Positive Psychology for Depression

If you struggle with low-grade depression, experience chronic unhappiness or recurrent episodes of depression, stress or burnout then this is for you. Positive Psychology offers a new way of dealing with depression with evidence-based techniques to:

• Lift your mood naturally
• Protect you from spiralling downwards into depression
• Overcome mild-to-moderate depression
• Build positivity
• Speed the recovery from depression
• Relieve the residual symptoms of major depression
• Prevent relapse back into depression
• Build your resilience to manage tough times
• Target negative thinking habits & overcome pessimism
• Develop optimism & other more positive thinking habits
• Gain a grounded, sustainable happiness

Positive psychology techniques were initially used to target happiness and well-being, but they’ve also been found to be effective in addressing depression. The first meta-analysis of positive psychology interventions  (Sin Lyubomirsky abstract, 2009) shows that these techniques work as well on the symptoms of depression as they do for your level of happiness and satisfaction with life.

This adds up to a paradigm shift in the way we tackle depression. Conventional psychotherapy for depression involves exploring the source of emotional pain in the hope that this will lead to a cathartic release from that pain. This has limitations as one client put it – “digging up sad stories from the past is not my idea of an effective treatment for depression.” The goal with this approach is to get you to a point of absence of depression. However this can leave you feeling empty and flat and is not the same as experiencing the presence of happiness, positive emotions, well-being, satisfaction and meaning in life. Positive psychology goes much further with a focus on building all of these desirable qualities and this has the rather wonderful consequence of reducing the symptoms of depression.

40 percent of your capacity for happiness is under your direct voluntary control and can be developed through positive psychology’s evidence-based techniques. You can learn these scientifically-proven strategies in personal coaching sessions*, through the Happiness Training Plan audio programme and in a forthcoming book – Positive Psychology for Overcoming Depression (Watkins, Feb 2012). Miriam has personal experience of depression and after years of trying other methods to overcome it, finally found the solution in positive psychology.

Positive psychology enhances your capacity for positive emotions like joy, contentment and love. Possibly the greatest benefit is that once you’ve mastered the techniques, you can use them whenever you need them as self-help to maintain your mental health and stop the usual triggers that drag you down into a low.

I approached Miriam Akhtar for some personal coaching having found that her CD on the topic went some way towards helping my anxiety and depression from which I had suffered occasionally over a number of years.   I had been given a variety of medication but found that my body could no longer tolerate the side effects.   I had also quite recently undergone an 8-session face to face CBT course which had given temporary relief only, since I was not given any self-help tools on which I could draw. Miriam’s training was different and more effective in that it gave me those tools to cope with down times and to accept that by focusing on things in my life that gave me happiness I would be better equipped to find a positive solution to those difficulties that had dogged me before. ”

* Please note you should consult your doctor to ensure that the choice of treatment is appropriate for your particular needs and level of depression. This is NOT a form of treatment for more severe cases of depression which require clinical attention. It is coaching rather than therapy, designed to help you master the techniques that you can use as self-help to deal with  depression.