May e-news
Dr Suzy Green
Autumn is upon
us and winter is on its way. Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD is a form
of depression that is linked to seasonal changes.
The majority of sufferers of SAD are depressed only during the late autumn
and winter and not during the spring or summer. This is often referred to
as suffering the winter blues. Whilst only a small proportion of the population
receive a diagnosis of SAD, there are many individuals who find the cold,
dark winter months to be more conducive to negative thinking, a low mood
and difficult to maintain a positive outlook and overall vitality for life.
This month I’m encouraging you to take a good look at your thinking
and how it’s helping or hindering you in your daily life. The focus
on optimistic thinking in this month’s e-news can be taken as a supplementary
to your annual “flu shot” and viewed as a “mental health
boost”!
Last month your task was to play to your strengths. Identify a way that you can continue to stay mindful of these strengths, both in your personal and work life. I have a very artistic friend that worked with me one weekend to create a beautiful piece of art that has my signature strengths written across it. This hangs in my living room and is a constant reminder to me of my own personal strengths and motivates me to use them on a daily basis.
Month 5 – Positive Thinking - Part I
Much of clinical psychology has focused on and
researched the effects of negative thinking, particularly in regard to the
development and maintenance of clinical disorders such as depression and
anxiety. Within Positive Psychology, optimism, as a style of thinking, has
pride of place. Martin Seligman, one of the co-founders of the Positive Psychology
movement started his early career researching the effects of “learned
helplessness” and then moved on to “learned optimism”.
As such, much research has been completed on optimism and its association
with positive mood; good morale; perseverance and effective problem solving;
academic, athletic, military, occupational, and political success; popularity;
good health and long life (Peterson, 2006).
There are two current discussions on optimism. One is that optimism is an
inherent aspect of human nature that developed through the evolution of our
species. The second is that there are individual differences in optimism.
This explains why some of us, reside at one end of the spectrum, being Pollyanna
embodied and those at the other end who firmly refuse to believe every cloud
has a silver lining.
Basically, being optimistic involves thinking positively about our goals
and expectations for future events. Dispositional optimism is the global
expectation that good things will be plentiful in the future and bad things
scarce. When obstacles occur in the pursuit of goals, optimists persist,
whereas pessimists give up. You can take a measure of your own dispositional
optimism by undertaking the Optimism Test – go to www.authentichappiness.org).
Another body of research on optimism conducted by Seligman and colleagues
explores “explanatory style” – how one explains the causes
of bad events (Buchanan & Seligman, 1995). Optimists explain bad events
as external (not my fault), unstable (not long-lasting) and specific (a one-off
event) whereas pessimists view them as internal (my fault), stable (long-lasting)
and global (across many situations). For example, John was fired and thought “I
stuffed up (internal), I’ll never get another chance like that (long-lasting),
everything’s hopeless! (across situations)”; whereas Jim thought “Damn
cutbacks (external), a bit of bad luck (short-term); oh well, I’ve
learned lots of skills so I’ll be an asset to an employer (a one-off
event that won’t impact on the future).
This Month’s Action Plan – Cultivate optimism!
Research has shown that optimistic thinking can prevent
depression. As such, cultivating optimism is something you may want to consider
for yourself, your family and your children. My suggestion for action this
month includes 1) Identifying any pessimistic thoughts you have – write
down the common ones and evaluate the evidence to support them - more on
this next month; 2) Complete the optimism test; 4) Look for the silver living
- be mindful about cultivating optimistic thinking; 3) For parents, log on
to www.fishfulthinking.com, a website for cultivating optimism in children.
Next month...
I will continue my discussion on positive thinking
and provide you with some evidence-based techniques that you can learn to
change your thinking.
The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind. - William James (1842-1910)
Dr Suzy Green
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