Positive psychiatry emphasizes vitality as the antidote to depression by focusing on positivity over pathologies.
Engaging in meaningful activities, aligning actions with personal values, and normalizing failure promote vitality and resilience.
Deep dives
Positive Psychiatry and Vitality
Positive psychiatry, a focus on positivity over pathologies, offers vitality as the opposite of depression. Doctor Boardman highlights three Cs contributing to vitality: connections, contribution, and challenges. Emphasizing actions, connections to others, and positive challenges, positive psychiatry promotes finding strength within everyday life.
Value of Hobbies and Overcoming Challenges
Engaging in meaningful, challenging activities, such as shared sports like tennis, builds vitality. Normalizing failure and challenges, along with utilizing cognitive tools like self-distancing, help in coping. Doctor Boardman emphasizes the significance of aligning actions with personal values for a sense of purpose and vitality.
Handling Negative Emotions and Ugly Coping
Recognizing the importance of negative emotions and avoiding toxic positivity, Doctor Boardman encourages embracing emotional diversity. Addressing 'ugly coping,' she promotes self-compassion and resilience in facing challenges constructively.
Medication, Self-Care, and Action Plans
While endorsing medication when necessary, Doctor Boardman prescribes physical activity and self-care as vital mood boosters. Encouraging the tracking of activities' impact on mood, she stresses the value of small, achievable actions in promoting well-being.
Depression is a debilitating problem both on an individual and a societal level and it has only gotten worse during the pandemic. According to the World Health Organization, depression is now one of the leading causes of disability on the planet.
Our guest today Dr. Samantha Boardman is going to talk about what she calls the opposite of depression— something called positive psychiatry. This approach focuses on the positive things in the lives of her patients rather than just the pathologies.