Positive psychology and mindfulness

Question 1

What is positive psychology?

Answer 1

Scientific study of wellbeing, happiness, optimal/positive experiences, life satisfaction, human strengths etc that combines 2 distinct philosophical traditions:
Hedonia - pursuit of pleasure and feeling good
Eudamonia - using talent and making meaning, functioning well i.e. flourishing (state of complete mental health) (languishing is the absence of mental health)

Question 2

What did Keyes suggest regarding mental health and psychpathology?

Answer 2

Complete mental health and wellbeing are orthogonal to psychopathology i.e. not simply two ends of one spectrum but rather two separate spectrums
Mental health is its own entity and absence of it doesn’t automatically imply presence of mental illness, and in a similar way very few people who lack mental illness are in a state of flourishing

Question 3

How does positive psychology contribute to clinical, counselling and psychotherapy psychology fields?

Answer 3

Builds on traditions of humanistic perspective and client-centred therapy which focuses on identifying client skills and strengths (virtues, an aspect of wellbeing)

Question 4

What are 4 possible positive psychology interventions?

Answer 4

Counting one’s blessings - e.g. when someone is struggling with motivation, focusing on what is going well in life can be very productive
Using signature strengths (24-item self-rating scale) including factors such as love, curiosity, emotional intelligence, bravery etc
Paying a gratitude visit e.g. writing a letter to someone you appreciate
Mindfulness

Question 5

How does positive psychology contribute to education?

Answer 5

Can be used to promote “flow” i.e. full immersion in an activity, harnessing children’s strengths to aid learning

Question 6

What are 3 other areas in which positive psychology can be applied?

Answer 6

Forensics - application of the GOOD LIVES MODEL of offender management, focusing on adaptive satisfaction of human needs such as finding a safe place to live, an honest job, healthy eating, positive relationships etc; it is a strengths-based approach to offender rehabilitation, and is therefore premised on the idea that we need to build capabilities and strengths in people, in order to reduce their risk of reoffending. According to the GLM, people offend because they are attempting to secure some kind of valued outcome in their life
Workplace settings - transformational leadership i.e. leading by example, inspiring and motivating others
Society - influencing development of life coaching, executive coaching and promotion of well-being by building people up and motivating them based on their strengths

Question 7

What is mindfulness defined as?

Answer 7

Awareness of the present moment, paying attention non-judgmentally and observing with loving kindness

Question 8

What is the mindfulness based stress reduction program?

Answer 8

Developed by Kabat-Zinn, this is used as a form of therapy and has been pivotal in offering MBI as a means to increase wellbeing of a wider audience than that reached by the original buddhist method - MBSR is a secular practice i.e. non-religious and designed to be applied scientifically
Studies all point towards positive health-related outcomes

Question 9

What is the root of effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions?

Answer 9

Awareness that emerges through purposeful attention enables individuals to access and change their state of mind, thus allowing adaptive rather than maladaptive responses

Question 10

What is meant by the state of being mindful?

Answer 10

Attending to somatosensory experiences e.g. body, feelings, mind, thoughts etc
Being mindful increases ability to step outside of automatic pilot and knee-jerk reactions, allowing responses with a wider and wiser minds in a choiceful manner
Choiceful actions, including self-compassion, may provide the key to the therapeutic potential of mindfulness as a technique
Being mindful means being in a flexible state of mind, open to novelty, sensitive to context and perspective and situated very much in the present - especially effective for anxiety

Question 11

What is mindlessness?

Answer 11

Being trapped in a rigid mindset, functioning on automatic pilot and never thinking of changing even though it could be better to do so

Question 12

What is the mindful attention awareness scale by Brown and Ryan?

Answer 12

One example of how we can measure mindfulness - 15-item scale designed to assess a core characteristic of dispositional mindfulness, namely, open or receptive awareness of and attention to what is taking place in the present.
To score the scale, simply compute a mean of the 15 items. Higher scores reflect higher levels of dispositional mindfulness

Question 13

What are 4 criticisms of mindfulness as a technique?

Answer 13

It isn’t clear when we measure mindfulness whether we are measuring TRAIT or STATE mindfulness - to measure state we need some way to measure and control for baseline trait first
Grossman and Van Dam suggested a move away from using the term “mindfulness”, a buzzword and a rapidly growing industry - focus instead on descriptive terms for subscales e.g. “paying attention”, to provide clear distinction between what we are actually measuring
Misinformation and poor methodology - past studies of mindfulness, may lead public consumers to be harmed when it maybe doesn’t help them
People receiving mindfulness therapy may be living with very real mental health issues and we need to make very sure that such individuals actually receive the best treatment for them

Question 14

What are the 4 broad areas of therapeutic application of mindfulness?

Answer 14

As an intervention where mindfulness-based skills are taught to individuals/groups as part of a treatment for issues such as stress, substance abuse, anxiety etc
As a component of the therapeutic approach within established therapy programs
As self-care for practitioners to manage their stress and improve their functioning
As a way of enhancing the therapeutic relationship

Question 15

What 4 therapy programs can mindfulness become a component of?

Answer 15

Acceptance and commitment therapy - empirically-based intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness techniques together with commitment and behaviour change strategies to increase psych flexibility
Dialectical behavioural therapy - form of therapy based on CBT but with greater focus on emotional and social aspects; developed to help coping with extreme/unstable emotions and harmful behaviours including suicidal ideation; validation and relationships are key differences from CBT
Compassion focused therapy - psychotherapy designed to help those who suffer from high self-criticism and shame feel safe and capable in an overwhelming world
Integrated with psycho-analytical therapy -

Question 16

How can mindfulness exert its positive effect on wellbeing

Answer 16

Conducive to more adaptive coping strategies (avoiding knee-jerk responses), more self-awareness and reduction in uncertainty, allowing individuals to make more informed and deliberate choices (autopilot generally leads to regrettable decisions)
Facilitates self-regulation which is particularly important - being able to monitor and control emotions and alter behaviour to meet situational demands
Correlations have been found between mindfulness and self control e.g. avoiding autopilot eating of junk food
Increased mindfulness also results in greater competence, health, longevity, positive affect, creativity, charisma and reduced burnout

Question 17

What is mindfulness-based cognitive therapy?

Answer 17

Approach to psychotherapy using CBT methods in collaboration with mindfulness meditative practices and similar psychological strategies based on MBSR
Originally designed for relapse-prevention treatment of major depressive disorder
Benefits include;
Increased happiness/contentment
Longer and healthier life
Reduced anxiety and depression
Improvement in memory and reaction times
Improved relationships etc etc

Question 18

What were the findings of the mental health foundation upon reviews of mindfulness as a therapeutic technique?

Answer 18

50% reduction in both 12-motnh depression relapse rates and general psychiatric symptoms
70% reduction in anxiety
44% reduction in medical symptoms
17% reduction in daily hassles
31% reduction in general psychological distress among employees trained in mindfulness in the workplace

Question 19

What is the mindfulness-based-relapse prevention when an individual is presented with a high risk situation?

Answer 19

Effective coping strategies will be available to allow an adaptive coping response - have awareness not only of thoughts and feelings but also the negative effect of the behaviour risking relapse; they can make a deliberate and informed decision i.e. increased self-efficacy, knowledge that they control their own behaviour and understand how to practise mindfulness and maintain awareness of mind and body
This all leads to decreased probability of relapse

Question 20

What happens in high risk situations when someone has not experienced MBRP?

Answer 20

Ineffective coping mechanisms and positive outcome expectancies of the behaviour
Decreased self-efficacy - no thoughts of being resilient enough to manage without relapse

Question 21

What is the abstinence violation effect?

Answer 21

Guilt and conflict experienced by someone who has relapsed - leads to internal attributions being made for the behaviour, thereby making them likely to continue as they now have an excuse and a justified reason which allows them to cope with the self-blame and guilt

Question 22

What are the 3 principles of MBRP?

Answer 22

Paying attention - greater awareness of triggers and responses, allowing interruption of automatic behaviours
Present moment - accepting present experiences rather than using something like drugs to avoid them
Non-judgemental - detach from attributions and automatic thoughts that often lead to relapse