Hope

In the dystopian society Orwell creates in 1984 there is an overwhelming, yet unsettlingly familiar sense of irony; the omnipotent leaders of Oceania, Big Brother and the inner party members, claim to be controlling the everyday lives of the citizens in order to bring them a better life, ‘for the good of the party’ and ‘our new, happy life’. However, this is the distinct opposite to the reality Winston Smith lives in; a totalitarian state which professes to bring hope and happiness, yet in actuality drains any sense of optimism and joy.

In a place bereft of any hope, Winston Smith finds himself desperately searching for a sense of individuality and relief. It would be wrong to assume, however, that Orwell’s society is completely and utterly deprived of solace, there are, at least in section, one faint glimmers of hope, small fragments to which Winston clings; a person he sees in the corridor, the masses of lower classes, the diary in which he writes. There are little details in Winston’s life that do bring a sense of relief; the fact that luckily his room contains an area in which he can remain unseen by the telescreens.

This offers him a minute place of solitude in a society where Big Brother is omnipresent. The presence of his diary and his pen, there is relief in the fact that he is able to write, even if it is extremely dangerous to do so. Remnants of the past can still be found in some places, the paper weight Winston finds, for example becomes something beautiful and rare that brings colour to the grimness of his situation. The shop in itself appears to be a place of hope, Winston finds himself strangely drawn back to it.

Full of memories and paraphernalia of the past it offers some relief to the dark and bleak present. Winston also finds relief in people, evidently the wrong ones as the reader later finds out, but nonetheless the character of O’Brien appeals to him, ” we shall meet in a place where there is no darkness” Winston is told by him and this gives him hope. He writes his diary to O’ Brien and thinks this may be the only person who understands and feels the same way, offering him a sense of comfort ‘”I am with you….

I am on your side” O’ Brien seems to be saying’ and although Winston is gravely mistaken, there is some relief that he believes somebody empathises with him, this gives him faith. “Proles and animals are free” states the party slogan, and Winston believes with conviction that the only prominent hope are within these ‘swarming disregarded masses’. The proles seem free, whereas the rest of the population is indoctrinated and docile. The proles can express themselves, they are allowed to be passionate even if it only about beer and the lottery.

It is ironic that passion can also be evoked in the outer and inner party members, yet this passion is in relation to ‘the two minute hate’ and to Big Brother, rather than a passion for freedom and for hope. Thus continuously Orwell writes that ‘if there is hope, it lies in the Proles’. Orwell himself states that the proles “represent real human beings with their emotions intact and not driven out of them. ” Winston recognises that the Proles are the key to change, as they are the only people capable of thinking for themselves.

However this is only a limited relief, the proles have been tamed and occupied by the party, they are allowed certain freedom because they do not have the ability to rebel, as Orwell writes they are not conscious of their own strength, “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious. ” To that end hope may indeed lie with the proles yet it seems unlikely to amount to the rebellion needed to bring relief to Oceania.

The idea that logic, tautologies and mathematics can never be truly altered is a key theme throughout 1984, in section one there is still hope and optimism in these fields, or so Winston beliefs. “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four. If that is granted, all else follows. ” This belief gives Winston something to hold on to, he knows that it is true and it offers a sort of promise that at least something is inalterable. Winston wonders whether if everybody believed that two plus two makes five, it be considered truth.

Yet the fact remains that although history is rewritten, and events and people erased, no bureaucracy can alter the universal laws of maths. In section one Memory features as an outlet for relief and a place of hope, although it is evident that people do not remember the past as well as they should, Winston still has vague recollections and images from his past, the images of his mother and sister haunt him, but at least they show that there was something before. proles remember lottery….. remembers songs….. … shop keeper memory…. man in pub… 984 is often described as a warning to the future; Oceania has strong parallels with Stalin’s Russia and the message still resonates with the modern reader familiar with the sense of paranoia and increasing government restrictions in light of international events. Perhaps hope can be drawn from Orwell’s footnote in the beginning pages, stating that ‘newspeak’ was the official language, the past tense suggests, as propounded by Margaret Atwood, that the dystopia was not eternal. For Winston Smith, in the immediate present of Oceania, there is a small sense of relief, yet only perhaps because he is looking for it.

He perceives himself to be different from the rest of the outer party members and this helps him to find some relief, yet at the same time also mentally tortures him as he wonders if he is a lunatic, ‘ a minority of one’. Although there is some relief to the grimness in section one, there is not quite enough to combat the totalitarian control of Big Brother, it seems that Winston Smith eventually starts to take risks, not because he is hopeful or experience relief, but because he becomes even more apathetic towards his own existence.

Dennis Brown once said, “The only difference between a good day and a bad day is your attitude. ” As someone who always tried to keep a positive attitude in life, it is hard for me to imagine a world where people are not as optimistic about everyday deals. After hitting my Junior year in IB; however, the effects of the stress load really began to affect my attitude towards life. However, even though I barely just began this experience, I can truly say that a positive attitude can go a long way.

As we explore this idea, we’ll first discover the benefits of being positive, next look at the negatives of losing hope, and finally learn how to keep life beautiful with a beautiful attitude. An anonymous person with a great outlook on life once said, “You’ve got to take the good with the bad, smile with the sad, love what you’ve got, and remember what you had. Always forgive, but never forget. Learn from mistakes, but never regret. ” Though, this person did not disclose their name, their point is simple and clear. Staying positive is better than being negative.

It is scientifically proven that staying positive can help decrease stress levels, increase lifep, and can actually cause a greater resistance to the common cold and many other diseases. Ph. D. Doctor Martin Brofman discovered the benefits of keeping an upbeat attitude at all times. Brofman was diagnosed terminal cancer in 1975 and was told that he only had two months to live; two months before he would be forced to confront with death. Determined to make the most of his last few weeks, he refused to let anything get him down by keeping a positive attitude at all times.

When the sky looked rainy during the time he was sick, the sun would come out at his command. He would imagine his cancer cells each dying off, one at a time; he would insist that everything would be okay. Two months later, he went back to visit the doctor that declared him terminally ill. The doctor, in return, had laughed in joy and stated that perhaps they had made a mistake. Brofman later quotes that “In order to release a symptom, one must release the way of being associated with it. Thus, the process of healing implies a process of transformation. Along with the positives of being positive, there are also several consequences for being negative. According to scientific research, negative attitude can decrease lifep, cause stress levels to rise drastically which can cause many medical problems such as heart attack, hypertension, diabetes, and can create an unpleasant future. There are six main types of negativity: the miserable type, the silent killer, the drama queens, the woe is, the paranoid type, and finally the trigger type. These all have one thing in common: they tend to see many things in a negative light.

According to Winston Churchill, “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. ” In the end, the question asked is: would you rather see the difficulty or the opportunity? If the answer is to see opportunity, there are several ways to create a more positive attitude. Firstly, gratitude. If you are grateful towards things that you have, then you tend to have a positive outlook towards your life. It is said that Gratitude is the beginning of all virtues. The next step would be choosing happiness.

Be happy; be positive; even when everything is looking rough, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Thirdly would be substituting problems for challenges. Don’t think of it as a problem, think of it as a challenge. Fourthly, view life as a journey; not a long, weary trek in the end where you go to sleep dejected and exhausted. Think of life as a ride, a ride with twists and turns but nevertheless an honest to goodness fun ride. Next, when you wake up in the morning, think about what a wonderful day it is. A positive start will nearly always end happily.

Lastly, stop and smell the roses and appreciate even the little things in life. As Maurice Setter once said, “Too many people miss the silver lining because they are too busy looking for the gold. ” Often times, people take things for granted and do not look at the positive side of life. However, as shown previously, a positive attitude can create not only great health but also help the people around you. In this sense, a positive attitude is necessary for one to feel truly happy in their lives and necessary for one to truly live the fullest they can.

Positive Psychology in the Treatment of Major Depression Positive psychology is a strengths-oriented, positively focused approach to human behaviors and thoughts that is relatively recent to the overall field of psychology. Previous schools of thought had always focused on the abnormalities, weaknesses, and pathologies of people. Positive psychology is an exceptionally new branch of psychology and aims at making life more fulfilling, enjoyable, and happy instead of just tolerable; they wish to promote mental health and well-being instead of only treating disorders.

This research paper will address the roles that hope, gratitude, forgiveness, resilience, optimism, and self-efficacy play in one’s life, and how these characteristics can be utilized in a way to maximize one’s positive affect. One of the most common mood disorders is depression. Depression comes in many forms and there are also different depressive disorders such as major depression, bipolar disorder, and dysthymic disorder. (NIMH, 2009) For the sake of this paper, major depression will be examined.

Symptoms of a major depressive episode include feelings of sadness or unhappiness, irritability or frustration, loss of interest or pleasure in normal activities, reduced sex drive, insomnia or excessive sleeping, changes in appetite, agitation or restlessness, angry outbursts, slowed thinking or speaking, fatigue, tiredness, loss of energy, trouble thinking or concentrating, frequent thoughts of death or dying including suicide, crying spells for no apparent reason, and unexplained physical problems such as pain (Mayo Clinic, 2012).

One does not have to have every one of these symptoms, they must have at least five symptoms, they must persist for at least two weeks, symptoms cannot be caused due to drug or alcohol consumption, are not caused by bereavement or last longer than two months, and they must cause a significant amount of impairment in the person’s everyday life functioning (DSM-IV-TR, 2000). Major depressive disorder has a lifetime prevalence rate of 11. 2 percent in young adults with 3. 3 percent of those cases deemed severe, and a twelve month prevalence rate of 6. percent in adults with 30. 4 percent of those cases diagnosed as severe. People ages eighteen to twenty-nine are seventy percent more likely to have experienced depression compared to those over the age of sixty, people between thirty to forty-four years old were 120 percent more likely, and forty-five to fifty-nine year olds were 100 percent more likely. Women are seventy percent more likely than their male counterparts to experience depression during their lifetime and whites are forty percent more likely than blacks to experience depression.

Compared to 2 percent or less for most other disorders, major depression is quite common. (NIMH, 2009) Positive psychology interventions in cases of major depression focus on increasing positive emotions, positive experiences, subjective well-being, and beneficial engagements. This differs from traditional interventions by not focusing on the depressive, negative symptoms and instead trying to focus on the good aspects of one’s life. Positive psychologists do not ignore the fact that mental illnesses are abnormal and the fact that things do go wrong in peoples’ lives.

Instead, they want to take a closer look at the good things that happen in peoples’ lives and what makes and keeps people content or happy. In one study, conducted by Seligman et al, positive psychotherapy exercises delivered through the internet were shown to relieve the symptoms of depression for a minimum of six months whereas traditional treatments lasted less than one week. In subjects suffering from severe depression, reduction in mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms was observed.

It was also observed that subjects who had been suffering from major depressive disorder and underwent positive psychotherapy had a higher reduction in symptoms than those who underwent traditional treatments and those who underwent traditional treatments combined with medications. The hypothesis of this study stated that “depression can be treated effectively not only by reducing its negative symptoms, but also by directly and primarily building positive emotions, character strengths, and meaning. It is possible that directly building these positive resources may also buffer against their future reoccurrence. (Seligman et, al. , 2006) Logically, major depression would be well treated when using a positive psychology oriented approach. People who suffer from depression experience anhedonia – an inability to experience pleasure in activities which it is usually produced. They lack positive affect, show a lack of engagement in meaningful activities, lack of feeling of purpose, and lack of feeling of meaning. These people no longer find any interest in things such as sex, food, bonding with friends, favorite past times, and work. (Brynie, 2009) A study by Barnaby D.

Dunn, published in July of 2012 also found that people suffering from depression also do not experience anticipation or recognize positive emotions the way those unaffected do. (Dunn, 2012) The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines anticipation as “1: b. the act of looking forward; especially: pleasurable expectation. 2: a mental attitude that influences a later response. ”(Merriam-Webster, 2012) From this, it is understood that people suffering from depression, and therefore anhedonia, not only miss out on the pleasure normally experienced during enjoyable activities, they also do not even look forward to any of these pleasurable activities.

It is as if they do not see the possibility of an experience producing positive outcomes. Positive psychology, on the other hand, is primarily focused on creating and building-upon positive emotions, helping people find meaning in their everyday lives, and promoting an overall increase in mental health. Positive psychology has its roots in self-efficacy, optimism, and hope. Self-efficacy is the belief that you have the skills and self-control necessary to achieve the goals you set for yourself.

This is a learned way of thinking, predicted by previous successes, observing others with high levels of self-efficacy, the ability to imagine oneself achieving a successful outcome, verbal persuasion by other strong and trustworthy individuals, and ability to control negative emotions. Optimism is a person’s tendency to look at a situation from the best possible point of view, or too expect the best possible outcome in any given situation (Merriam-Webster, 2012). Optimism can be predicted by a childhood environment which provided safety, coherence, secure attachments, and there is also a genetic component to optimism.

Television, however, is one of the main culprits in promoting pessimism – the opposite of optimism. The final main building block of positive psychology is hope. Hope is the combination of the belief that one can reach his or her goals and has the ability to find alternate routes to these goals should they be presented with adversity. (Snyder, 2011) Key steps and aspects of combating major depression with positive psychology were outlined by Seligman, Rashid, and Parks in their 2006 article.

Since depression is associated with a lack of positive realizations in one’s life, clients were asked to take steps to help them recognize their signature strengths, ways to utilize these signature strengths, good things that happen to them every day, things and people in their lives that they are thankful for, and also to forgive others and themselves for past transgressions. To help clients recognize their signature strengths as well as help them to see the way they view themselves, clients were instructed to write stories describing what they believe to be their character strengths.

The client and therapist discuss how apathy and the absence of positive emotions do nothing but maintain the cycle of depressive episodes. Next, clients were instructed to take the VIA-IS strengths finding questionnaire and then use those results in an assignment stating how they could best utilize their strengths to improve their everyday lives. Afterwards, clients were to recall past situations in which they have successfully used their identified strengths to their advantage. Pleasure, engagement, and meaning as pathways to happiness are discussed during the client’s session and their role in overcoming depression is outlined.

All of these steps help lead to the realization of the client that they have strengths that are unique to themselves, they have control over situations that happen to them, and they are not helpless. (Seligman, 2006) The next set of steps focuses mainly on engagement. Clients were asked to keep Blessings Journals in which they recorded at least three good things which happened to them each day. They are also encouraged to write about three bad things that have happened to them and to go into depth about their emotions surrounding these events and how the events influenced their depression.

The therapist will inform the client of the ways in which retaining negative feelings such as anger and bitterness can compound the effects of depression and prevent recovery. Clients were encouraged to talk about negative experiences and vent about these experiences rather than ruminate on them. Clients were then to write at least one forgiveness letter. They describe an incident with a wrong-doing, the emotions experienced along with the event, and they also promise to forgive to transgressor; even if it was himself or herself. Seligman et al, 2006) Forgiveness is a freeing from a negative attachment to the source that has transgressed against a person. There is less desire to avoid the person or seek revenge, and an increase in positive feelings or actions towards the individual. There is a realistic assessment of the harm done, an acknowledgement of the perpetrator’s responsibility, a cancelation of debt between the victim and perpetrator, and then a self-removal from the category of victim.

Forgiveness is important in a person’s life because it helps to break the cycle of violence when one person is harmed and seeks revenge and then the initial transgressor seeks revenge as well which initiates and maintains said cycle of violence. When a person displays a willingness to forgive others, it is not only beneficial to that person, but also to all of the people surrounding said incident. It produces positive feelings as well as an inclination to also be forgiving in future situations. This is a form of positive role modeling between peers. Snyder, 2011) Another important step is expressing gratitude. Clients are encouraged to express their gratitude to someone they never properly or fully thanked either in person, through a letter, or via telephone conversation. (Miller, 2008) One way gratitude is experienced is when another individual acts in a way that is costly to himself or herself, provides value to the recipient, and was done intentionally. Another way gratitude can be experienced is when someone survives a catastrophic event, a threat to his or her health, or a dangerous situation.

Gratitude is a highly valued character trait in many cultures due to its beneficial nature and tendency to increase a person’s tendency to perform altruistic tasks. Those who are high in gratitude are generally less concerned with material goods, more spiritual, more satisfied with life, and more empathetic. (Snyder, 2011) Using the concept of primary prevention, psychologists can help their clients to prevent depressive symptoms from occurring in the first place, or lessen the severity of depressive symptoms during the next depressive episode.

Some positive psychology interventions in Seligman, Rashid, and Parks’ 2006 study that dealt with primary prevention were being more physically active, socializing with more people or more often with people who were already friends, engaging in meaningful work such as volunteering and helping the less fortunate, bonding more with loved ones and forming deeper connections, lowering expectations of oneself and others, and making one’s own happiness a priority.

In the same study, Seligman and his fellow researchers randomly assigned six hundred volunteers to one of six intervention activities online. Five of these activities were from a more positive psychology focused list of exercises, and one was a placebo. The placebo exercise required participants to write down their earliest memories every night for a week which had only temporary effects on that group. The volunteers assigned to groups 1, 2, and 4 showed pointedly lower depressive symptoms and much higher levels of happiness when compared to the lacebo and two other control-like groups. The volunteers in the successful group also had result which lasted at least six months whereas the people in the other groups had either no results, or results that were only fleeting. (Seligman et al, 2006) Group 1 was required to take the VIA-IS strengths questionnaire and then considers ways in which they could utilize their results to help them in their everyday lives. Group 2 had to write down at least three good things that had happened to them that day and why they thought these things had happened to them.

Group 4 had to conduct a gratitude visit, much like the one previously mentioned, in which they composed a letter of thanks to someone who had positively impacted their life in some way, shape, or form but they had never fully thanked and then read said letter either in person or over the phone. The two control-like groups’ assignments were to take a strengths test questionnaire alone, or to write an essay about themselves in a moment when they were at their best. Seligman et al, 2006) These last findings show that the positive psychology activities used in the Seligman et al study can also be used as a form of secondary prevention. Secondary prevention addresses a problem after it has already appeared; just as these online participants were already showing signs of extreme depression. After participating in the three blessings per day exercise their depression scores went down showing that this exercise not only could help prevent depressive episode as previously shown, it could also lessen a depressive episode that had already begun.

As a spin-off from this study a website, www. reflectivehappiness. com was created. This was a social website community centered on positive psychology. New exercises and interventions were posted each month, a book club was formed, a newsletter was published and sent out, and a discussion board dedicated to positive psychology. During the first month of operations, it was found that fifty of the site’s subscribers who took pretests for the Center for Epidemiological Studies – Depression Scale, scored in the range that would qualify as extremely depressed.

After completing the exercise involving recording three blessings each day for two weeks, the average score for this group of people dropped from 33. 9, to 16. 9. This showed that ninety-four percent of these people were less depressed and fell from the extremely depressed range to the mildly to moderately depressed range. This website is no longer functioning the same way, it has moved to a mobile network which only works on iPhones and now runs under the URL www. happiness. com. Another important part of positive psychology and the ability of a person to remain positive, optimistic, and hopeful is resiliency.

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity and to successfully adapt to the demands of stressful situations (Tugade et al, 2004). People who are seen as resilient are more likely to be described as self-efficacious, confident, and determined and can also be expected to generate a more positive self-talk, boost their self-image, and promote self-agency (Mak et al, 2011). All of these characteristics are those of someone with a very positive outlook on life as well as a positive view of themselves.

These people show a much lower susceptibility to mental disorders and behavioral problems such as depression, anxiety, violence, and substance abuse (Lillehoj et al, 2004). People who are more resilient also show more optimism and a higher level of hope when thinking about the future. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions suggests that “positive emotions expand what an individual feels like doing at any given time. ”(Snyder, 2011) This is referred to by Fredrickson as a broadening of one’s thought-action repertoire.

Emotions such as joy, interest, contentment, pride, and love all have the ability to expand you potential action options. Joy can create more creative, playful behaviors while interest creates the desire to explore, expand, and experience new things. One of the most important in positive psychology is pride. Pride creates the desire to share good news and envision oneself doing even bigger and better things. The opposite happens in any life threatening situation; your thought-action choices narrow to provide a smaller list of options to try to conduct a speedy, potentially life-saving choice. Frederickson, 2001) This research proves that when a person is feeling depressed and are lacking the positive emotions described above, they do not have an expanded thought-action repertoire and therefore do not see all of the possible paths to their goals which, in turn, leads to feelings of hopelessness and a lack of self-efficacy. Other health benefits of promoting positive emotions are increased laughter, decreased heart disease, increased longevity, positive emotional disclosure, and overall increased psychological health.

Laughter has been proven to be a cyclical cause and effect of positive emotions which in turn improves immune system functioning, and help maintain a stable positive emotional state. Elderly people who had been hospitalized for an incident involving heart disease and kept up a positive attitude had a much lower readmission rate than those who displayed a negative outlook. Also, people who tend to be more positive throughout their lives, participate in emotional disclosure, and upholding an optimistic and hopeful outlook have a propensity to live longer than those who did not.

Positive emotions and an expanded thought-action repertoire not only help people emotionally avoid depression, they also help people to be more physically active and thus further avoid depressive symptoms. The reasons why exercise helps to alleviate depressive symptoms is not completely understood, but it is believed to happen on a few different levels. First of all, exercise is thought to release beneficial neurotransmitters and endorphins which are essentially ‘feel good’ chemicals for your brain and body. These chemicals are thought to activate the opioid receptors in the brain creating feelings of happiness and optimism.

Another way exercise is thought to help create positive emotions in those who exercise is by lowering certain chemicals released by the immune system which can also prolong depressive feelings. Finally, exercise increases body temperature which is thought to have a calming effect on individuals. The more direct, less scientific ways that exercise can help people avoid depression are by acting as a distraction from everyday life and taking a person’s mind off of things, increasing social interactions and therefore increasing positive interactions, and improving physical appearance and thus increasing confidence. Mayo Clinic, 2011) A study also found that speed walking for thirty five minutes per day for five days each week, or sixty minutes per day three times each week had a significant effect on decreasing depression. (Harvard Medical School, 2009) All in all, having a positive outlook on life can be beneficial to one’s life in countless ways. The study of positive psychology helps people to take steps towards developing better skills to take advantage of their ability to think positively, act positively, and avoid or decrease their depression.

Through a few very simple steps, such as gratitude letters, blessings journal keeping, and skills and strengths assessments, one can increase their sense of self efficacy, increase resilience, increase their sense of hope, and by doing this decrease major depressive symptoms. Works Cited: American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed. , text rev. ). Washington, DC: Author. Anticipation. 2012. In Merriam-Webster. com. Retrieved November 26, 2012, from http://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/anticipation

Brynie, F. (2009). Depression and Anhedonia. Brain Sense. December 2009. Dunn, B. D. (2012). Helping Depressed Clients Reconnect to Positive Emotion Experience: Current Insights and Future Directions. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 19(4), 326-340. Frederickson, B. (2001). The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology: The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218-226. Harvard Medical School. (2009). Exercise and Depression. Retrieved from http://www. health. harvard. edu/newsweek/Exercise-and-Depression-report-excerpt. tm Lillehoj, C. , Trudeau, L. , Spoth, R. , & Wickrama, K. (2004). Internalizing, social competence, and substance initiation: influence of gender moderation and a preventive intervention. Substance Use & Misuse, 39(6), 963-991. Mak, W. S. , Ng, I. W. , & Wong, C. Y. (2011). Resilience: Enhancing well-being through the positive cognitive triad. Journal Of Counseling Psychology, 58(4), 610-617. doi:10. 1037/a0025195 Mayo Clinic staff. (2011, October 1). Depression and Anxiety: Exercise eases symptoms. Retrieved from http://www. mayoclinic. om/health/depression-and-exercise/MH00043 Mayo Clinic staff. (2012, February 12). Symptoms. Depression (major depression). Retrieved from http://www. mayoclinic. com/health/depression/DS00175/DSECTION=symptoms Miller, M. (2008, June 16). Positive Psychology Techniques for Depression. Retrieved from http://health. gather. com/viewArticle. action? articleId=281474977374787 National Institute of Mental Health. (2009). Major Depressive Order Among Adults. (DHHS Publication No. ADM 90-1679). Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office. Optimism. 2012.

In Merriam-Webster. com. Retrieved November 26, 2012, from http://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/optimism Seligman, M. , Rashid, T. , Parks, A. (2006). Positive Psychotherapy. American Psychologist. November 2006, 774 – 788. Snyder, C. (2011). Positive psychology : the scientific and practical explorations of human strengths. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE. Tugade, M. Frederickson, B. Barrett, L. (2004). Psychological Resilience and Positive Emotional Granularity: Examining the Benefits of Positive Emotions on Coping and Health. Coping & Health. 1161 – 1190.