Positive Psychology and Army Master Resilience Program - Essay Example

? Compare and Contrast Positive Psychology with Army Master Resilience Program al Affiliation Positive psychology and Army Master Resilience program have been working towards ensuring fitness in lives of different groups faced by challenging situations in various aspects of life. Positive psychology has been focusing on assisting the public ranging from children and youth in learning institutions, and adults. The Army Master Resilience focuses on assisting the soldiers, army leaders and the related families. In this document, the major similarity expounded exists in addressing the mental health issues. The civilians, soldiers, or veterans prone to mental illnesses and disorders receive assistance to treat their cases. MRT trains the soldiers and families to handle adversities effectively through critical thinking skills. Positive psychology influences positive thinking in people, by concentrating on their strengths and virtues, to understand their optimal functioning. The difference in operation is held on way of service delivery. Positive psychology uses subjective, individual, and group nodes, while MRT depends on the 4 major modules to facilitate training. Keywords: Positive Psychology, MRT, Mental Health, Soldiers, Army, Family Members, Resilience, Happiness, Positive Thinking, Emotions, Disabilities, Physical Injuries, Trauma, Module, Well-Being, Veterans Introduction Human lives are challenged by different situations arising from social, economic, human, or natural disasters among others. People therefore have to deal with the existing problems in a manner that whatever happens in the future, they would be able to handle such or related issues. It has not been easy with individuals and families who face disturbing difficulties in their work domains, having to extend their burden to their families. People loose jobs, some become disabled, and others suffer from mental and health illnesses, let alone physical injuries and loss of lives. Differences in range of application General public level: The implications would affect the victim as well as those related to them (Spouses, children and/or closest family members). According to Sheldon and King, positive psychologists attempt to study the optimal human functioning to understand the ordinary human strengths and virtues, so as to espouse a more open and appreciative perspective in human potential, motives, and capability (2001, p. 216). In the general context, positive psychologists take care of such individuals, group or communities in the public domain to promote the factors that allow them to thrive, achieve satisfaction and take a positive perspective in life. Army and related members level: The Army Master Resilience Program attends to the soldiers, their leaders, and families’ members to ensure fitness, and overcome the past or existing adversities they could be facing. Master resilience training (MRT) is an important constituent of (CSF) comprehensive soldier fitness program, which emphasizes on resilience in mental, physical, social, spiritual, and family context (“Strong minds,” n.d). Modern military leadership has embraced this program, to address to address primarily army members’ problems, before and after deployment in service, to support them on how to avoid traumatic difficulties and keep their entire health fit. It puts effort to teach soldiers on ways to identify and replace distorted or negative thought patterns, using positive ideas to solve the problem at hand. It does so by focusing on a present centered model in the resiliency training. Similarity by addressing mental health Issues Positive psychology and mental health: The practitioners come across different people seeking help due to their mental problems. Depression and mental illnesses have been common issues in the modern society, affecting families of the victims in regard on how to help them. Depression could more frequent span across different ages in human lives. Positive psychologists have been engaging in improving the mental health of adolescents, by understanding their optimal functioning based on their past and present circumstances, to enhance chances of good decisions in the youths’ future, so as to lead a satisfying and happy life. The youth are quite a sensitive group in the society with hidden potential to perform, but their personal strengths have been influenced by the society’s actions or agitating events, which prevent their personal development and successful learning. The specialists instigate recovery process for such groups through the mental health services, for individuals to learn and develop beneficial attitudes and behaviors over time. Most depressed people have to undergo positive psychotherapy as the treatment procedure to shape up their strength, will to communicate, imagination, and constructive responses. It shapes up children, youth, and adults experiencing mental health problems to engage and have a meaningful life; not by fixing the existing problem, but by nurturing their positive will and dimensions of strength, to assist them to best live their lives using the positive qualities. Positive psychologists work in various institutions such as schools, rehabilitation centers, hospitals and in social programs to positively influence the groups or individuals into self determination. According to Furlong, “the fields of mental retardation and special education have embraced many of the principles of positive psychology. The paradigm shift has occurred in educational programming and practice” (2009, p. 380). This has been effective in assisting students with intellectual disabilities. People acquire the will and strength through psychology, to build optimism in their activities and social lives. That is why you will see individuals who have been groomed by positive psychologists early in life, outperforming their peers in most areas of life, especially in solving life problems, endurance, and persistence. Organizational leadership has also benefited from positive psychology, emphasizing on the utility of positive feedback for the management to grow and enhance effectiveness. MRT and mental health: Through the military resilience program, soldiers learn how to cope and set their minds towards forward thinking, in many difficult situations arising or inline with duty. The military life has many challenging situations, but their implications could be reduced through such MRT training across available and different stations. According to AUSA, the soldiers and the army leaders undertake the MRT 10 day course, intending to equip soldiers with psychological ability, to put them in a prepared state for the mental demands of their military service, focusing on developing their strengths in familial, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects by way of critical thinking skills, so that they adjust to traumatic events, which may occur while working (2010). Such programs could take place prior to deployment, in case the soldier is about to undergo treatment or surgery, due to a health issue that could disturb his mental state or after returning from war. At times the army spend most of its time in service away from home and close to such facilities; hence the mobile training teams committed to conduct CSF and MRT courses reach out to the soldiers in different stations, especially where the need could be high due to difficult experiences of mental thought distortion, reducing the cost of operation for the program. Veterans and current serving soldiers are prone to mental disorders. Some have had to watch their colleagues die in the battlefield, others come back to broken homes and relationships, with physical injuries and disabilities, to find out they lost their parents or were left homeless while serving their nations. Their mental state is disturbed, with most of them viewing incidences that have occurred as betrayal from their country. In the last one decade, US soldiers have been out on war in Iraq and Afghanistan to maintain peace and alleviate terrorism, following the US 2001 major attack. These veterans and soldiers show a variety of behavioral health issues ranging from traumatic brain injury (TBI), major depressions, alcohol abuse, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), where the number of cases dealing with mental stability are higher than the number of physical injuries and fatalities (Pomerantz, 2009). This issue could alienate most of them from the society, while the mental disorder could make them adopt behaviors such as alcohol and drug abuse, or engage in rebel activities due to disgruntlement. The MRT course makes them develop abilities to handle stress, maintain strong relationships with co-workers as a mechanism for soldier to soldier protection in the battlefield, and back home with their families. Primarily, all the skills learnt from the MRT course concentrate around metal health and stability, in the hope that the soldiers get to enhance their capacities to prevent depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and anxiety, and enhance their overall performance and well being, while increasing their ability to handle adversity (Reivich, Seligman and McBride, 2011). It also focuses on mental agility and toughness of the soldiers to differentiate activating events from thoughts, minimize catastrophic thinking, and distinguish the consequences. That way, the number of veterans and soldiers committing suicide due to mental state disorder related activities could reduce, and the army family members who receive the training, are made to realize their true potential. Trained military leaders and other soldiers could reach out to others, influencing the positive thoughts towards life, well being and cultivating gratitude even while in work. Some get motivated for redeployment opportunities after healing the injuries. Differences in approaches to influence victims Categorizing subject in 3 nodes: In positive psychology, and in its efforts to influence positive thinking, positive emotions and future wellness, it focuses on positive experiences at three time points (the past, present, and future) to understand the victim contentment over the past experiences, determine the level of happiness in the present state, and navigate to build hope and optimism in the future. It focuses on different areas that extend to other domains aiming to develop, and facilitate flourishing individuals and environments, for people to achieve authentic happiness in life. In operation, it separates the subject into three levels; subjective, individual, and group levels. The subjective node encompasses things like positive experiences and states over the past, present, and future, concentrating on happiness and feeling good, individual node focusing on constituents of the good person and life, using the human strength, virtue, and inner personal qualities, and finally group node, which studies citizenship and communities, social responsibilities, and positive institutions (“Chapter 1: Introduction,” n.d). However, the criticism portrays the science as selfish, since it dwells on one side of life; the strategy taken by positive psychology gives the meaning and identity of the discipline without conflicts. Categorizing program in components and 5 modules: MRT program undertakes the preparation using five distinguished modules, 4 involving training then the fifth for conclusion. It also entails breakout sessions to practice and apply what is learnt in between the modules, in which effective communication is used by non commissioned officers to teach other soldiers. In an orderly manner, there is the resilience module where the fundamental and what contributes to resilience are learnt, highlighting self awareness and regulation, mental agility, optimism, connection, and character strength competencies, module 2 on building mental toughness, module 3 on identifying character strength, and module 4 on strengthening relationships (Reivich, Seligman and McBride, 2011, p. 28). Much follows through the sustenance and enhancement component of MRT, to properly recognize challenges to their resilience, and introduction to techniques that strengthen their mental skills. It takes a short period, but spans across a variety of sections to accomplish its objective. Some trainers may end up being trained as facilitators, based on the instructor’s evaluations after close monitoring. References AUSA. (2010). Master Resilience Training Increases Presence, Receives Positive Reviews. NCO Update 19(4), 1-6. Retrieved from http://www.ausa.org/resources/nco/ncoupdate/Documents/NCO%20Update%20Q4%202010%20PRESS.pdf Chapter 1: Introduction to positive psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/chapters/9780335241958.pdf Furlong, M. J. (2009). Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools. London: Routledge Pomerantz, J. M. (2009, April 16). Surge in Mental Health Conditions in War Veterans. Retrieved from http://dbt.consultantlive.com/display/article/1145628/1487422 Reivich, K. J., Seligman, M. E. P., and McBride, S. (2011, January). Master Resilience Training in the US Army. American Psychologist 66 (1), 24-34. Retrieved from http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/mrtinarmyjan2011.pdf Sheldon, K. M., and King, L. (March, 2001). Why Positive Psychology is Necessary. American Psychologist 56(3), 216-217 Retrieved from http://www.psicosport.it/news/Articoli%20-%20Sheldon%20-%20Why%20Positive%20Psychology%20is%20necessary.pdf Strong minds, strong bodies. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.knoxmwr.com/ArmyCommunityServices/MasterResilienceTraining/tabid/365/Default.aspx Read More