Positive Interventions: Notes on Article by Rashid
By Ryan M. Niemiec, Psy.D.
Education Director, VIA Institute
The Study: Rashid, T. (2009). Positive interventions in clinical practice. Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 65(5), 461-466.
Summary: This overview article asks clinicians to look at and challenge the long-held assumption that assessing and treating deficits is curative and should be the goal of psychotherapy.
Tayyab Rashid challenges clinicians to consider that a goal of counseling could be to directly focus on helping to make people become happier: “Psychotherapy is not a place where only troubles are discussed; psychotherapy is also a place where strengths are discovered, where positive emotions are cultivated, where gratitude and optimism are fostered” (p. 462). At the same time, there are many pop psychology strategies put forth by various self-help individuals. Often these lead to transient effects and may leave the individual feeling confused. Therefore, any positive psychology intervention needs to be judged in terms of four important areas:
1.) Effectiveness
2.) Applicability
3.) Safety
4.) Specificity
Rashid emphasizes that positive interventions are a reeducation of attention and memory. This statement is both profound and simple. Indeed, a considerable amount of positive psychology interventions can be construed in these terms. Consider mindfulness meditation and savoring in terms of attention; and consider the involvement of memory in the 3 Good Things intervention or in a gratitude visit to a person whom one has had conflict with.
Rashid offers 4 considerations as one learns about positive interventions:
1.) Positive interventions do not imply that all other interventions are negative. Clinicians must understand the negative in order to fully understand anything positive. An integration of both is the ideal (identify and build strengths; overcome weaknesses), not a denial of one or the other.
2.) Positive interventions based on intentional activities should be used since people habituate quickly to attaining goods, goals, money, etc., and these do not lead to greater happiness anyway. Happiness building activities should be both varied and individualized to the client’s personal strengths and values.
3.) Positive interventions should be delivered with a strong consideration and sensitivity to the client’s unique cultural background, not with a “one-size fits all” approach.
4.) Positive interventions should be extended to non-clinical populations to help the majority of people move from neutral to flourishing.
Niemiec’s comments for practitioners: It is clear Rashid’s main audience is psychologists and those practitioners working with a clinical population, however, others (e.g., coaches) will find benefit in his overview. If you liked this article, you’d probably also like [Tedeschi, R. G., & Kilmer, R. P. (2005). Assessing strengths, resilience, and growth to guide clinical interventions. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 36(3), 230-237.] Tedeschi & Kilmer unfortunately do not focus on assessing character strengths, however, are strong in discussing the assessment of resiliency and posttraumatic growth. Nevertheless, character strengths underline their work. The most consistently reported variables that facilitate positive adaptation found in resilience research are self-regulation, love & kindness from others, positive self-views, and good intellectual functioning.