Embracing the ‘dark side’ of life with positive psychology

The dialogue between positive and negative experiences

Background

• 4 lecturers / academics on MAPP programmes

– University of East London

• Kate Hefferon

• Itai Itzvan

• Tim Lomas

– Bucks New University

• Piers Worth

• We asked ourselves where our teaching needed to go / grow / develop.

Going to the ‘edge’ of the map (MAPP)…?

Going to the edge

of positive psychology

Going to the edge

of ourselves

Layers or levels of Positive Psychology?

The dialogue between the positive and negative

Hope and Resilience

Eudemonic / Hedonic Interventions

Just in case• We will be talking about sensitive topics today

• Please monitor your own emotions and feelings and only participate if you want to

• If anything arises from today's discussions that you would like to speak to someone about, please contact:

– NHS: Contact 111 (National Health Helpline – a free service)

– Samaritans: 08457 90 90 90 (http://www.samaritans.org/)

– Seek support from Clinician or Counsellor within your own context

The Process of Embracing the ‘Dark Side’ of our experiences?

Encountering the emotion

with compassion

Exploring the possible growth

through a difficulty

Connecting with

meaning and spirituality

Suffering, compassion and growth: The complex emotional dynamics of

flourishing

Dr. Tim Lomas

University of East London

Outline

• Part 1: The complexities of emotions

• Part 2: Suffering and compassion

• Part 3: Practical activity

• Part 4: Discussion and reflection

First wave of PP• First wave of PP

– Redress negative bias

– Study ‘the brighter sides of human nature’

• Criticism of PP as ‘happyology’ (Peterson, 2006)

• Perception: old wine in new bottles (Becker & Maracek, 2008)

• Risk: ‘tyranny of positive thinking’ (Held, 2004)

Second wave of PP

• First wave: simplistic (Lazarus, 2003)

– Positive emotions = happiness = good

– Negative emotions = unhappiness = bad

• More nuanced understanding

– ‘Second wave’ / ‘Positive psychology 2.0’

– Positive emotions can have maladaptive outcomes

– Dysphorias can serve to promote wellbeing

What is positive?• Emotions as co-valenced (Lazarus, 2003)

– Contain multiple elements

• Complex dialectics (Ryff & Singer, 2003)

– Inherently dialectical relationship

– Conceptually co-dependent

• Appreciate complexities of good life (Resnick et al., 2001)

Compassion

• Buddhism

– Four universal virtues– Compassion = the ‘essence’ (Dalai Lama, 1997)– A ‘religion of compassion’ (Price, 2010)

• Christianity

– St. Paul’s three theological virtues – Charity = love/compassion Dahlsgaard et al., 2005; Barad, 2007)– St Thomas Aquinas: charity = most important

• Humanism

– Briggs et al. (1933): Humanist Manifesto– Ninth affirmation: A cooperative effort to promote social well-being

Compassion in PP• Creation of the VIA strengths framework

– Result of exploring religious/philosophical

– Compassion informed the virtue of ‘Humanity’

• Definition

– Etymologically = ‘to suffer with’

– ‘Opening one’s awareness to others’ pain… so that feelings of kindness toward others and the desire to alleviate their suffering emerge’ (Neff, 2003, p.87).

– Dalai Lama (1997) – two key components:

• Wisdom

• Loving kindness

Compassion interventions

• Applied positive psychology: PPIs (interventions)

• Loving-kindness meditation (Fredrickson et al., 2008)

– Derived from Buddhist metta bhavana

– Five-stage process of guided emotional imagery

– Fredrickson et al.: corroborate ‘broaden and build’

• Issue

– More about generating positive feelings

– Less about cultivating compassion per se

Activity• Please listen to the following song

– Either, close your eyes…

– Or, watch the video

• Be aware of the emotions it invokes

– No ‘correct’ response

– May be a complexity of emotions

• http://vimeo.com/23100818

Discussion

• In pairs, reflect on the emotions you felt

– Take one minute to share your feelings

• Then we’ll feedback as a group…

Post-traumatic Growth (PTG)

Dr. Kate Hefferon

The Dark Side of Positive Psychology Workshop

European Positive Psychology Conference

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

July 2014

Posttraumatic growth (PTG)

“It is through this process of struggling with adversity that changes may arise that propels the individual to a higher level of functioning than which existed prior to the event”

(Linley & Joseph, 2004, p. 11)

Personal strength

Improved relationships

Changed priorities

Changed philosophies

Spirituality

Programmes for Facilitating PTG

• Clinical practice (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2013)

• Comprehensive Soldier Family Fitness (CSFF) (Tedeschi & McNally, 2011)

• THRIVE (Joseph, 2013)

• E-mpower (Hefferon & Ivtzan, 2014)

PTG facilitation

Individual

CompanionClinical

Narratives and stories• Re-writing the personal narrative

• Assumptions, goals, identities and beliefs need to be re-written

• Creating new stories helps us to move forward and grow

• Help us makes sense of and find meaning in experiences

Victim Survivor Thriver

Finding stories of Growth

Activity

• In pairs, please reflect upon historical figures that you believe embody the spirit of posttraumatic growth

• Why have you chosen this person?

• Are you able to link to the domains of PTG?

• You can also use the handout provided to identify strengths used as well as strengths improved

Psychology and Spirituality:

The Dark-Side of Self-Awareness

ECPP 2014

Dr Itai Ivtzan

MAPP (Masters in Applied Positive Psychology)

UEL (University East London)

www.AwarenessIsFreedom.com

The experience of spirituality seems to be fundamental to human beings and is deeply linked with positive psychology as it is at the heart of mindfulness, eudaimonia, and meaning.

Spirituality invites a search for the sacred – that which is transcendent.

What do we transcend? What is it that we need to “move beyond” in order to experience the sacred, the spiritual?

As part of the spiritual journey we transcend the self –the narrow, personal, psychological, definition of a self – to live an expanded version of oneself.

Chaironic Happiness

It extremely difficult to transcend that which we are not aware of.

Therefore, a crucial stepping stone of the spiritual journey is self-awareness, getting to know yourself.

The challenge:

Facing oneself, especially our shadow (aspects we tend to ignore), is one of the most courageous, challenging, and frequently painful experiences we could choose.

Dark side:

Self-Awareness

Psychological discomfort

Growth, transcendence, spirituality

Positive Psychology:

Embracing the Dark Side of Life

Itai Ivtzan

Tim Lomas

Piers Worth

Kate Hefferon

Routledge,

September 2015

Thank you for your

participation!

References and resources: Kate

• Posttraumatic Growth Research Unithttp://www.uel.ac.uk/psychology/research/PTGunit/

• Calhoun, L. G., & Tedeschi, R. G. (2013). Posttraumatic growth in clinical practice. Routledge.

• Joseph, S. (2011). What Doesn't Kill Us Makes Us Stronger: The New Psychology of Posttraumatic Growth. Basic Books.

• Peterson, C. et al. (2008). Strengths of Character and Posttraumatic Growth. Journal of Traumatic Stress, Vol. 21, No. 2, April 2008, pp. 214–217.

• Tedeschi, R. G., & McNally, R. J. (2011). Can we facilitate posttraumatic growth in combat veterans?. American Psychologist, 66(1), 19.

References: Tim• Barad, J. (2007). The understanding and experience of compassion: Aquinas and the Dalai

Lama. Buddhist-Christian Studies, 27, 11-29.

• Becker, D., & Marecek, J. (2008). Positive psychology: History in the remaking? Theory & Psychology, 18(5), 591-604. doi: 10.1177/0959354308093397

• Briggs, R. (1933). Humanist Manifesto I.

• Dahlsgaard, K., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (2005). Shared virtue: The convergence of valued human strengths across culture and history. Review of General Psychology, 9(3), 203-213. doi: 10.1037/1089-2680.9.3.203

• Ehrenreich, B. (2009). Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World. London: Granta.

• Fredrickson, B. L., Cohn, M. A., Coffey, K. A., Pek, J., & Finkel, S. M. (2008). Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1045-1062. doi: 10.1037/a0013262

• Held, B. S. (2004). The negative side of positive psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 44(1), 9-46.

• Lama, H. H. t. D. (1997). The Heart of Compassion. Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press.

• Lazarus, R. S. (2003). Does the positive psychology movement have legs? Psychological Inquiry, 14(2), 93-109. doi: 10.2307/1449813

• Linley, P. A., & Joseph, S. (2004). Applied positive psychology: A new perspective for professional practice. In P. A. Linley & S. Joseph (Eds.), Positive psychology in practice (pp. 3-12). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.

References• McNulty, J. K., & Fincham, F. D. (2011). Beyond positive psychology? Toward a

contextual view of psychological processes and well-being. American Psychologist, 67(2), 101-110.

• Neff, K. D. (2003). Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and Identity, 2(2), 85-101. doi: 10.1080/15298860309032

• Peterson, C. (2006). A Primer in Positive Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.• Peterson, C., & Vaidya, R. S. (2003). Optimism as virtue and vice. In E. C. Chang & L. J. Sanna

(Eds.), Virtue, Vice, and Personality: The Complexity of Behaviour (pp. 23-27). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

• Price, J. (2010). Sacred Scriptures of the World Religions: An Introduction. New York: Continuum Books.

• Quimby, P. P. (2007 (1846-1865)). The Quimby Manuscripts: Digireads.com.• Resnick, S., Warmoth, A., & Serlin, I. A. (2001). The humanistic psychology and positive

psychology connection: Implications for psychotherapy. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 41(1), 73-101.

• Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. (2003). Ironies of the human condition. Well-being and health on the way to mortality. In L. G. Aspinwall & U. M. Staudinger (Eds.), A Psychology of Human Strengths (pp. 271-287). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

• Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55, 5-14.

• St. Thomas Aquinas (1981 (1273)). Summa Theologia. London: Christian Classics.• Wong, P. T. P. (2011). Positive psychology 2.0: Towards a balanced interactive model of the

good life. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 52(2), 69-81. doi: 10.1037/a0022511