Adam, Upon reading your synopsis, one concept struck me. It is profound in its simplicity. "simply decreasing a person’s degree of pessimism may have no major increase in whether a person feels happy or not. To increase positive mood a person has to increase optimism as well as decrease pessimism." If you tell a person what not to do, that does not mean the person knows what to do in its place. When a person is trying to rid himself or herself of an addictive behavior, it can help the situation by replacing the negative behavior one wants to be rid of, and replace it with a positive behavior. It takes some thought to figure out what will be satisfying enough to "fill the void" and help so the person does not regress back to the former negative coping skill. Positive psychology is necessary so a therapist doesn't leave a client hanging. Good points you made.
Adam,
Upon reading your synopsis, one concept struck me. It is profound in its simplicity. "simply decreasing a person’s degree of pessimism may have no major increase in whether a person feels happy or not. To increase positive mood a person has to increase optimism as well as decrease pessimism." If you tell a person what not to do, that does not mean the person knows what to do in its place. When a person is trying to rid himself or herself of an addictive behavior, it can help the situation by replacing the negative behavior one wants to be rid of, and replace it with a positive behavior. It takes some thought to figure out what will be satisfying enough to "fill the void" and help so the person does not regress back to the former negative coping skill. Positive psychology is necessary so a therapist doesn't leave a client hanging.
Good points you made.