Optimism and Health Paper - Essay Example

This article studies the impact of optimism on physical and emotional well being. In this regard, the article provides a detailed literature review and analysis, which takes into account quite a number of relevant studies and articles. The introductory part informs the writer about three different theoretical arguments on optimism. The first among these is that by Carver and colleagues who define optimistic people as individuals having a disposition towards optimism who indulge in more frequent protective attitudes, therefore they are not so vulnerable to stress and possess better coping strategies also.

The second view point presented in this portion of the article is that of none other than Seligman, who argues that external, specific and stable positive attribution styles among the optimists contribute in optimists turning out to have better coping skills than pessimists. A third view point presented in this regard (Weinstein, 2005) states that optimism is actually a distortion of reality and calls it unrealistic optimism, which can occur either as a defense mechanism to protect one’s self esteem or due to cognitive factors like lack of insufficient knowledge or a poor critical insight.

The main body follows the theoretical introduction. This is divided into four parts each under separate headings. The first part reports that researchers have found out that depression and suicidal ideation are inversely related to optimism (Velden et al; 2007); and that psychotherapy which promotes optimism can enhance the mental health of people at risk, specially the post traumatic individuals (Giltay et al; 2004). The second part is about optimism and physical health. Five studies are highlighted which support the conviction that optimism has a positive effect on physical health and helps in recovering from and preventing diseases like: AIDS, heart diseases and cancer.

Some contradictory findings are also presented in this article. These findings suggest that though optimism may have a short term positive effect on health, it causes long term negative changes in the immune system due to unrealistic attribution style (Schofield et al, 2004 & Tomakowsky et al, 2001). The article also includes research that highlights the coping skills which optimists tend to use. Summarizing the fin dings of these studies; such coping styles include: acceptance of situation, positive assessment of situation and use of humor to lighten up the situation.

Next section of the article deals with the impact of optimism on quality of life. Many studies have been reviewed by the authors in this regard. The findings of these studies suggest that optimists usually enjoy a better quality of life as compared to pessimists and score high on the physical as well as mental health related quality of life measures. The article further pursues the role of risk perception in optimism related physical and mental health. Most studies in this context revealed that optimists tend to perceive themselves as not being at risk or facing very little risk of diseases (McKenna et al, 1993).

The article ends with a concise conclusion that optimism plays an important role in the physical and mental well being of individuals. The authors have also recommended the use of psychotherapy that aims at optimism in order to reduce the risk of physical and mental health issues. 3. VALIDITY OF THE STUDY The article seems quite valid to me. It has covered