by Fizza Shah | January, 2018 | Fizza Shah, Positive Psychology
The science of a positive psychology intervention approach Positive psychology advocates that humans can flourish and accomplish optimal levels of functioning. In this era of fast-pace life, technological advancement and with daily demands of work, family, health requirements, how can this be possible? After much contemplation I thought of positive psychology interventions and how they brought to light areas of life that are meaningful to us as human beings. What caught my attention was the quality of life therapy advocating that there are 16 areas of quality of life that need enhancement and were identified as health, self-esteem, goals/values, money, work, play, learning, creativity, helping, love, friends, children, relatives, home, neighbourhood and community. Thereafter a scale of dissatisfaction is expressed through -1 to -7 scoring and satisfaction is shown by a 1 to 7 scoring. The purpose of the quality of life inventory is to establish areas that need growth in your life and so can be accomplished according to the CASIO model approach. The model postulates that four components are necessary for life satisfaction to be boasted “Circumstances of the area, the persons Attitude about it, perception, and interpretation of an area of an area in terms of his or her wellbeing: a person’s evaluation of fulfilment in an area based on the application of Standards of fulfilment and the importance a person place on overall wellbeing.” (Frisch, 2006 Pg,6) Collaboration of a quality of life therapy with professional The health sector implements this therapy in clinical, psychiatry, health psychology and counselling areas which have produced evidence based proof that it’s a good assessment procedure with the initial...
by Fizza Shah | November, 2017 | Fizza Shah, Happiness
The Science of happiness The founding father of positive psychology Martin Seligman (1998) advocated fellow psychologist to contemplate the reasons for why people were happy? He furthermore stated that “psychology was half-baked……. the side of strength, the side of what we’re good at” (Address, Lincoln Summit, Sep.1999). He encompasses happiness as a compilation of pleasure, strengths and meaning referring to these concepts as the three dimensions of happiness. Seligman has opened a notion that happiness has a beginning and a journey that entails pleasure to strengths ultimately leading to meaning in life. Most pioneering research in happiness has been conducted by Sonja Lyubomirsky (2011) who looked upon the process in which an individual can access the positive emotion of happiness. She advocated the happiness sustainable model which is divided into three categories 50% set point genetics what you are born with, 10% circumstances and 40% intentional activities. Thus, accommodating the 40% intentional activities by introducing the notion of a person-activity fit diagnostic questionnaire rating 12 happiness strategies from a scale of 1-7 as natural, enjoyment, value, guilt and situation. The 12 happiness strategies are as followed counting your blessing, cultivating optimism, avoid overthinking/comparison, practice acts of kindness, nurturing relationships, conducting engaging activities, savouring life’s joys, committing to your goals, creating coping strategies, forgive, practice religion/spirituality and taking care of your body. These happiness strategies laid the foundation for self-help measures for individual to boast their level of wellbeing by utilising these happiness activities. Collaboration of happiness strategies by Professional Practitioners Health professional such as mental health counsellors, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, psychiatric nurses and psychotherapist can really benefit by performing...
by Fizza Shah | September, 2017 | Fizza Shah, Strengths
The science of strengths The extensively researched VIA Character Strengths survey presents twenty-four strengths tested by Dr Martin Seligman and Dr Chris Peterson, advocating it as unique strength spotting tool. I feel the use of this questionnaire is best suited within the educational, healthcare, social care, mental illness and counselling sector. Thus, allowing the identification and characterization of strengths in a more humanistic and people orientated manner. The science behind defining strengths as a measurable humanistic virtue, is a much-applauded concept. I have been captured by the simplicity of the VIA Character Strengths survey assessment tool and yet its profound humanistic value of nurturing our strengths into the virtues such as wisdom, knowledge, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence is a great accomplishment for optimal functioning for human beings. Why strengths? What is the purpose of knowing your strengths and how do we benefit from knowing our strengths? Martin Seligman states that the benefits of using your strengths as our “Use your signature strengths and virtues in the service of something much larger than you are.” ~ Martin Seligman (2002, p. 263). He profoundly advocates the use of signature strengths as a footstep towards attaining a pleasant life, the good life and the meaningful life, all compulsory components of authentic true happiness. Why are virtuous strengths important? Well they are behaviours which are considered high in morality and as humans evolves, I feel the need to evolve emotionally is an evolutionary adaptive technique which has become more apparent within the following educational, social, healthcare, mental illness and counselling sectors, which are constantly dealing with people orientated issues. Collaborative professional...
