Positive Psychotherapy
Encyclopedia
Positive psychotherapy (PPT) (since 1968) is the name of the method of the psychotherapeutic modality developed by Nossrat Peseschkian
and co-workers. Prof. Peseschkian, MD, (1933–2010) was a specialist in neurology
, psychiatry
, psychotherapy
and psychotherapeutic medicine.
Positive psychotherapy is a method in the field of humanistic
and psychodynamic psychotherapy
and is based on a positive image of man, which correlates with a salutogenetic
, resource-oriented, humanistic
and conflict-centered approach. It is accredited by several institutions (e.g. State Medical Chamber of Hessen, Germany, European Association for Psychotherapy
EAP; World Council for Psychotherapy
WCP, International Federation of Psychotherapy IFP and other statutory institutions).
Today positive psychotherapy has been established in more than 33 countries with approximately 30 independent centres and institutions. In 1971, the Wiesbaden Postgraduate Training Institute for Psychotherapy and Family Therapy (WIPF) was established as a postgraduate training institution for professional studies for physicians, psychologists and pedagogues in the field of PP. WIPF is also the forerunner of Wiesbaden Academy for Psychotherapy (WIAP), which is today one of the leading state-recognized institutions of postgraduate psychotherapy training in Germany. Since 1974, more than 38,000 physician
s and psychologist
s have been trained in Germany with this method, and since the late 1980s also several thousand colleagues in Eastern European and Asian countries.
Positive psychotherapy is represented worldwide by the World Association of Positive Psychotherapy (WAPP). It has so far organized the four World Congresses for Positive Psychotherapy – in St. Petersburg, Russia (1997), in Wiesbaden
, Germany (2000), in Varna, Bulgaria (2003), in Lekosia, Cyprus
(2007). The fifth World Congress will take place in October 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey. Standardized training programmes (in form of Basic and Master Courses) are taking place worldwide (e.g. in Bolivia
, Bulgaria, China
, Cyprus
, Ethiopia
, Kosovo
, Romania
, Russia, Switzerland
, Turkey
, Ukraine
).
In 1997, a quality assurance and effectiveness study was undertaken in Germany. The results show the high effectivity of this short-term method. The study was awarded with the Richard-Merten-Prize. In 2006, Nossrat Peseschkian, founder of Positive Psychotherapy, was awarded the German order of merit. This order is the highest recognition of the Federal Republic of Germany for distinguished services and achievements in social-economical, political and spiritual fields as well as their particular services for the Republic, for example social charity and humanitarian help.
In terms of positive psychotherapy the traditional psychotherapy and medicine are described by three criteria: a) the psychopathologic procedure with the intention of eliminating diseases, disturbances and conflicts; b) a variety of methods, which exist beside each other; c) the passive attitude of the patient. Positive psychotherapy tries to broaden the traditional approach: a) positive approach in response to psychopathology; b) an approach in regards to contents as mediation for the co-operation of different technical disciplines (balance-model, basic-capacities and actual-capacities); c) the five-stage strategy of therapy and self-help in the sense of a positive conflict management to activate the patient and to support the therapist-patient-relationship. After the oriental wisdom: "The way to maintain one's happiness is to pass it on".
1 - The Principle of Hope implies that one does not try to immediately eliminate a disturbance but to first understand it in a broader context and to respond to its positive aspects. The word "positive
" (lat. positum) means "the actual", "the given", "really" – the aim of positive psychotherapists is to help their patients to clear the view on the disturbance and recognize their meaning (basic-capabilities and actual-capabilities). Accordingly the disorder will be reinterpreted.
Some examples:
Through this positive view a change of standpoint becomes possible, not only for the patient, but also for his environment. Hence, illnesses have a symbolic function which has to be recognized by both therapist and patient. The patient learns that the symptoms and complaints of the illness are signals to bring his or her four qualities of life into new balance.
2 - Principle of Balance: Conflict Dynamics and Conflict Contents. The four qualities of life. Primary and Secondary capacities. Despite social and cultural differences and the uniqueness of every human being, it can observed that during the management of their problems that all humans refer to typical forms of coping. Thomas Kornbichler explains: "Nossrat Peseschkian formulated with the Balance Model of Positive Psychotherapy (an innovative contemporary approach to dynamic psychotherapy) a vivid model of coping with conflicts in different cultures." According to the balance model, the four areas of life are: 1. body/sense – psychosomatic; 2. achievement/activities - stress factors; 3. contact/environment – depression; 4. fantasy/future/world view/meaning of life - fears and phobia.
If we get into conflict by stress or micro-trauma, we can express our conflict-situation in four typical forms of the conflict-solution:
Though these four ranges are inherent in all humans, in the western hemisphere the emphasis is more often on the areas of body/senses and profession/achievement in contrast to the eastern hemisphere where the areas are contact, fantasy and future (cross-cultural aspect of positive psychotherapy). Lack of contact and imagination are some of the causes of many psychosomatic diseases. Everybody develops his or her own preferences on how to cope with conflicts that occur. Through a one-sided mode to the conflict solution, the other modes are getting eclipsed. This one-sidedness in the four qualities of life leads to eight typical modes of conflict reaction, depending on an active or passive type of coping:
The conflict contents (e.g. punctuality, orderliness, politeness, trust, time, patience) are described in terms of primary and secondary capacities, based on the basic capacities of loving and knowing. This can be seen as a content-wise differentiation of Freud's classical model of the instances.
3 - Principle of Consultation: Five-stages of therapy and self-help. The five stages of positive psychotherapy represent a concept in which therapy and self-help are closely interrelated. The patient and the family are getting informed together about the illness and the individual solution to it.
Help to change standpoint: Instead of insistently turning over old and well-known problems, the resources of the patient are mobilized by wisdoms, stories, parables, allegories for the emotional and mental relocation according to the wisdom: "You can stand on your position, but you should not sit on it". With cross-cultural examples and stories, prejudices and resentments are abolished. Stories can be seen as a decisive approach to a change of awareness which in turn is the premise for a change in, for example, political, economic, medical and environmental behaviour.
Image of man: Positive psychotherapy places the individual development of a person into the context of globalization. It is argued that for the first time in the history of mankind, a global, interconnected society is emerging whose characteristic feature is its cultural diversity. The process of globalization
– not only on a political level but primarily on a mental level – does not take place without challenges. From this emerges the challenge to also adapt the methodological approach to the situation today. A shift from a monocultural and monocausal consideration to a multicultural and multicausal one is required.
These kind of experiences and considerations led Nossrat Peseschkian
to conceiving man – especially in psychotherapy – not only as an isolated individual, but also to take into account his interpersonal relationships as well, and – in accordance with his own development – his "cross-cultural" situation, which, after all, makes up what he essentially is ("If you work alone, you can only add, if you work together with others, you can multiply.")
The idea of man in positive psychotherapy can be compared to the one in humanistic psychology. In contrast to the determinism of physical and emotional drives in classical psychoanalysis or the view of a "human machine" of the classical behaviourism, in positive psychotherapy the person is seen as basically good and healthy. He or she has a lot of capacities which are created like seeds but need to be developed by education and self-education. This in turn can be compared to the salutogenetic
approach of Antonovsky
.
(translated) (first German edition 1977) (First German edition 1979) (first German edition 1983), republished India: Sterling Publishers Pvt., Ltd., ISBN 9788120718395 (first German edition 1980) (first German edition 1974)
Nossrat Peseschkian
Nossrat Peseschkian, M.D., Doctor of Medicine , Hon. Professor lived in Germany since 1954. He was a specialist in neurology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychosomatic medicine...
and co-workers. Prof. Peseschkian, MD, (1933–2010) was a specialist in neurology
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
, psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
, psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
and psychotherapeutic medicine.
Positive psychotherapy is a method in the field of humanistic
Humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, drawing on the work of early pioneers like Carl Rogers and the philosophies of existentialism and phenomenology...
and psychodynamic psychotherapy
Psychodynamic psychotherapy
Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a form of depth psychology, the primary focus of which is to reveal the unconscious content of a client's psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension. In this way, it is similar to psychoanalysis. It also relies on the interpersonal relationship between client...
and is based on a positive image of man, which correlates with a salutogenetic
Salutogenesis
Salutogenesis is a term coined by Aaron Antonovsky, a professor of medical sociology. The term describes an approach focusing on factors that support human health and well-being, rather than on factors that cause disease...
, resource-oriented, humanistic
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
and conflict-centered approach. It is accredited by several institutions (e.g. State Medical Chamber of Hessen, Germany, European Association for Psychotherapy
European Association for Psychotherapy
The European Association for Psychotherapy is a Vienna-based umbrella organisation for 128 psychotherapist organizations from 41 countries with a membership of more than 120,000 psychotherapists...
EAP; World Council for Psychotherapy
World Council for Psychotherapy
The World Council for Psychotherapy is an NGO with consultative status at the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations...
WCP, International Federation of Psychotherapy IFP and other statutory institutions).
Today positive psychotherapy has been established in more than 33 countries with approximately 30 independent centres and institutions. In 1971, the Wiesbaden Postgraduate Training Institute for Psychotherapy and Family Therapy (WIPF) was established as a postgraduate training institution for professional studies for physicians, psychologists and pedagogues in the field of PP. WIPF is also the forerunner of Wiesbaden Academy for Psychotherapy (WIAP), which is today one of the leading state-recognized institutions of postgraduate psychotherapy training in Germany. Since 1974, more than 38,000 physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s and psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
s have been trained in Germany with this method, and since the late 1980s also several thousand colleagues in Eastern European and Asian countries.
Positive psychotherapy is represented worldwide by the World Association of Positive Psychotherapy (WAPP). It has so far organized the four World Congresses for Positive Psychotherapy – in St. Petersburg, Russia (1997), in Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, Germany (2000), in Varna, Bulgaria (2003), in Lekosia, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
(2007). The fifth World Congress will take place in October 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey. Standardized training programmes (in form of Basic and Master Courses) are taking place worldwide (e.g. in Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, Bulgaria, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Russia, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
).
In 1997, a quality assurance and effectiveness study was undertaken in Germany. The results show the high effectivity of this short-term method. The study was awarded with the Richard-Merten-Prize. In 2006, Nossrat Peseschkian, founder of Positive Psychotherapy, was awarded the German order of merit. This order is the highest recognition of the Federal Republic of Germany for distinguished services and achievements in social-economical, political and spiritual fields as well as their particular services for the Republic, for example social charity and humanitarian help.
Approach
The objectives of positive psychotherapy as a modality are:- Promotion of a transcultural and positive approach to psychotherapyPsychotherapyPsychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
and psychosomatic medicine - Education, self-help and prevention
- Promotion of intercultural understanding
- Integration of different therapeutic directions
In terms of positive psychotherapy the traditional psychotherapy and medicine are described by three criteria: a) the psychopathologic procedure with the intention of eliminating diseases, disturbances and conflicts; b) a variety of methods, which exist beside each other; c) the passive attitude of the patient. Positive psychotherapy tries to broaden the traditional approach: a) positive approach in response to psychopathology; b) an approach in regards to contents as mediation for the co-operation of different technical disciplines (balance-model, basic-capacities and actual-capacities); c) the five-stage strategy of therapy and self-help in the sense of a positive conflict management to activate the patient and to support the therapist-patient-relationship. After the oriental wisdom: "The way to maintain one's happiness is to pass it on".
Main principles
The three main principles of positive psychotherapy address the positive, content-wise and strategic approach (Principle of Hope – Principle of Balance - Principle of Consultation).1 - The Principle of Hope implies that one does not try to immediately eliminate a disturbance but to first understand it in a broader context and to respond to its positive aspects. The word "positive
Positive
Positive is a property of positivity and may refer to:- Mathematics and science :* Converging lens or positive lens, in optics* Plus sign, the sign "+" used to indicate a positive number* Positive , a polarity of electrical charge...
" (lat. positum) means "the actual", "the given", "really" – the aim of positive psychotherapists is to help their patients to clear the view on the disturbance and recognize their meaning (basic-capabilities and actual-capabilities). Accordingly the disorder will be reinterpreted.
Some examples:
- Sleep disturbance is the ability to be watchful and get by with little sleep
- DepressionDepression (mood)Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
is the ability to react with deepest emotionality to conflicts - SchizophreniaSchizophreniaSchizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
is the ability to live in two worlds or to resort to living in a fantasy world - Anorexia nervosaAnorexia nervosaAnorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
is the ability to get along with few meals and identify with the hunger of the world
Through this positive view a change of standpoint becomes possible, not only for the patient, but also for his environment. Hence, illnesses have a symbolic function which has to be recognized by both therapist and patient. The patient learns that the symptoms and complaints of the illness are signals to bring his or her four qualities of life into new balance.
2 - Principle of Balance: Conflict Dynamics and Conflict Contents. The four qualities of life. Primary and Secondary capacities. Despite social and cultural differences and the uniqueness of every human being, it can observed that during the management of their problems that all humans refer to typical forms of coping. Thomas Kornbichler explains: "Nossrat Peseschkian formulated with the Balance Model of Positive Psychotherapy (an innovative contemporary approach to dynamic psychotherapy) a vivid model of coping with conflicts in different cultures." According to the balance model, the four areas of life are: 1. body/sense – psychosomatic; 2. achievement/activities - stress factors; 3. contact/environment – depression; 4. fantasy/future/world view/meaning of life - fears and phobia.
If we get into conflict by stress or micro-trauma, we can express our conflict-situation in four typical forms of the conflict-solution:
- body-oriented modes
- achievement-oriented modes
- relationship-oriented modes
- fantasyFantasyFantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
-oriented modes
Though these four ranges are inherent in all humans, in the western hemisphere the emphasis is more often on the areas of body/senses and profession/achievement in contrast to the eastern hemisphere where the areas are contact, fantasy and future (cross-cultural aspect of positive psychotherapy). Lack of contact and imagination are some of the causes of many psychosomatic diseases. Everybody develops his or her own preferences on how to cope with conflicts that occur. Through a one-sided mode to the conflict solution, the other modes are getting eclipsed. This one-sidedness in the four qualities of life leads to eight typical modes of conflict reaction, depending on an active or passive type of coping:
- Overcompensation in body-cult (narcissistic over-valuation of the body)
- Decompensation in somatic illness (somatisation, addictive behaviours, risk factors: overweight etc.)
- Overcompensation in activity and achievement
- Decompensation in achievement- and concentration-problems
- Overcompensation in sociality
- Decompensation in loneliness
- Overcompensation in megalomania, delusions, etc.
- Decompensation in senselessness, existential fears.
The conflict contents (e.g. punctuality, orderliness, politeness, trust, time, patience) are described in terms of primary and secondary capacities, based on the basic capacities of loving and knowing. This can be seen as a content-wise differentiation of Freud's classical model of the instances.
3 - Principle of Consultation: Five-stages of therapy and self-help. The five stages of positive psychotherapy represent a concept in which therapy and self-help are closely interrelated. The patient and the family are getting informed together about the illness and the individual solution to it.
- 1st Step: Observation; distancing (perception: the capacity to express desire and problems)
- 2nd Step: Taking inventory (cognitive capacities: events in the last 5 to 10 years)
- 3rd Step: Situational encouragement (self-help and resource-activation of the patient: the ability to use past successes in conflict solution)
- 4th Step: Verbalization (communicative capacities: the ability to express outstanding conflicts and problems in the four qualities of life)
- 5th Step: Expansion of goals (in order to evoke forward–looking orientation in life after the problems are solved, the patient is asked: "What would you like to do, when no more problems are left to be solved? Which goals do you have for the next five years?")
Help to change standpoint: Instead of insistently turning over old and well-known problems, the resources of the patient are mobilized by wisdoms, stories, parables, allegories for the emotional and mental relocation according to the wisdom: "You can stand on your position, but you should not sit on it". With cross-cultural examples and stories, prejudices and resentments are abolished. Stories can be seen as a decisive approach to a change of awareness which in turn is the premise for a change in, for example, political, economic, medical and environmental behaviour.
Image of man: Positive psychotherapy places the individual development of a person into the context of globalization. It is argued that for the first time in the history of mankind, a global, interconnected society is emerging whose characteristic feature is its cultural diversity. The process of globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
– not only on a political level but primarily on a mental level – does not take place without challenges. From this emerges the challenge to also adapt the methodological approach to the situation today. A shift from a monocultural and monocausal consideration to a multicultural and multicausal one is required.
These kind of experiences and considerations led Nossrat Peseschkian
Nossrat Peseschkian
Nossrat Peseschkian, M.D., Doctor of Medicine , Hon. Professor lived in Germany since 1954. He was a specialist in neurology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychosomatic medicine...
to conceiving man – especially in psychotherapy – not only as an isolated individual, but also to take into account his interpersonal relationships as well, and – in accordance with his own development – his "cross-cultural" situation, which, after all, makes up what he essentially is ("If you work alone, you can only add, if you work together with others, you can multiply.")
The idea of man in positive psychotherapy can be compared to the one in humanistic psychology. In contrast to the determinism of physical and emotional drives in classical psychoanalysis or the view of a "human machine" of the classical behaviourism, in positive psychotherapy the person is seen as basically good and healthy. He or she has a lot of capacities which are created like seeds but need to be developed by education and self-education. This in turn can be compared to the salutogenetic
Salutogenesis
Salutogenesis is a term coined by Aaron Antonovsky, a professor of medical sociology. The term describes an approach focusing on factors that support human health and well-being, rather than on factors that cause disease...
approach of Antonovsky
Aaron Antonovsky
Aaron Antonovsky PhD, was an Israeli American sociologist and academician whose work concerned the relationship between stress, health and well-being....
.
Publications
Today there are more than 26 major books on positive psychotherapy, of which some have been published in more than 23 languages. Some of the main ones are:(translated) (first German edition 1977) (First German edition 1979) (first German edition 1983), republished India: Sterling Publishers Pvt., Ltd., ISBN 9788120718395 (first German edition 1980) (first German edition 1974)