Positive Psychology and Happiness - Research Paper Example

? Treatment Plan al Affiliation Happiness is what every normal human being strives to achieve in day to day life, since when one is happy, he or she is very healthy. Positive psychology has embarked on helping human beings achieve happiness or the full life. As Martin Seligman was doing his research, he found out that when human beings have achieved satisfaction, they are very happy. In his quest to achieving happiness, and as a way of preventing depression or even treating the already depressed, Seligman argued that there are three pillars or paths to achieving happiness; these are the pleasant life, the good life, and the meaningful life. In this paper, the three pillars are used to help in treating Jackie, as she has been diagnosed with symptoms of depression. Her life has undergone many changes after she injured her ankle, and this has contributed to her feelings of depression and isolation. Keywords: Pleasant Life, Good Life, Meaningful Life, Positive Psychology, Depression, Isolation Introduction For many decades, positive psychology has caught the attention of many scholars and even the general public. This is because it focuses on what makes life worth living; in other words, it is concerned with human beings and a happy life. It calls for the prevention rather than treatment of psychological disorders. This research paper will shed light on how positive psychology can be used to solve Jackie’s problem. Case Study The case study in this research is about a woman by the name Jackie. Jackie is a Japanese-American woman aged 35 years and has two kids, a son and a daughter, who are thirteen and ten years respectively. Eighteen months ago, Jackie sustained an injury on her right ankle and this became the beginning of her problems because it has lessened her movement. Due to her movement being very little, she is not able to enjoy her life as she used to. She is also not able to attend to her kids and thus she feels like she is not contributing to the growth of her kids. She has also lost contacts with some of her friends from the tennis club and at work. Her duties at work were switched to documenting inventory in some back office, while she used to work at the cash register where she would interact with many people before the injury. Her life has really changed and she has to make many adjustments because her life has taken a turn which she did not expect. She has trouble sleeping through nights. She also has difficulties finding pleasure in the activities she used to enjoy, like playing tennis. Due her little movement, she has added a lot of weight and this is making her lose her previous shape. Though her ankle has healed, she is no longer interested in engaging in the activities that she used to enjoy. All these problems have made her feel isolated and she has symptoms of depression. Analysis of the Concept of Full Life according to Positive Psychology Treatment for Jackie As mentioned earlier, positive psychology is concerned with helping human beings attain happiness in life. It also aims at preventing psychological disorders. There are three basic pillars of positive psychology and they are also the components of happiness, as stated by Martin Seligman. They include the pleasant life, the good life, and meaningful life. Seligman goes further to say that the human being is said to have a complete life or the full life, when he or she experiences the three pillars (Ward, n.d.). These three pillars are of great help in treating Jackie’s depression. The pleasant life is achieved by the positive emotions like pleasure, rapture, warmth, and comfort among other such emotions, by learning to appreciate such basic pleasures as companionship, the natural environment, and our bodily needs (“Martin,” 2013). In this case, Jackie’s life is not pleasant because she does not enjoy the activities she enjoyed before. She also feels isolated as she is not able to have contact with her friends. The pleasant life entails subjective well being (positive emotions and mood); this will help Jackie participate in the activities that she enjoyed before like playing tennis and being engaged in her children’s life, rather than feeling pity upon herself, because this will increase the feeling of isolation and depression. When she has the feeling of warmth or even comfort, she will surely have a happy life. The good life or the engaged life is a second route to happiness. However, happiness is not found through pleasure and emotion, but through engagement. Jackie should just continue playing tennis and enjoy it; this will substantially contribute to her feelings of happiness. This pillar is essentially concerned with the concept of flow; flow occurs when one is so much occupied in some activities that he or she might lose his or her self (Ward, n.d.). Flow makes one be in a world of her own and this is essential in trying to achieve the full life. This is because through the process, one might not be very comfortable, but the result of the flow process may lead to an individual experiencing gratification, and thus happiness of the full life. Flow activities such as sports or arts contribute a lot to the feeling of happiness and wellbeing. For Jackie to avoid having feelings of isolation, she should continue identifying herself with key strengths, so as to increase flow and achieve happiness which is the main goal. The third pillar of positive psychology is the meaningful life. According to Seligman (“Martin,” 2013), this pillar is constituted of the valued subjective experiences that are found in the present. This pillar is concerned with the study of positive traits and those of strengths and virtues (Tangeman, 2008). This pillar can help in treating Jackie as it will enable the mental health counselor assist her in identifying her key strengths. Jackie is good at playing tennis and the fact that she has added weight, does not mean that she cannot exercise and enjoy tennis. This pillar will enable her continue interacting with her friends, rather than isolating herself, which might increase her depression. According to Seligman the goal of the third pillar is help an individual have a clear mission and purpose in life. This is achieved by putting others needs before one’s own needs. If an individual’s purpose in life is promoting his wellbeing through fame, power, among other individual wants, it can be very toxic. According to Seligman, a large factor that was increasing the depression rates in the societies was the rise of individualism, which he called the “me” culture (Ward, n.d.). Human beings have the nature of belonging to groups, such as family or friends, and interacting in these groups. When people venture into helping each other in these groups, it translates into larger gains of happiness and wellbeing. It is normal for a human being to feel good after helping another person and this is how a full and happy life is achieved. By helping others, human beings also develop a sense of worthiness in the society; or in other words, one does not feel useless (Ward, n.d.). This pillar is of great help in treating the symptoms of depression that Jackie is portraying. According this pillar, one must fight individualism by helping others through interaction in groups. To fight the depression, Jackie can begin by helping her children in activities such as doing homework, or even playing with them. This will help her feel worth and have a purpose in life. As mentioned earlier, every human being feels happy the moment he or she makes a positive contribution towards another person’s life. Additionally, if Jackie continues with her tennis sport, she will be able to interact with her friends and as a result, she will not feel isolated. This will also contribute in helping her fight the symptoms of depression. From all the above, it is clear that Jackie should engage in positive activities such as playing with her kids, interacting with her friends, and continue playing tennis, as this will ensure that she utilizes her key strengths and feel worth. Conclusion Positive psychology helps people like Jackie realize that there are many methods they can use to increase happiness and counteract mild to moderate depressions, which are really affecting many people in the modern life. Essentially, it works by re-focusing people’s attention to look for what is good in life, rather than what is negative. It has been realized that people can deal with cases of depression by looking at their strengths and virtues as individuals. Reference List Martin Seligman, 2013. Retrieved November 25, 2013, from http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/martin-seligman/. Tangeman, K. R. (2008). Self-efficacy in Incarcerated Adolescents. Ann Arbor: ProQuest LLC. Ward, S. (n.d.). Understanding Concepts for Working with Children and Young People. Retrieved November 25, 2013, from, http://www.ycni.org/downloads/misc/Understanding_Concepts.pdf. Read More