Positive psychiatry: Its time has come
21 important questions on Positive psychiatry: Its time has come
What is positive psychiatry?
What is the main aim of positive psychiatry?
What are the main components in positive psychiatry? (4)
2. PPCs that comprise psychological traits and environmental factors
3. Biology of positive psychiatry constructs
4. Positive psychiatry interventions (including preventive ones)
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What are the dimensions and targets of a positive psychiatric approach? (6)
2. Low level of perceived stress (believe that contemporary demands or challenges exceed the ability to cope)
3. Successful psychosocial aging (ability to adapt to circumstances and positive attitude to the future)
4. Post-traumatic growth
5. Recovery in serious mental illness
6. Prevention of mental illness
What are positive psychological traits? (6)
2. Optimism (tendency to expect good outcomes
3. Personal mastery and coping self-efficacy (self-perceived ability to activate specific coping strategies to overcome life challenges and to influence outcomes)
4. Social engagement (level of integration into a social network (number, quality, frequency, and degree of pleasure)
5. Spirituality and religiosity (the extent to which a person focuses on transcendent topics)
6. Wisdom
What are positive environmental factors? (2)
2. Social support (degree to which people are available for emotional/physical support)
What are possible other determinants of psychosocial functioning? (3)
What are the potential biomarkers of positive mental health? (2)
2. Telomere length (indicator of biological age; cumulative index of the number of cell divisions and exposures to genotoxic and cytotoxic processes such as oxidation)
What are the factors that can influence telomere length? (3)
2. Healthy lifestyle changes and psychosocial stress reduction can increase telomerase activity
3. Prolonged oxidative stress
What is known about the general biology of resilience and optimism? (3)
2. Candidate genes in the limbic and prefrontal cortex (optimism linked to oxytocin receptor gene and a variation of a gene responsible for serotonin transport)
3. Genes and their reaction with the environment may shape the neural circuitry and neurochemical function expressed in psychological traits
What is known about the general biology of personal mastery and coping self-efficacy? (2)
2. Greater coping self-efficacy is associated with lower blood pressure and pulse pressure, and a low coping self-efficacy with pro-inflammatory IL-6
What is known about the general biology of social engagement?
What is known about the general biology of spirituality and religiosity?
What is known about the general biology of wisdom (including compassion?
Why is it interesting that the focus thus far has been on the disease model in child/adolescent psychiatry?
What is known about neuroplasticity in aging populations?
What lifestyle interventions can be encouraged? (4)
2. Meditative practices to enhance positive affect, and decrease anxiety and negative affect. Besides, it has benefits across a range of psychiatric conditions
3. Healthy diet to reduce risk of depression
4. Sleep to improve quality of life
What can be the advantages of positive psychiatry in clinical practice? (5)
2. Positive interventions can complement medication or psychotherapy
3. Convenient and cost-effective
4. Less stigma associated with positive interventions
5. May help to buffer against relapse
What are social/political/ethical limitations to positive psychiatry
2. Less consensus about what constitutes positive mental health, and about which clinical interventions may be efficacious (compared to mental illness)
What are the scientific/academic limitations to positive psychiatry? (4)
2. No clinical mandate to define the constructs of positive outcomes
3. Potential for adverse effects of PPIs (wording in a PPI can have a negative impact)
4. There should be clarity about whether interventions promote hedonic or also eudaimonic experiences
What should future research in positive psychiatry focus on? (3)
2. Better operalizations and better assessment of positive psychological psychosocial outcomes and PPCs
3. If clinicians would also focus on evaluating measures of well-being, interventions could be employed to enhance to traits, focusing on positive outcomes (e.g. well-being and recovery)
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