Introducing "positive psychology" [MEDICINE]

   "Positive psychology" is a new field of psychology which was begun by Martin Seligman, the former president of the association of psychology in America. It's mainly different from existing psychology in that it rather emphasizes and focuses on strength of one's mind or character while psychology had only focused on weak point or pathological condition of human mind.

[​Martin Seligman]

   According to Seligman, the three goals of early psychology were ① to treat mental defectiveness, ② to find extraordinary talent and promote it, and ③ to help all the people to live happier life. What he claimed was that the last two goals had diminished since World War II and psychology was mostly applied to soldiers suffering PTSD(posttraumatic stress disorder).

    The fact that psychology has developed focusing on the dark side of human beings, however, is related to general human nature which sensitively react to negative information. But anyway we can say the positive psychology has risen for the need to supplement existing psychology which lacked "positive" part.

   Positive psychology deals with 3 topics : ① 'positive state' which describes positive parts and situations of human nature, ② 'positive traits', the strength of human characteristics which make positive state possible, and ③ 'positive organization', which is about the community which enable members to be happy, the ultimate aim of positive psychology. Namely, positive psychology studies when and how people are happy, what characteristic makes them happy, and what kind of circumstances make them happy.

   Positive psychology divides the process getting normal from pathological state, and the process reaching positive state when one can perform his best from the average state. We should not underestimate the former process, which the existing psychology has been taking in charge of, however, it's important to exert to be happier, too, by means of positive psychology. Of course as the effort to be happier increases recuperative powers, the two processes cannot be separated completely.

   There are some episodes told which affected Martin Seligman to open the new field. Let me introduce one of the most famous stories about his daughter.

    In fact, Seligman's youngest daughter, Nikki, now 11, played a role in the formation of the positive-psychology movement. In 1996, Seligman was elected president of the psychological association. He was thrilled about the position but still worrying about his central mission for the year in office.

    About two weeks after he became president-elect, Seligman and Nikki were weeding in his famed rose garden at his suburban Philadelphia home (one colleague swears there are 500 rose bushes, some of them prize-winners). Well, anyone with 5-year-olds knows Seligman was weeding while Nikki was "throwing weeds into the air and dancing and singing."

    Seligman yelled at his daughter, and Nikki walked away. A few minutes later, she was back saying, "Daddy, I want to talk to you."

   Seligman stopped his weeding.

   "Daddy, do you remember before my 5th birthday? From when I was 3 until when I was 5, I was a whiner. I whined every day. On my 5th birthday, I decided I wasn't going to whine anymore.

   "That's the hardest thing I've ever done. And if I can stop whining, you can stop being a grouch."

   In that moment, Seligman said he found his mission as organization president. More important, he realized that raising children is "not about correcting shortcomings." Instead, the better goal is nurturing the child's strengths and virtues, plus "helping them find a niche where they can live these positive traits to the fullest."