental health consultant Kerry Howard shares strategies that will help you: Boost employee wellbeing, and attract and retain staff by supporting their mental health Understand how trauma is caused by everyday events and how this impacts the workplace Combat bullying and harassment and prevent workplace injuries Foster psychological safety, improve communication, and build better relationships between colleagues In How to Heal a Workplace, you'll find the practical advice you need to create a better culture, improve productivity and increase satisfaction across every area of your business.

Meesha and Lucas are in a math lesson. Meesha is happy to take on the challenges set by the teacher, but Lucas is more reluctant. Meesha has a growth mindset. She believes intelligence, talent and ability are open to change. So she believes she can get better at math. This means she tries, puts in effort and works hard to master the learning. Lucas has a fixed mindset. He doesn't believe he can get better at math. He thinks you're either good at math or you're not. And he is definitely not good at math. Lucas and Meesha make different decisions about their learning because of their different mindsets. As time goes on, Meesha and Lucas talk. Meesha explains that you can change your mindset and she encourages Lucas to do this. Gradually, Lucas starts to think in a different way. He starts to think that he can do math, that he can get better. As he changes his mindset, so Lucas changes his behaviour. He starts to try, to keep trying and to persist. We see him improve his math skills as a result. Meesha and Lucas demonstrate the differences between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. They show how each one influences your thoughts, actions and behaviour. And they also show that anyone can develop a growth mindset, no matter who they are. Teacher notes: This video could be used as an introduction to growth mindsets and a tool for helping learners reflect on how they think about learning and their own potential to develop.

Tom and Caitlin are two young students doing a science project at a space centre. Tom starts off with a fixed mindset. He is wary of taking risks with his learning and fears the consequences of making mistakes. Caitlin is the opposite. She has a growth mindset and feels happy and confident when taking risks. She wants to use trial and error to see what works. She understands the value of good mistakes! Caitlin decides to take a risk with the science project. She wants to see what happens, and knows that she can learn lots by trying things out - and not worrying about what might happen. Tom finds this difficult. He wants to do everything he can to avoid making any mistakes, even if it means missing out on opportunities and new learning. Throughout the video we see Tom's mindset start to change. He moves from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. He starts to realize that mistakes can be good. In fact, they can be great! And you can learn a lot by trying, seeing what happens and viewing your mistakes in a positive light. By the end of the video, Tom and Caitlin both have a growth mindset. They are learning from their mistakes and having fun as they learn. They both appreciate the benefits of good mistakes. Teacher notes: This video could be used as an introduction to growth mindsets and a tool for helping learners reflect on how they think about learning and their own potential to develop.

Did you know that happy people live 8-9 years longer, have better relationships, earn more money, tend to be more creative and make more effort to help others? This documentary tells us what happiness is (and what it isn't), helps us find out how happy we are, and gives practical tips on how we can increase our happiness.

It sometimes seems the natural world—our mother the Earth—is taking an increasingly savage beating so that people in the developed nations can become more and more wealthy but also less and less happy. We tend to treat money as a proxy for happiness and assume that more money automatically means more happiness but it doesn’t seem to work that way. That paradox has given rise to entirely new fields of inquiry like positive psychology and happiness studies and it’s at the intersection of happiness, sustainable living and education that we find Dr. Catherine O’Brien, a professor of education at Cape Breton University. She’s part of a worldwide network of scholars and researchers who are asking such questions as, “What is happiness?” “How do we obtain it?” “How do you measure it?” “Why are some entire countries measurably happier than others?” “Do we need new ways of understanding terms like wealth and poverty and can we personally structure our lives so that weactually become happy people?” Catherine O’Brien’s research has led her to propose that there is sucha thing as sustainable happiness and that the techniques for achieving it can be taught. Indeed, she’s written a book on it and developed the world’s first course in it. She contends that behaving in ways that will bring us deep endurable happiness is also good for our families, our communities and indeed for the planet itself.

It's an age-old pursuit, a never-ending search for that elusive all-too-often fleeting feeling: happiness. Canada ranks among the Top 10 happiest countries in the world, but there are definitely pockets of discontent, notably in our large urban areas. Positive psychology expert Shawn Achor talks about how we can rewire our brains to make ourselves happy within a matter of weeks. He also talks about the impact of optimism on our productivity, a message that has the business world taking notice.

Positive psychology is about scientifically informed perspectives on what makes life worth living, focussing on aspects of the human condition that lead to happiness, fulfilment, and flourishing. The Journal of Positive Psychology provides an interdisciplinary and international forum for the science and application of positive psychology. The Journal is devoted to basic research and professional application on states of optimal human functioning and fulfilment, and the facilitation and promotion of human flourishing in all its forms.

The international peer-reviewed Journal of Happiness Studies is devoted to theoretical and applied advancements in all areas of well-being research. It covers topics referring to both the hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives characterizing well-being studies. The former includes the investigation of cognitive dimensions such as satisfaction with life, and positive affect and emotions. The latter includes the study of constructs and processes related to optimal psychological functioning, such as meaning and purpose in life, character strengths, personal growth, resilience, optimism, hope, and self-determination. In addition to contributions on appraisal of life-as-a-whole, the journal accepts papers investigating these topics in relation to specific domains, such as family, education, physical and mental health, and work. The journal provides a forum for three main areas in happiness research: 1) theoretical conceptualizations of well-being, happiness and the good life; 2) empirical investigation of well-being and happiness in different populations, contexts and cultures; 3) methodological advancements and development of new assessment instruments.

American Psychologist®, established in 1946, is the flagship peer-reviewed scholarly journal of the American Psychological Association. As such, American Psychologist publishes current and timely high-impact papers of broad interest. These papers include empirical reports, meta-analyses, and other types of scholarly reviews. Topics cover psychological science, practice, education, and policy. Contributions often address issues of national and international significance, both with regard to the profession of psychology and its relationship to society at large. Published articles are written in a style that is accessible to all psychologists and the public.

*Popular magazine* It all started in print. In 1967, Nicholas Charney founded Psychology Today; he was keen to bring psychology to the masses. And he succeeded. By 1981, the magazine boasted a circulation of more than 1 million copies. Then as now, Psychology Today was known for its authoritative translational science writing, inviting individuals and luminaries in the field of psychology to write about their own work and that of others in a way that is accessible to lay readers. The concepts of “groupthink” and “six degrees of separation” were introduced in the pages of Psychology Today, and eminent psychiatrists and psychologists from Viktor Frankl to Carl Rogers and Albert Ellis have been featured. The magazine has received numerous awards for both editorial and design, and is published six times a year. It is archived on this site from 1992 onwards.

Frontiers in Psychology is committed to advancing developments in the field by allowing unrestricted access to articles, and communicating scientific knowledge to psychologists, researchers, academics and the public alike, to enable the scientific breakthroughs of the future.

The journal brings together research in psychology, artificial intelligence, linguistics, philosophy, computer science and neuroscience. Trends in Cognitive Sciences provides a platform for the interaction of these disciplines and the evolution of cognitive science as an independent field of study.

Psychological Bulletin® publishes syntheses of research in scientific psychology. Research syntheses seek to summarize past research by drawing overall conclusions from many separate investigations that address related or identical hypotheses.

The Annual Review of Psychology covers the significant developments in the field of psychology, including: biological bases of behavior, sensation and perception, cognitive processes, animal learning and behavior, human development, psychopathology, clinical and counseling psychology, social psychology, personality, environmental psychology, community psychology, and more.

The science of the good life, huh? Sorry this is not about booze, sex and rock n'roll (or whatever is en vogue right now). In fact we talk about a lot of things that tree huggers would love: appreciation of beauty, gratitude, positive emotions, relationships and well, love. However we, that is positive psychologists and positive psychology practitioners buried ourselves in books, set out to experiment and then write it all up in a writing style that is about as exciting to read as watching an avocado turn brown. And that's the problem: if you are not an academic you probably want a little bit more excitement, than pages and pages of densely written journals can provide. Even if you are an academic, who has time to read all the interesting stuff out there anyways? So in an effort to save your eyes taking on a comically rectangular shape the positive psychology podcast brings the science of the good life to your earbuds. It's not all treehugger style though; sometimes we might get quite serious, for example when exploring things like post-traumatic growth or positive parenting. Subscribe if you want to benefit from the scientific insights into happiness and meaning while you are on the go. Let me know where you are while you are listening to this. If you like it review it, because that's the only way other people can find it too.

You might think you know what it takes to lead a happier life… more money, a better job, or Instagram-worthy vacations. You’re dead wrong. Laurie has studied the science of happiness and found that many of us do the exact opposite of what will truly make our lives better. Based on the psychology course she teaches at Yale — the most popular class in the university’s 300-year history — The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos will take you through the latest scientific research and share some surprising and inspiring stories that will change the way you think about happiness.

‍On this show, Dan talks with eminent meditation teachers, top scientists, and even the odd celebrity. Guests include everyone from His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Brené Brown to Karamo from Queer Eye. On some episodes, Dan ventures into the deep end of the pool, covering subjects such as enlightenment and psychedelics.

Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and tenured professor in the department of neurobiology, and by courtesy, psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford School of Medicine. He has made numerous significant contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function and neural plasticity, which is the ability of our nervous system to rewire and learn new behaviors, skills and cognitive functioning. In 2021, Dr. Huberman launched the Huberman Lab podcast. The podcast is frequently ranked in the top 10 of all podcasts globally and is often ranked #1 in the categories of Science, Education, and Health & Fitness.

Learn research-tested strategies for a happier, more meaningful life, drawing on the science of compassion, gratitude, mindfulness, and awe. Hosted by award-winning professor Dacher Keltner. Co-produced by PRX and UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center.