What Positive Psychology is NOT for a Better Life?
Are you suspicious about how positive psychology might transform your life? You are not alone.
When I was an undergrad in psychology, I was both curious about the impact of positive psychology and suspicious about its promises. Being divided into two, I started reading more and more. This was the decision for me to which part of psychology I will be in: ill-being or well-being.
The more I read about, the more I was sure that mental health is not about being free from mental disorders. It was about having vitality, joy, purpose in life, meaningful connections with others, having a sense of agency, behaving authentically, and thriving in general. And when you cannot have these in your life, this is when the psychological disturbances emerge.
At that point, I made my decision. I was crystal clear. I was going to focus on creating conditions that blossom human effectiveness and mitigate the risk factors to prevent ill-being. That was super cool, feasible, and way impactful than curing/treating mental illnesses after they happen.
I spent 3 years getting my master's degree, and then 5 more years getting my doctoral degree. I don’t know how many hundreds of hours of reading, writing, presenting it includes. Hundreds of people’s…
