Positive Psychology's Influence on Hierarchy of Hope
Positive Psychology Framework
With a reliance on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) to assess and treat mental health symptoms, therapists using traditional branches of psychology have focused on mental illness and psychopathology. However, a recent addition has been positive psychology, which takes a positive approach rather than focusing on negative aspects of a client’s situation.
Traditional mental health therapeutic approaches ask, “What’s wrong with people?” On the other hand, mental health professionals using positive psychology ask, “What’s right with people?” Positive psychology focuses on helping people build a life filled with meaning, hope, and resilience. It is about helping people meet their needs and transition from merely surviving and managing symptoms to flourishing. Positive psychology asks:
- How can people live a good life?
- How can people improve their lives?
- How can people transcend their problems?
- How can people harness hope to live more positively?
- How can people find joy in their lives?
“The good life consists in deriving happiness by using your signature strengths every day in the main realms of living. The meaningful life adds one more component: using these same strengths to forward knowledge, power or goodness.”
Martin Seligman