1. Embracing the ‘dark side’ of life
with positive psychology
The dialogue between positive
and negative experiences
2. Background
• 4 lecturers / academics on MAPP programmes
– University of East London
• Kate Hefferon
• Itai Itzvan
• Tim Lomas
– Bucks New University
• Piers Worth
• We asked ourselves where our teaching
needed to go / grow / develop.
3. Going to the ‘edge’ of the map
(MAPP)…?
Going to
the edge
of positive
psychology
Going to
the edge
of
ourselves
4. Layers or levels of Positive Psychology?
The dialogue between
the positive and negative
Hope and Resilience
Eudemonic / Hedonic
Interventions
5. Just in case
• We will be talking about sensitive topics today
• Please monitor your own emotions and feelings and only
participate if you want to
• If anything arises from today's discussions that you
would like to speak to someone about, please contact:
– NHS: Contact 111 (National Health Helpline – a free service)
– Samaritans: 08457 90 90 90 (http://www.samaritans.org/)
– Seek support from Clinician or Counsellor within your own
context
6. The Process of Embracing the ‘Dark
Side’ of our experiences?
Encountering
the emotion
with
compassion
Exploring the
possible growth
through a difficulty
Connecting
with
meaning and
spirituality
7. Suffering, compassion and growth:
The complex emotional dynamics of
flourishing
Dr. Tim Lomas
University of East London
8. Outline
• Part 1: The complexities of emotions
• Part 2: Suffering and compassion
• Part 3: Practical activity
• Part 4: Discussion and reflection
9. First wave of PP
• First wave of PP
– Redress negative bias
– Study ‘the brighter sides of human nature’
• Criticism of PP as ‘happyology’ (Peterson, 2006)
• Perception: old wine in new bottles (Becker & Maracek, 2008)
• Risk: ‘tyranny of positive thinking’ (Held, 2004)
10. Second wave of PP
• First wave: simplistic (Lazarus, 2003)
– Positive emotions = happiness = good
– Negative emotions = unhappiness = bad
• More nuanced understanding
– ‘Second wave’ / ‘Positive psychology 2.0’
– Positive emotions can have maladaptive outcomes
– Dysphorias can serve to promote wellbeing
11. What is positive?
• Emotions as co-valenced (Lazarus, 2003)
– Contain multiple elements
• Complex dialectics (Ryff & Singer, 2003)
– Inherently dialectical relationship
– Conceptually co-dependent
• Appreciate complexities of good life (Resnick et al., 2001)
12. Compassion
• Buddhism
– Four universal virtues
– Compassion = the ‘essence’ (Dalai Lama, 1997)
– A ‘religion of compassion’ (Price, 2010)
• Christianity
– St. Paul’s three theological virtues
– Charity = love/compassion Dahlsgaard et al., 2005; Barad, 2007)
– St Thomas Aquinas: charity = most important
• Humanism
– Briggs et al. (1933): Humanist Manifesto
– Ninth affirmation: A cooperative effort to promote social well-being
13. Compassion in PP
• Creation of the VIA strengths framework
– Result of exploring religious/philosophical
– Compassion informed the virtue of ‘Humanity’
• Definition
– Etymologically = ‘to suffer with’
– ‘Opening one’s awareness to others’ pain… so that feelings of kindness
toward others and the desire to alleviate their suffering emerge’ (Neff,
2003, p.87).
– Dalai Lama (1997) – two key components:
• Wisdom
• Loving kindness
14. Compassion interventions
• Applied positive psychology: PPIs (interventions)
• Loving-kindness meditation (Fredrickson et al., 2008)
– Derived from Buddhist metta bhavana
– Five-stage process of guided emotional imagery
– Fredrickson et al.: corroborate ‘broaden and build’
• Issue
– More about generating positive feelings
– Less about cultivating compassion per se
15. Activity
• Please listen to the following song
– Either, close your eyes…
– Or, watch the video
• Be aware of the emotions it invokes
– No ‘correct’ response
– May be a complexity of emotions
• http://vimeo.com/23100818
16. Discussion
• In pairs, reflect on the emotions you felt
– Take one minute to share your feelings
• Then we’ll feedback as a group…
17. Post-traumatic Growth (PTG)
Dr. Kate Hefferon
The Dark Side of Positive Psychology Workshop
European Positive Psychology Conference
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
July 2014
18. Posttraumatic growth (PTG)
“It is through this process of struggling with adversity that
changes may arise that propels the individual to a higher level
of functioning than which existed prior to the event”
(Linley & Joseph, 2004, p. 11)
Personal
strength
Improved
relationships
Changed
priorities
Changed
philosophies
Spirituality
20. Narratives and stories
• Re-writing the personal narrative
• Assumptions, goals, identities and beliefs need to be
re-written
• Creating new stories helps us to move forward and
grow
• Help us makes sense of and find meaning in
experiences
Victim Survivor Thriver
22. Activity
• In pairs, please reflect upon historical figures that
you believe embody the spirit of posttraumatic
growth
• Why have you chosen this person?
• Are you able to link to the domains of PTG?
• You can also use the handout provided to identify
strengths used as well as strengths improved
23.
24.
25. Psychology and Spirituality:
The Dark-Side of Self-Awareness
ECPP 2014
Dr Itai Ivtzan
MAPP (Masters in Applied Positive Psychology)
UEL (University East London)
www.AwarenessIsFreedom.com
26. The experience of spirituality seems to be
fundamental to human beings and is deeply
linked with positive psychology as it is at the
heart of mindfulness, eudaimonia, and
meaning.
27. Spirituality invites a search for the sacred – that which
is transcendent.
What do we transcend? What is it that we need to
“move beyond” in order to experience the sacred,
the spiritual?
As part of the spiritual journey we transcend the self –
the narrow, personal, psychological, definition of a
self – to live an expanded version of oneself.
Chaironic Happiness
28. It extremely difficult to transcend that which we are
not aware of.
Therefore, a crucial stepping stone of the spiritual
journey is self-awareness, getting to know yourself.
29. The challenge:
Facing oneself, especially our shadow (aspects we
tend to ignore), is one of the most courageous,
challenging, and frequently painful experiences we
could choose.
Dark side:
Self-Awareness
Psychological discomfort
Growth, transcendence, spirituality
32. References and resources: Kate
• Posttraumatic Growth Research
Unithttp://www.uel.ac.uk/psychology/research/PTGunit/
• Calhoun, L. G., & Tedeschi, R. G. (2013). Posttraumatic growth in
clinical practice. Routledge.
• Joseph, S. (2011). What Doesn't Kill Us Makes Us Stronger: The New
Psychology of Posttraumatic Growth. Basic Books.
• Peterson, C. et al. (2008). Strengths of Character and Posttraumatic
Growth. Journal of Traumatic Stress, Vol. 21, No. 2, April 2008, pp.
214–217.
• Tedeschi, R. G., & McNally, R. J. (2011). Can we facilitate
posttraumatic growth in combat veterans?. American Psychologist,
66(1), 19.
33. References: Tim
• Barad, J. (2007). The understanding and experience of compassion: Aquinas and the Dalai
Lama. Buddhist-Christian Studies, 27, 11-29.
• Becker, D., & Marecek, J. (2008). Positive psychology: History in the remaking? Theory &
Psychology, 18(5), 591-604. doi: 10.1177/0959354308093397
• Briggs, R. (1933). Humanist Manifesto I.
• Dahlsgaard, K., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (2005). Shared virtue: The convergence of
valued human strengths across culture and history. Review of General Psychology, 9(3), 203-
213. doi: 10.1037/1089-2680.9.3.203
• Ehrenreich, B. (2009). Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World.
London: Granta.
• Fredrickson, B. L., Cohn, M. A., Coffey, K. A., Pek, J., & Finkel, S. M. (2008). Open hearts build
lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential
personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1045-1062. doi:
10.1037/a0013262
• Held, B. S. (2004). The negative side of positive psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology,
44(1), 9-46.
• Lama, H. H. t. D. (1997). The Heart of Compassion. Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press.
• Lazarus, R. S. (2003). Does the positive psychology movement have legs? Psychological
Inquiry, 14(2), 93-109. doi: 10.2307/1449813
• Linley, P. A., & Joseph, S. (2004). Applied positive psychology: A new perspective for
professional practice. In P. A. Linley & S. Joseph (Eds.), Positive psychology in practice (pp. 3-
12). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
34. References
• McNulty, J. K., & Fincham, F. D. (2011). Beyond positive psychology? Toward a
contextual view of psychological processes and well-being. American Psychologist,
67(2), 101-110.
• Neff, K. D. (2003). Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude
toward oneself. Self and Identity, 2(2), 85-101. doi: 10.1080/15298860309032
• Peterson, C. (2006). A Primer in Positive Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Peterson, C., & Vaidya, R. S. (2003). Optimism as virtue and vice. In E. C. Chang & L. J. Sanna
(Eds.), Virtue, Vice, and Personality: The Complexity of Behaviour (pp. 23-27). Washington,
DC: American Psychological Association.
• Price, J. (2010). Sacred Scriptures of the World Religions: An Introduction. New York:
Continuum Books.
• Quimby, P. P. (2007 (1846-1865)). The Quimby Manuscripts: Digireads.com.
• Resnick, S., Warmoth, A., & Serlin, I. A. (2001). The humanistic psychology and positive
psychology connection: Implications for psychotherapy. Journal of Humanistic Psychology,
41(1), 73-101.
• Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. (2003). Ironies of the human condition. Well-being and health on the
way to mortality. In L. G. Aspinwall & U. M. Staudinger (Eds.), A Psychology of Human
Strengths (pp. 271-287). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction.
American Psychologist, 55, 5-14.
• St. Thomas Aquinas (1981 (1273)). Summa Theologia. London: Christian Classics.
• Wong, P. T. P. (2011). Positive psychology 2.0: Towards a balanced interactive model of the
good life. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 52(2), 69-81. doi:
10.1037/a0022511
