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There is an everyday direction of “positive psychology”, oriented towards the mass reader, and there is a strict scientific direction “positive psychotherapy”, created by N. Pezeshkian.
Life direction
As a mundane direction, positive psychotherapy sees problems as…solutions.
For example, if a person restrains emotions, other (non-positive) psychologists start to scare him: you need to express emotions, you need to express your feelings, otherwise there will be bad consequences, up to bodily diseases.
Positive psychologists believe that any bad consequences (up to bodily diseases) are actually attempts to solve their problem. And this is not a reason for criticism (let alone threats) against the client.
If, for example, a person «seizes» the lack of communication with chocolate, he tries to do something, tries to help himself, and, admittedly, he succeeds. Yes, he may be gaining weight. But he solved the problem of lack of communication for himself, and that’s good. And the task of a positive therapist is to help a person find more appropriate ways to solve his problem.
Scientific direction
Positive psychotherapy is one of the recognized methods of modern scientific psychotherapy, recognized in 1996 by the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP,http://www.europsyche.org) and in 2008 by the World Council for Psychotherapy (WCP,http://www.worldpsyche.org)
The very method of positive psychotherapy was founded in 1968 by a German of Iranian origin, Professor Nossrat Pezeshkian. The Positive Psychotherapy method refers to transcultural, psychodynamic psychotherapeutic methods with a humanistic point of view on a person. This conflict-centered and ability-oriented method was awarded the German Richard-Martin-Price Prize for Quality Assurance in 1997.
In 2009 Professor Nossrat Peseschkian was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology.
The name of the method comes from lat. positum — «taking place», «given», «actual».
From the point of view of positive psychotherapy, one of the most important givens of human nature is its abilities — both innate (“basic abilities”) and formed in the process of personality development (“actual abilities”).
Positive psychotherapy is a cross-cultural method that integrates, on the one hand, the philosophical and intuitive wisdom of the East, and, on the other hand, the rational systemic and scientific nature of the West.
The method of positive psychotherapy is based on 3 principles, each of which corresponds to a certain methodological component:
- The principle of hope corresponds to a positive approach in seeing the abilities and capabilities of a person.
- The principle of balance corresponds to a meaningful differential analysis of the psychodynamics of the personality, the result of which is the harmonization of the primary and secondary actual abilities of a person.
- The principle of self-help corresponds to a 5-step meta-model used as a strategy for harmonization, adaptation and development of the personality — at first, in the process of psychotherapy itself, and then, in the further process of self-help of a person to himself and his environment: his partner, his family, his organization, his community and etc.
For more information about the essence of positive psychotherapy by N. Pezeshkian, see →
Organizations representing positive psychotherapy by N. Pezeshkian
The central educational institution for positive psychotherapy is the Wiesbaden Academy for Psychotherapy (WIAP).
In Russia, training in the method of positive psychotherapy is carried out at the Moscow Center for Positive Psychotherapy http://www.positum.net , at the Center for Positive Psychotherapy, Khabarovsk http://www.cpp.khv.ru
There is also the International Academy of Positive Cross-Cultural Psychotherapy (IAPP) as an international organization that supports scientific and professional initiatives in the areas of individual and social health, cross-cultural well-being, and spiritual healing of societies.
The World Association for Positive Psychotherapy (WAPP) coordinates the work of the Centers, Institutes and Associations of Positive Psychotherapy, representing, developing and adapting this method in more than 20 countries of the world (http://www.positum.org ) The Association pays great attention to the quality of education of specialists around the world in accordance with the regulations of the World Council for Psychotherapy. Training programs in positive psychotherapy (basic and master courses) are taught by certified international trainers, a list of which you can find on the official website of the Wiesbaden Academy: http://positum.org/training/trainers/