Session Fourteen: Altruism

Altruism is benefitting others, at one’s own will, without being asked for it and without any financial reimbursement. In positive psychotherapy (PPT), meaning entails using one’s signature strengths to belong to and serve something that one believes is bigger than the self. One wants to make a life that matters to the world and create a difference for the better. The psychological benefits of altruism are significant. In Session Fourteen, clients learn how being altruistic helps both themselves and others. The central PPT practice covered in this session is the Gift of Time.

Session Thirteen: Positive Communication

In Session Thirteen, clients learn about four styles of responding to good news (active-constructive, active-destructive, passive-constructive, and passive-destructive). Of these styles, only Active Constructive Responding—the central practice covered in this session—predicts relationship satisfaction. Self-disclosure of positive events is critical for secure bonding and for the development of intimacy.

Session Twelve: Positive Relationships

Positive relationships come in many forms, including family. Biological or otherwise, all family members possess strengths and resources. Due to negative attributions and the negativity bias, these strengths may be less prominent. In Session Twelve, clients learn the significance of recognizing the strengths of their loved ones. The central positive psychotherapy practice covered in this session is creating a Tree of Positive Relationships.

Positive Interventions and Theoretical Assumptions

Positive psychology interventions applied in diverse clinical settings and tackling complex clinical issues are advancing the knowledge base of psychotherapy and health outcomes. Positive psychotherapy (PPT) is based primarily on two major theories: Seligman’s PERMA (Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment) conceptualization of well-being and character strengths. PPT also operates on three assumptions regarding the nature, cause, course, and treatment of specific behavioral patterns: (a) inherent capacity for growth, (b) the authenticity of strengths compared to symptoms, and (c) the role of positives in fostering a of the therapeutic relationship. The notion of happiness espoused in PPT is much more than the sum of its components that can be pursued simultaneously with each individually association with life satisfaction.

Session Eleven: Slowness and Savoring

Clients report that despite doing many things each day, most of which are done quickly, they still feel stressed, underaccomplished, and tired. Despite speeding up almost everything, including human maturation, we are not any happier or healthier. That is why the “Slow Movement” is attracting attention. In Session Eleven, clients learn how to deliberately slow down and develop an awareness of how to savor. In so doing, they learn to attend mindfully to the positives. The central positive psychotherapy (PPT) practices covered in this session are Slow and Savor.

Session Six: Forgiveness

Session Six teaches that forgiveness is a process for change rather than an event. This session explains what forgiveness is and what it is not. The central positive psychotherapy practices covered in this session are writing a Forgiveness Letter and REACH, which is an approach to forgiveness, as follows: Step One: R = Recall an event; Step Two: E = Empathize from the perpetrator’s point of view; Step Three: A = Altruistic gift of forgiveness; Step Four: C = Commit yourself to forgive publicly; and Step Five: H = Hold onto forgiveness. The chapter includes two related worksheets for clients to complete.

Positive Psychotherapy

There are three broad phases of positive psychotherapy (PPT): In Phase One, the client creates a personal narrative, recalling and writing a story that brought out the client’s best, especially in overcoming a challenge. The bulk of therapeutic work in this phase focuses on assessing and assembling a signature strengths profile and acquiring the skills needed to integrate strengths with psychological stressors. Phase Two helps clients learn to reappraise intra- and interpersonal experiences, especially shifting negative ones toward the positive to promote a balanced perspective. Phase Three helps clients pursue meaning and purpose through their strengths. This chapter focuses on the processes and practices throughout PPT as well as looking at mechanisms of change and outcome studies.

The Centrality of Character Strengths and How to Use Them in Positive Psychotherapy

Character strengths are universal traits that are valued in their own right and do not necessarily lead to instrumental outcomes. Throughout the course of positive psychotherapy, the clinician actively looks for events, experiences, and expressions of strengths in the lives of clients. These may manifest through abilities, skills, talents, capacities, and aptitudes that can be nurtured in order to cope with and potentially buffer against psychological disorders. The most critical aspect of a strengths-based therapeutic approach is a contextualized use of strengths, which keeps presenting problems and symptoms front and center. Strengths can be assessed early in the therapeutic process. Systematic assessment of character strengths, in addition to symptoms, will enrich clinical understanding.

Positive Psychotherapy

Positive psychotherapy (PPT) is an emerging therapeutic approach that is broadly based on the principles of positive psychology (PP). PP studies the conditions and processes that enable individuals, communities, and institutions to flourish. PPT is the clinical or therapeutic arm of PP. PPT integrates symptoms with strengths, risks with resources and deficits with assets. Without dismissing the severity psychiatric distress, or naively minimizing clients’ genuine concerns, PPT identifies and teaches clients evidence-based skills which use their best resources to meet their toughest challenges. Specifically, PPT helps clients to translate their cognitive, emotional, social and cultural strengths into goal-oriented, purposeful and pragmatic actions and habits, which aim to reduce their psychiatric distress as well as enhance their well-being. A strengths-based approach such as PPT can improve the effectiveness of psychotherapy by expanding the scope of psychotherapy, broadening beyond the medical model, expanding the outcome of psychotherapy, and attenuating the impact on the clinician.

Session Five: Open and Closed Memories

In Session Five, clients recall, write, and process their open and closed memories. They learn to develop skills for dealing with open memories through the positive psychotherapy (PPT) practice of Positive Appraisal. PPT refers to memories that are not fully understood and those that trigger negative emotional responses as “open memories.” Memories that ended somewhat conclusively with a positive outcome, even those entailing past challenges or difficulties, are referred to as “closed memories.”