Positive Psychology Interventions

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Positive Psychology is about building what is right in an athlete and also in “work, education, insight, love, growth, and play” (Seligman, 2002, p. 3). It is a science, “looks at what is right” in athletes, and focuses on when they are “their best” (Biswas-Diener, 2010, p. 5). Seligman (2002) believes that the disease model has not moved us closer to preventing mental illness and that human strengths, such as courage, future-mindedness, optimism, interpersonal skill, faith, work ethic, hope, honesty, perseverance, the capacity for flow and and insight, can act as buffers against mental illness. Research has demonstrated that learning optimism prevents depression and anxiety in children and adults (Seligman, 2002). “A teenager who is future-minded, who is interpersonally skilled, who derived flow from sports, is not at risk of substance abuse” (Seligman, 2002, p. 4). Positive psychology interventions promote superior functioning while traditional psychology attempts to restore a person to normal functioning (Biswas-Diener, 2010). …show more content…

I enjoy journaling my thoughts and also taking photographs to remember specific events and then later sitting and relaxing while savoring the past. I believe it gives me strength in the moment to push forward with increased vigor. This would be a good strategy for coaches to use with athletes. Photographs, videos, and news articles could be used from previous years to help the athlete remember the “good things” that they had accomplished and achieved. They could savor the past by comparing statistics and goal completion, for example. This could facilitate an increase in intrinsic motivation and increased vigor to have that deep satisfying feeling again in

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