Positive Psychology

Recently, I attended a lecture here at Millsaps about the emergence of Positive Psychology. Positive Psychology is new and exciting to many because it offers a new outlook on the science of well-being and happiness, things that are in dire need during these turbulant economic times. The study of Positive Psychology is new and ongoing, and it marks a change in the existing domain of Psychology. The fundamental idea is that psychology lost it's way during the 20th century, and focused its attention on what wrong with someone rather than what's good. This turned the domain of psychology into a "disease-based model", and the reasons for this change are the following: 1. 20th Century philosophy/existentialism; 2. Freud; 3. US Government funding of the profession to treat soldiers returning from WWII; 4. Genocidal horrors of fascism and communism. Thus, the domain is changing to get back at whats "positive" or good about a person rather than the opposite approach. The so-called founder of the Positive Psychology movement, Marty Seligman, said this about the new and innovative field; "Psychology is not just the study of weakness and damage, it is also the study of strenth and virtue. Treatment is not just fixing what is broken; it is nururing what is best within ourselves." Therefore, I believe that creativity is being put into use with his new and exciting field, and I am curious to find out how the domain of psychology will change over time.