Broadening The Scope Of Wellbeing Science

This book brings together leading researchers on wellbeing science to provide a multidisciplinary approach to psychological wellbeing with implications for the interconnected societal challenges we face today, including loneliness, neoliberalism, inequality and anthropogenic climate change. Its authors present new and innovative models for understanding, building and improving our understanding of the complex construct of wellbeing. The capacity for individual positive change is explored, as well as the scope for such change to impact on the communities and environments within which we live. Further, the book places individual wellbeing within a broader context that also addresses societal needs and challenges. In doing so, it provides a novel synthesis of individual, societal and environmental perspectives on wellbeing and human flourishing. In the face of an urgent need to build stronger, sustainable and more resilient communities, this book demonstrates how wellbeing science can link the individual with the community through appropriate health and wellbeing policies and offers a guide to a new way for individuals to connect with the world. It will appeal to researchers and professionals working across the fields of psychology, environmental science, public health and public policy.

New developments in positive psychology have evolved into the 2nd and 3rd waves, going beyond the individual and positive focus towards complex systems, multi-cultures, and the existential positive psychology of transcending suffering. The present project aims at developing a general theory of well-being that integrates all the above changes as the new frontier of positive psychology. At a time when humanity is threatened by all kinds of existential crises, from climate change to nuclear war, from ideological polarization to a widening income gap, we need to develop a big-picture theoretical framework showing that happiness is not just for those living in peace and prosperity, but also for those struggling in dire poverty and war-ravaged countries like Ukraine, not just for the self, but also for others, not just for the present, but also for future generations. This broader approach towards wellbeing opens up new vistas for research and interventions.

This volume argues for the development of a macro perspective within psychology that more effectively incorporates social structures, systems, policies, and institutions. The book emphasizes how social structures and systems can ultimately promote, or erode, psychological wellbeing. Macropsychology is concerned with “understanding up,” or how we can influence the settings and conditions of the society in which we live. Psychology has traditionally been more interested in “understanding down,” that is, with the behaviour of individuals and groups; in inter-psychic and intra-psychic and in neurological and biological processes. This volume argues that psychology can more effectively contribute at the macro or societa level, by addressing grand challenges and global goals, using big data, and intervening at the population level.Bringing together social, organizational, cultural, and health psychology research, the book demonstrates a broad range of areas benefitting from a macropsychology perspective, particularly areas integral to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Contributors address the value of macropsychological perspectives in addressing sub-topics such as: Mental health Personality traits and social structure Disability rights Food systems Humanitarian work psychology Macropsychology: A Population Science for Sustainable Development Goals aims to recognise and give impetus to a neglected perspective within psychology, and to inspire a paradigm-widening within the field of psychology, facilitating greater involvement with social justice and human rights.

This book makes the unorthodox claim that there is no such thing as mental health. It also deglamourises nature-based psychotherapies, deconstructs therapeutic landscapes and redefines mental health and wellbeing as an ecological process distributed in the environment – rather than a psychological manifestation trapped within the mind of a human subject. Traditional and contemporary philosophies are merged with new science of the mind as each chapter progressively examples a posthuman account of mental health as physically dispersed amongst things – emoji, photos, tattoos, graffiti, cities, mountains – in this precarious time labelled the Anthropocene. Utilising experimental walks, play scripts and creative research techniques, this book disrupts traditional notions of the subjective self, resulting in an Extended Body Hypothesis – a pathway for alternative narratives of human-environment relations to flourish more ethically. This transdisciplinary inquiry will appeal to anyone interested in non-classificatory accounts of mental health, particularly concerning areas of social and environmental equity – post-nature.

Positive Psychology for Healthcare Professionals presents applied positive psychology specifically for health and care staff, showcasing eleven different interventions that have proven to be effective in improving wellbeing.

Cities and countries around the globe are starting to incorporate a well-being approach by reorienting policies and budgets to benefit people and long-term sustainability. With insights from an international group of scientists, practitioners, and innovators, Well-Being considers the measurement focus of conversations surrounding well-being, then moves beyond to action: shifts in policy, narratives, and power, and alignment with other movements acrosssectors.

This book on the new paradigm of existential positive psychology (PP2.0) or second-wave positive psychology focusses on the importance of transcending or transforming negative experiences and emotions to achieve durable flourishing. The book offers exciting new concepts and skills in the practice of counselling psychology. Positive psychology is evolving due to changing times and circumstances. PP2.0 opens new vistas for research and interventions in counselling psychology and positive psychology. Instead of relying only on the positives, it posits the importance of navigating an optimal balance between positives and negatives in each context. It emphasizes the importance of inner peace, balance, and harmony rather than the pursuit of happiness or positive emotions. More importantly, PP2.0 is based on meeting the basic human needs for 1) the need to be liberated from the suffering and human bondage, 2) the hope of achieving a meaningful future, 3) the need to relate to others in a compassionate and authentic way so that people can experience genuine kindness and love, and 4) the deep-seated spiritual need for a sense of oneness with a Higher Power or nature. This volume explores ways to help individuals to be liberated from their inherent limitations and, at the same time, empower them to achieve their highest aspirations. With an updated Introduction, this book is the ideal companion for any student or practitioner looking for an insightful overview of positive psychology including humanistic psychology, existential positive psychology as well as counselling psychology. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Counselling Psychology Quarterly.

This book will broaden the public and policy discourse on the importance of well-being by examining psychological, social, environmental, economic, organizational, institutional and political determinants of individual well-being. The public po