Utilising Positive Psychology to provide coping mechanisms for your students with depression. Dr. Ruth M. MacConville

Transcription

1 Utilising Positive Psychology to provide coping mechanisms for your students with depression Dr. Ruth M. MacConville

2 Aims of Session The aims of the session are to: introduce the key messages of positive psychology consider the cycle of Flourishing explore key coping strategies for students with depression provide an opportunity for questions and discussion.

3 The Prevalence of Depression Figures released by the NHS ( Sept. 2012) showed that one in seven adults in Scotland is on antidepressants. In England, nearly 46.7 m such prescriptions were issued last year and the figure is expected to keep rising. The average age for onset is now known to be 14.5 years compared with 29.5 in 1960.

4 Depression can produce serious impairments in social and physical functioning that can be as disabling as a physical illness The World Health Organisation estimates that by 2020 depression will be the 2 nd biggest cause of disability after cardiovascular disease. Depression is prevalent and also underdiagnosed among children. A major survey found that 4% of 5-15yr olds were suffering from emotional disorder such as anxiety and/or depression.

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6 Positive Psychology Lives that go well; combination of feeling good and functioning effectively Happiness, wellbeing and flourishing Human strengths and resilience It includes the experience of negative emotions and managing them successfully. Seligman, 2011

7 Martin Seligman s hierarchy of happiness The pleasant life: pleasure and positive emotion. The engaged life: participation in activities which are intrinsically interesting and rewarding for the individual and induce flow. The meaningful life: serving a goal bigger than yourself, particularly using your signature strength. Seligman, 2011

8 Happiness LEVEL ONE LEVEL TWO LEVEL THREE momentary Feelings pleasure Judgements about feelings well-being quality of life flourishing

9 Three primary factors influencing happiness Sheldon and Lyubomirsky, 2004 What Determines Happiness? Circumstances 10% Intentional Activity 40% Set Point 50%

10 Great! I can affect 40% of my happiness but what can I do?

11 Our Implicit theory of Happiness Our implicit theory of happiness says that it is related to our life circumstances otherwise we would not work so hard. The conclusion reached by some psychologists is that there is a set level of happiness to which we will return whatever more or less we do. Basic threats to our safety, food shortage, excessive noise are things we will not adapt to. Serious health problems can leave a lasting mark. A lack of autonomy in life is an enduring negative which leads to unhappiness and poor health. Income and material goods are quickly and completely adapted to and so economic growth does not mean people will necessarily get any happier. Health, autonomy, social embeddedness and the quality of the environment rather than wealth are the real sources of happiness.

12 PERMA Seligman has identified the 5 core elements which constitute a flourishing life: Positive Emotions Engagement Relationships Meaning Accomplishments Seligman, 2011

13 The Cycle of Flourishing Connect Enable layers of social connections starting at home, then at school and in the community Creativity Enable individuals creativity to explore their interests, talents, creativity. Encourage them to be curious and ask questions. Recognition Once mastery has been achieved, it takes social recognition to close the loop again to connections. Being recognised brings with it a sense of a social morality of being part of something. Achieve Mastery Practice Once individuals have found an area they want to explore, they learn persistence from practicing and wanting to excel at activities that engage them. From practice and persistence individuals learn that they want to master something. Mastery is a powerful motivator that teaches confidence, `I can and a sense of getting hooked on life.

14 Mastery brings Optimism Repeated experiences of mastery bring optimism the most important component of resilience. Optimism is tough. It is much harder to maintain optimistic attitudes than wilt into pessimism or negativity. Optimism is not the denial of the negative aspects of life but the practice of finding solutions to problems and the belief that there is always hope. Seligman, 2011

15 Optimists: see the world as it really is and recognise the obstacles in their path they believe that they can overcome these obstacles by planning for them and by redoubling their efforts when they fail. In short optimists don t just sit back and think positive thoughts they have an adaptive healthy way of coping with the world. Wilson, 2011

16 Mastery is addictive. Practitioners who encourage students to accept reasonable risks and challenges while at the same time protecting them from emotional distress and feelings of failure ensure that they experience `mastery. Mastery experiences are essential in the development of a perception of personal capability and self-efficacy, i.e. the capacity to influence personal outcomes. Mastery brings with it optimism, confidence, leadership skills initiative and a renewed commitment to hard work. It is important for individuals to experience mastery because it is about discovering that you work hard not because you ought or should but because you want to experience the energising feelings of mastery again and again. Mastery has the capacity to transform a fearful learner in to a motivated player.

17 Broaden and Build Theory Frederikson, 2009 Hope and optimism Gratitude and forgiveness Savouring Joy ) Broaden and Build Managing mood Sharing good news Positive to negative ratio Love Triggers Humour and fun

18 The value of positive emotions Positive emotions: Broaden our thought action repertoire Undo negative emotions Enhance our resilience Enrich our psychological repertoire Can trigger an upward development spiral The broaden-and-build theory urges us to consider positive emotions not as an end in themselves but as a means to leading a better life.

19 The Attributes of Happy Children Connectedness Social and emotional competence Freedom from excessive anxiety Effective communication skills Engagement in meaningful activity and regular experience of flow A sense of control and a growth mindset A sense of purpose and meaning Resilience Self-esteem Optimism Outward focus Present and future mindedness Humour Playfulness Freedom from excessive materialism

20 Flow Flow is a term coined by the Russian psychologist Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990) (pronounced cheeks sent me high ) that refers to a state of optimal experience and involvement in an activity during which we are performing at our best. During flow individuals are completely involved in what they are doing; our skill level matches the challenges of the task, we are compelled to persist at what we are doing until we get it right and we lose track of time. Flow provides an important pathway to happiness.

21 Golden Seeds Leaden Seeds A golden seed. refers to the way someone can often, in our formative years, notice an aptitude or a talent in us and pick it out, comment on it, often just in a chance remark. We tuck away this expression of confidence in us and, when the time comes, we dig up this seed, water it and prove it true. Often, the most memorable thing a teacher can do is to give us our golden seed. Linley, 2008

22 Fixed and Growth Mindsets The work of Carol Dweck (2006) into `mindsets suggests that if practitioners take a pessimistic view of their students and believe that their attainment has a `ceiling - then it takes a Herculean effort on the part of the student to exceed that expectation. The opposite is true, if we do not place a limit on an individual s ability and recognise that ability is not fixed but `plastic ; if we praise students for effort and persistence rather than for praising some rational, inherent ability students will flourish. It is vital practitioners are optimistic about their students or else they create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

23 Five steps to creating students who are successful and flourishing CONNECT: create layers of social connections for students, starting at home, then at school and in the neighbourhood. CREATIVITY: encourage students to use their creativity to explore, create and ask questions. Students need to have their creativity and their imaginations, fostered. PRACTICE: once students have found an area to explore, they must learn persistence and engagement from wanting to do well at the things that interest them. ACHIEVE MASTERY: from practice students learn that they want to master something. Mastery is a powerful motivator that teaches confidence and a sense of getting hooked on life. RECOGNITION: once an individual has achieved mastery, it takes social recognition to close the loop again to connections. Also, recognition teaches a student that they are part of a larger social group, so it teaches a sense of a social morality of being part of something. The Optimistic Child - Greenford High 2

24 Low Social Recognition Being low on social recognition brings stress and imposes high psychic costs Inequality and feelings of social exclusion causes social pain which can lead to fewer social connections, anxiety, obesity and depression. Tough, P.,2012

25 The Cycle of Obesity

26 Learned Helplessness Seligman and his team believed that it made sense to move from reacting to human misery to giving individuals the skills to manage their own lives effectively. They identified the psychological processes underlying depression which could be addressed directly. They established that depression results from Learned Helplessness, a pessimistic mindset, a `giving up, quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn t matter. Individuals with Learned Helplessness hold negative beliefs which deter them from attempting to improve their personal circumstances.

27 Learned Helplessness can undo an optimistic world view: Events such as death of a parent, physical abuse, neglect, severe parental strife or rejection of first adolescent love can trigger a pessimistic world-view Beliefs such as `things will never work out for me, `the world is unjust, `I am unlovable grow in a way that is self-fulfilling. Once pessimism gains a foothold, confirmation abounds in every further rejection or defeat and optimistic messages are ignored. All a pessimistic individual has to do is turn on the TV or read the newspaper to have the pessimism reinforced and become a way of life. Seligman, 2011

28 Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Approaches Clearly not all types of depression are caused by cognitive factors, i.e. by our way of seeing the world. Some forms of depression are best tackled by addressing the underlying chemical imbalance in the brain or by considering diet, sleep, exercise etc. However much depression arises from the perception that the world is a place which is set up to make us fail. The teaching of both cognitive and non-cognitive skills enables students to overcome pessimism and replace it with constructive ways of thinking about the world. Wilson, 2011

29 Key Resources The Optimistic Child: A Proven Programme to Safeguard Children against Depression and Build Life Long Resilience Seligman, M., et al New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Bounce Back! A Classroom Resiliency Programme McGrath,H., & Noble, T. Australia, Pearson Longman

30 Optimism is a learned skill Learn to monitor your automatic thoughts and attitudes and dispute pessimistic explanations. Be aware of the negative thoughts that may flit through your mind when you are feeling low. Evaluate these thoughts and recognise that they may not be true. Generate more accurate explanations. Stop yourself from planning the worst.

31 Thinking Techniques When everything is bad. Ask yourself one question: What is good about this situation?

32 Learning Your ABC s Adversity, Belief, Consequence Adversity: the objective (not subjective ) facts of the situation, Who, What, Where, When Belief: your immediate belief about the situation Why it happened and what will happen next? Consequence: Your feelings and behaviour related to these beliefs.

33 Our Thoughts Become Beliefs When we encounter adversity, we react by thinking about the situation. Our thoughts become our beliefs. Beliefs can become so habitual we don t even think about them. Beliefs have consequences; they are the direct causes of what we feel and what we do next.

34 Learn to Interrupt this Vicious Cycle Learn to see the connection between the ABCs Consider how the ABCs operate in your everyday life? Our beliefs spell the difference between dejection and giving up or a sense of wellbeing and constructive action

35 Beliefs cause Consequences Feelings of worthlessness or no confidence suggest that an individual believes his/her commerce with the world is going badly. When we can identify our beliefs and recognise their effects on our behaviour we can challenge them and begin to build more optimistic, and productive thought patterns. Once a depressed individual becomes active and hopeful feelings of worth improve. Seligman, 2007

36 Optimists have better coping strategies in the face of adversity: they confront problems rather than avoid them plan better for the future focus on what they can control and change persist when they encounter obstacles they don t give up. Optimists don t just sit back and bury their head in the sand. Wilson, 2011

37 Explanatory Style The common sense view is that optimism is seeing the glass as half-full, or always seeing the silver lining. The `positive thinking view of optimism is that it consists of repeating encouraging phrases to ourselves Optimism goes deeper than this. It is the way that we think about causes. Our habits of thinking are called our explanatory style. Explanatory style develops in childhood and without explicit intervention is lifelong. There are 3 dimensions that an individual uses to explain why good or bad events happen. They are permanence, pervasiveness and personalization. Seligman, 1995

38 Explanatory Style 1: Permanence: temporary versus permanent Individuals who are most at risk for depression believe the causes of the bad events that happen to them are permanent. Since the cause will persist forever, they reason bad events are going to recur. Individuals who bounce back from setbacks and resist depression believe that the causes of bad events are temporary. An individual who thinks about failures, rejections and challenges in terms of `always and `never has a pessimistic style whereas an individual who thinks about bad events in terms of `sometimes has an optimistic style. Optimistic and pessimistic individuals also respond differently to good events in their lives. Those who believe good events have more permanent causes are more optimistic than those who believe they have temporary causes ( just the opposite of the optimistic style for bad events).

39 Explanatory Style 2: Pervasiveness: specific versus global Pervasiveness: specific versus global If you believe a cause is permanent you project its effect across time. If you believe a cause is pervasive you project its effect across many different situations in life. Some individuals can put their troubles into a neat box and carry on with their lives even though one important part crumbles. Others catastrophise. When one part of their life falls apart their whole life goes wrong. Individuals who latch onto global explanations for their failure give up on everything when they fail in one area. When it comes to good events, optimist s believe that their causes will enhance everything they do, but the pessimist believes that they are caused by specific factors. N.B. Being smart is more global than being smart at maths; being popular is a trait that implies many people like you not just one person, having talent is more global than just being a good singer. Individuals who think about good events as having more global causes do better across more walks of life

40 Explanatory Style 3: Personal: Internal versus External Personalization is about deciding who is at fault? When bad things happen, individuals can blame themselves (internal) or they can blame other people or circumstances (external). Self-esteem is governed by whom you blame. Individuals who habitually blame themselves when they fail have low selfesteem and feel guilty and ashamed. Individuals who blame other people or circumstances feel better about themselves when bad events strike. Depressed adults blame themselves and feel guilty when things go wrong whether it w as their fault or not. Being a chronic self-blamer increases an individual s risk for depression. Individuals who see things accurately take responsibility when problems are their fault and correct their behaviour and when the problem is not their fault they still feel worthwhile.

41 Flourishing also depends on noncognitive or `unconscious skills Individuals who haven t acquired `unconscious skills find it much harder to comply with a work day routine and do things that they don t want to do. They are less likely to believe that cause leads to effect and that if they delay gratification now something good will result. Tough, 2012

42 Character / Signature Strengths A set of traits that are changeable and malleable. They can be taught, practised and learnt. According to Seligman& Petersen (2004), the value of the 24 character/signature strengths does not come from, their relationship to any particular system of ethics but from their practical benefits what an individual actually gains by possessing and expressing them. Cultivating these strengths represents a reliable path to the `good life, i.e. a life that is not simply happy but is also meaningful and fulfilling. (MacConville & Rae, 2012)

43 Discover Your

44 Character advantages can help you to succeed. Character can function as a substitute for the social, safety net and ease that individuals from supportive backgrounds have that protects them from the consequences of social detours, mistakes and bad decisions. If you don t have the safety net that comes from a supportive background you need to learn to compensate in a different way. You need more GRIT, more social intelligence, more self-control. Tough, 2012

45 The inability to own one s strengths: is partly responsible for our responses to criticism If you can t say what good about yourself its much harder to cope with and learn from your failures challenges are best faced with positive self talk. Make a mistake and you can tell yourself: ` I ll have another go. I m smart, hardworking and determined, I can do this. with no balance of positive or negative in your head, the negative drowns out the positive and its much harder to pull yourself out of the mud. Tough, 2012

46 The Vowel Check A E I O U Y Dr Neff s Self-Compassion Scale:

47 Character Education KIPP: Knowledge is Power Program Learning is fun, exhilarating and gratifying it can also be daunting, exhausting and sometimes discouraging and so character is as important as intellect. Habits, i.e. SLANT GRIT Do good: Be Good

48 Habits Habits are a way to gradually grow a positive, enjoyable way of thinking which over time can become as instinctive as driving up the road. A habit grows from repeated action, creating neural networks in our brain that can direct our action without conscious thought.

49 Goal Power Goals are an important of using and building on signature strengths. A goal enables us to experience a sense of being while doing Csikszentmihalyi (1990) explains that having meaningful goals and a clear sense of purpose is essential to attaining flow and creating a better future.

50 Hope: a way of thinking or cognitive process A trilogy of goals, pathways and agency. Hope happens when: We have the ability to set realistic goals, I know where I want to go We can work out how to achieve these goals, stay flexible and develop alternative routes I know how to get there, I m persistent, I can tolerate disappointment and have another go. We believe in ourselves I can do this.

51 To learn hopefulness students need: relationships that are characterised by optimism, boundaries and consistency to value persistence and hard work. Hopeful self-talk sounds like: This is tough but I can do it At the heart of hope is tolerance for disappointment, determination and a belief in self.

52 Positive Psychology Interventions: Expressing Active Gratitude: 3 Good Things Random acts of kindness Identifying Top Strengths Using Strengths in a new way Ideal Self Active Constructive Responding Practice Mindfulness Build Happy memories Writing interventions Story Editing Ideal Self

53 A Strengths Approach: Further Reading Fox Eades, J., 2008, Celebrating Strengths: Building Strengths Based Schools, Coventry, CAPP Press Linley, A, 2008, Average to A+, Coventry, CAPP Press MacConville, R.M., 2009, Teaching Happiness: A ten step curriculum for creating positive classrooms. London, Optimus Education, Teach to Inspire Series MacConville, R.M., 2012, Building Resilience: A skills based programme to support achievement in young people, Milton Keynes, Speech Mark Publishing Ltd Morris, I, 2009, Teaching Happiness and well-being in schools, London, Continuum Books Seligman, M., 2011, Flourish: A new understanding of happiness and well-being and how to achieve them. London, Nicolas Brealey Publishing

54 Creating a positive classroom environment Praise for effort and strategies Give encouragement Active Constructive Responding Model optimism Connect and build interactive classrooms Foster Flow Celebrate Signature Strengths Positive Storytelling to Inspire Peak End Rule The Optimistic Child - Greenford High 2

55 Further information:

56 Web Resources

57 Key References Csikszentmihalyi,M., 1990, Flow; The Psychology of Optimal Experience, New York, HarperCollins Publishers Dweck, C. S., 2006, Mindset; The New Psychology of Success, New York, Ballantine Books Frederikson, B., 2009, Positivity, New York, Crown Publishers Linley, A., Average to A+, Coventry, CAPP Press MacConville, R., & Rae, T. Building Happiness, Resilience and Motivation in Adolescents, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers Peterson,C., & Seligman, M., 2004, Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification, Oxford: Oxford University Press Seligman, M, 2007, The Optimistic Child, New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Seligman, M., 2011, Flourish: A new understanding of happiness and well-being and how to achieve them. London, Nicolas Brealey Publishing Sheldon & Lyubomirsky,S, 2004, The How of Happiness, New York, The Penguin Press Tough, P., 2012, How Children Succeed, Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character, New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Wilson, T., Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change, London, Allen Lane