For many, positive psychology has a ”dark side”. The almost exclusive focus on positive emotions, such as joy, enthusiasm and hope, can prevent the less adorable side of life from attracting attention. In response, a valuable new perspective has emerged: positive existential psychology.
His defender is Paul TPWong, a Canadian psychologist who leads the “second wave of positive psychology. “This current, stead of reformulation, seeks to raise people’s awareness that misfortune also exists and that its transit over a certain period of time is normal. After all, as Albert Camus rightly pointed out: “No one attains the joy of living without first being in touch with suffering. “
- What Dr.
- Wong proposes with his interesting theory is a new way of understanding the model established by Martin Seligman in the 1990s.
- Allowing him to understand the biological foundations of psychological well-being and happiness.
It is time to set aside the most hedonistic and practical emotions to navigate between difficulties until we reach a direction, a sense, a goal, let us go further.
There is something Paul TPWong often comments on in his lectures: today’s world is chaotic, we live a present full of difficulties and we need another therapeutic perspective, positive existential psychology seeks to help people achieve stability and well-being, allowing them to manage the daily challenges and constant challenges we face.
Thus, a point of criticism of positive psychology and names like Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the fact that they focused exclusively on the healthiest areas of the human being, factors such as creativity, enthusiasm, hope or even emotional intelligence guide us so that we can do our best. Thus, those who work and develop these skills can reach the top, the self-realization described by Abraham Maslow.
Well, what happens when someone feels lost?In these circumstances, I cannot light the lamp of enthusiasm. Nor is it possible to awaken my creativity, since my mind is blocked, stagnant by despair.
These are the contexts in which Paul T. P. Wong’s positive existential psychology makes perfect sense.
Existential positive psychology does not seek to disparage the authority of traditional positive psychology, it goes further, understanding that sometimes a simplistic interpretation of this model is made, with publications that often fall into the magical thought that, if we wish, our expectations will be what we see, for example, in The Secret of Rhonda Byrne.
Dr. Wong says everyone has the power to awaken their own courage, attitude and courage to face adversity. If we can develop a psychological mechanism based on resilience, the ability to make sense in any circumstance, it will be possible to aim for happiness. .
Therefore, positive existential psychology does not diminish the value of happiness or hope, positive emotions are, in fact, the engine of the human being, however, it is necessary to give space to emotions of negative value and understand them.
There is a very valuable aspect in this perspective established in 2011, which has undoubtedly incorporated existential perspective into one’s positive psychology itself, in this way adds more meaning, purpose and usefulness, so both philosophers and existential psychologists remind us that life is full of paradoxes, problems and problems that we face.
Faced with these dimensions, this is what allows us to develop remarkable psychological resources, so we increase courage, so we commit ourselves to the effort, overcoming and firm commitment that is established between us and life, existential positive psychology assumes that true happiness only makes sense when the individual knows what suffering is and knows how to deal with it.
Thus, one of its pillars is mediation and the search for strategies that allow people to learn to face loss, fear of death, disappointment, anxiety, fear, despair.
According to Paul TPWong, positive psychology needs to return to its existential-humanist roots, only in this way will it be possible to regain the sense of transcendence, besides, you cannot help someone rebuild their reality to achieve well-being and happiness. if one is not guided by what Viktor Frankl taught: the search for meaning.
When someone navigates oceans of uncertainty and adversity, they need a light, they need a concentration, a shelter, something that makes sense of it and encourages them to fight and not give up, that’s why dr. Wong encourages us to ask the following questions:
In conclusion, positive existential psychology brings us a precious current, one that, in fact, recovers from past concepts, pillars that were fundamental to the development of psychology as it is, in fact, now more than ever, in this complicated time full of uncertainty and challenges, it is important to work on these principles.
We must remember our vital goals and make room for the most complicated emotions, those that can disturb or hurt, understand them makes us wiser. Knowing how to manage them makes us stronger and more capable.