Transcript Powerpoint slides - Counseling Center Village

Experiments in
Happiness
Mark Rice, Binghamton University
Melissa Fallon-Korb, SUNY Oneonta
David Walden, Hamilton College
Deb Harper, Ithaca College
CCNY @ Syracuse,
June 4, 2015
Learning Outcomes
 1. Learn at least 4 principles or themes in positive
psychology.
 2. Learn at least 4 applications of these principles in
their work.
 3. Receive resources (websites, books, apps, etc.) for
pursuing further adventures in positive psychology.
Expectations and Attitudes
 What is an Experiment? Try it out…AND see what
happens along the way
 Audience expectations for today?
 Panelist initial attitudes, assumptions, in embarking on
the experiments…
 Dismantling the “straw man” criticism of positive
psychology as a one-sided Pollyanna mindset
A micro-history of happiness
 350 BC Early philosophers examined happiness as a
characteristic of a good or virtuous life –
Aristotle reasoned that the final end of all we do is to
produce personal happiness or eudaimonia.
 Fast forward to 1972, the Fourth Dragon King of
Bhutan decided to focus on Gross National Happiness
instead of Gross Domestic Product. Psychological wellbeing, health, education, community vitality, resilience,
time use -- various aspects of a good life in individuals
and in the community.
Positive psychology today
 1978, early happiness research examined lottery winners
and accident victims about their happiness. Turns out,
people aren’t good at predicting what will make them happy.
Brickman & Janoff-Bulman, 1978, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36 (8): 917-927.
 1954 Abraham Maslow used the term “positive psychology”
in his book, Motivation and Personality.
 1998 Martin Seligman chose Positive Psychology as the
theme for his term as president of the American
Psychological Association.
 2002 Tal Ben-Shahar lectures at Harvard: How can we help
ourselves and others become happier?
What makes us happy?
Themes of Positive Psychology
Happiness is the result of activities that bring meaning and
pleasure in the present that also lead to benefit in the future.
Tal Ben-Shahar
Sample themes or elements of positive psychology:
 Positive emotions, traits, institutions
 Pleasure
 Relationships / Friendships
 Connection to something larger than yourself
 Sense of purpose or meaning….
What makes us happy?
Themes of Positive Psychology
Sample themes or elements of positive psychology (cont):
 Strengths and Virtues
 Optimism
 Generosity / loving kindness
 Gratitude
 Forgiveness
 Flow
Doorways into our / your
Happiness Experiments
 Individual clients
 Theme based or process groups
 Professional development
 Self-care
Explorations of Happiness
 Will positive psychology work with THAT?
Applying positive psych to minority stress…Melissa
 Would positive psychology help me help them?
Helping difficult clients…David
 Who wants to be happy?
All the anxious students…Deb
 Experiments in a Happiness Group
Happiness, suffering, and happiness…Mark
Positive Psych & Minority
Stress
 Victor Frankl and “Man’s Search for Meaning”
 Erickson’s crisis/resolution model of development
 Stress-related growth (SRG) (Vaughn & Rodriguez,
2014)
 Movie “Selma”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc7HYDt-rnM
Clients
 Jean, 22 y.o., white, senior with full ride to a graduate
program, FTM, Preferred pronoun was he/him, living
increasingly as a man over the year. Grew up in a small
rural town with a very close knit and religious family.
Presented with issues related to past trauma, family
and transition to male. Past SI. Seen for 15 meetings
 Ronny, 18 y.o., Freshman, identified as Transgender/
gender fluid, Indonesian descent, Muslim, Preferred
pronoun they/ them/their, very active on campus but B’s
and C’s grade-wise. Depressed but not very vulnerable
in session. Parent visits or breaks were very stressful
for them. Needed to pass as male at home. Difficult
roommate situation initially. No past SI. Seen for 3
meetings.
Interventions for minority
stress: resilience based
 Coping strategies (Interdependence, Persistence,
Sense of perspective, Flexibility of gender role)
 Social support (Group cohesion, Positive role models
leading to positive self identities)
 Ethnic identity (Yager-Elorriaga, Berenson &
McWhirter (2014)
 Exploration stage is not a protective factor
 Commitment/resolution stage is associated with
hope and persistence
Interventions for minority
stress: stress-related growth
More knowledge and understanding of the nature of gender and sex
& more complex understanding of the place of gender in their identity
Character strengths/virtues proposed as SRG
 Creativity
 Bravery
 Authenticity
 Zest
 Love
 Social intelligence
 Citizenship
 Fairness
Client interventions
 Sensitive and nuanced understanding of gender – to
reframe and making peace and resolve ambivalence
towards family and past gender policing/sexual abuse
 Creativity – creating escape plans, asserting the
authentic self, playing with gender. It’s important to
reframe this as creatively navigating expectations, not
being fake or taking the easy way out.
 Bravery – Defining survival as bravery. Talking
outwardly about past suicidal ideation. Jean used past
proof of his bravery to do new hard things
Client interventions
 Authenticity – Naming and supporting authenticity.
 Regarding the mourning around Jean’s family, “It will
be worth it.”
 Ronny – struggled to be authentic with friends, not
trusting that they could handle him if he were
authentically himself
 Zest – Jean celebrating and being mindful when he
passed, Trans conference at Penn State
Ethnic identity
 Ronny had some disdain for their Indonesian heritage, due
to moves back and forth, and association with Indonesian
culture with their father’s rejection. They were in a
commitment stage regarding their ethnic background. The
resolution stage protected them from further rejection but did
not provide a source of community or positive identity.
Identified with Rupal’s drag race, as if it were their adopted
culture/community. Very involved in drag shows locally.
Source of pride, community and role models. Concerns
about the association with AOD.
 Jean – Called his family “hicks” and disengaged from family
culture. Resolution stage protected him from loss and
rejection. Identified with campus LGBT community closely.
Ella’s Critical Voice
 Sophomore, music major
 Referral from friend
 Relationship with Mom
 Separation
 Critical voice
 Triggering events
 Forgiveness Letter
 Focus
 Outcome
Lara’s Worries
 Sophomore, scholarship student
 Highly anxious skeet shooter
 2 year relationship
 Primarily supportive
 Interventions don’t stick
 VIA Quiz
 Reframing traits
 Shooting it down
 Reframing the quiz
David’s Busy Semester
 Super Senior
 Overwhelmed/exhausted
 Pre-existing issue with Dad
 Forgiveness Letter
 Avoidance
 Engagement
 Release
Deb’s Slides
Deb’s Happiness
Student groups evolved from work with staff/faculty
 Student Support Services Network (Fall 2011)
staff support group: how can we help students?
 Workshop for faculty: Burnout: Rising from the ashes.
Designing Happiness at Work. w/M. Tomaselli (March 2011)
 Weekly small group begins: Felicity group + neuroscience
interests = “Happy Brain” (March 2013)
 CCNY workshop: Happiness at Work w/L. Brache-Tabar
(June 2013)
Happiness Groups at IC
 Early groups: “Designing Happiness”
Spring 2013 – Fall 2014 (4 groups)
brief (4-5 meetings, I hr/week, option to continue)
psycho-educational, discussion, practice,support
identification of common themes among attendees
CAPS clients, closed
 Evolution: “Peaceful Minds,”
w/co-leader,Brache-Tabar, Spring 2015
emphasis on quieting anxious mind
“Wheel of Awareness” practice and sharing
 Next generation: “Wheel of Awareness”
practice of components of wheel plus sharing, discussion
Happiness: What do we do?
 Format
Discussion with prompts
Practice (meditation, relaxation, visualization)
Sharing
Encouragement
Weekly email reminders and tips
Handouts (exercises, campus resources)
Happiness: What do I do?
 Scratch the good dog, not the bad one
quieting the mind (sitting and moving)
noticing internal and external sensations
poetry and metaphor for access to creativity
journaling and charting
valuing free time and social connections
valuing yourself (begin with inherent worthiness)
loving kindness meditation
appreciative inquiry
imagining the life you want
 Happiness takes work!
Audience Comments /
Questions / Contributions
Happiness Group Description
“This group starts with the idea that discovering what is
good about life is just as important as fixing
problems. Drawing from research in the field of positive
psychology as well as the experiences of the group
members, the group will work together to find ways for
members to cultivate happiness, purpose, and
fulfillment.”
“The group will be structured to explore a different theme
each week that promotes well-being. Group members will
be encouraged to apply what they learn and to support
each other in realizing what makes them happy.”
Happiness Group
Expectations & Format
Expectations included:
 Consider happiness as something at least possible in your life, and
set cynicism aside. Support other students' journeys. Work
together as a team. Be open to new ideas and be willing to try
things within your comfort level.
Format:
 Quick check in, follow up on last week’s positive psychology theme
 Introduction of this week’s theme with discussion and/or a live
exercise
 How to take it with you (usually on a note card)
 Mid week email reminders / previews
Group Exercise:
Introducing Yourself
 Name and interest in the group
 Story of yourself at your best – in the spirit of modesty,
focus on virtues rather than accomplishments
 Examples: spontaneously swimming with
dolphins…helping someone get a dream job…taking a
risk to come to the US to escape oppression
Group Exercise: Letting Go
 Framing of what letting go and forgiveness may be
 Exercise in visualizing. Then sharing
 Letting go of anger, shame…and difficulty letting go
Group Exercise:
Suffering and Happiness
 Consider some experience in your life that has made
you suffer, that you might be willing to share with the
group
 How have you, or could you, find growth, happiness, or
meaning in that experience or through that experience?
Silver linings? Lessons? Strengths gained?
Resilience / bouncing back? How to balance the
suffering with happiness? Antidotes to the suffering?
(or is it more acceptance? – preview for next theme)
 What question might you have that the group could
help you with about this?
Audience Comments /
Questions / Contributions
Panelist Conclusions:
What were we thinking?
 Changes in our attitudes about positive psychology?
 Reflections on the work
 Seeking the good life: the impact of our work
 Are we happy now?
Happiness: Theories and
Practices
The Greater Good Science Center
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu
Rick Hanson, Just One Thing (2011)
Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project (2011)
Matthieu Ricard, Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most
Important Skill (2006)
Steve Ross, Happy Yoga: 7 Reasons There’s Nothing to Worry About
(2003)
Dan Siegel, Brainstorm (2014)
Tal Ben-Shahar, Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting
Fulfillment (2007)
Resources: a few happy explorers
 Abraham Maslow: Toward a Psychology of Being
filling out the healthy half of psychology
 Martin Seligman: Learned Optimism
change your mind, change your life
 Daniel Gilbert: Stumbling on Happiness
predict the future, don’t imagine it
 Sonja Lyubomirksy: The How of Happiness
it’s in your genes
 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow
happiness while working
 Tal Ben-Shahar: Happier
an Ivy–league course in happiness
 Vaughan & Rodriguez (2014). LGBT Strengths: Incorporating positive
psychology into theory, research, training and practice. Psychology of Sexual
Orientation and Gender Diversity, 1(4), 325-334.
 Yager-Elorriaga, Berenson & McWhirter (2014) Hope, ethnic pride and
academic achievement: Positive psychology and Latino Youth, Psychology, 5,
1206-1214.
And one nay-sayer
 Barbara Ehrenreich: Bright-sided: How the Relentless
Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined
America
or, the downside of positive thinking