Therapeutic Work Isn't Always About Addressing Problems

One of my favorite topics to teach on is the history of positive psychology.

Following World War II, the field of psychology focused mainly on healing psychological distress and addressing pathology. The VA (Veteran’s Affairs) center was founded in 1946, and NAMI (National Alliance of Mental Illness) was founded in 1947. These two organizations focused on reducing symptoms, mainly related to PTSD in the post-war environment. Research grants during this time were largely given to those who studied pathology and symptom reduction, again because of the impact of World War II on the mental health of the global community.

The work of psychologists like Martin Seligman in the late 1900s and early 2000s repopularized concepts of psychology that focused more on increasing well-being than decreasing symptoms.

Work of this type purported that simply ‘not feeling bad’ was an insufficient goal, and that therapeutic work should involve increasing human flourishing in addition to reducing suffering. Seligman and co-researcher Csikszentmihalyi, in a 2000 APA article, note “treatment is not just fixing what is broken; it is nurturing what is best.”

This means that in therapy, treatment addresses symptoms, while also promoting resourcefulness, identifying resiliencies, amplifying strengths, and connecting with gifts.