Positive Psychology: CBC.ca | Ideas | To Be Or Not To Be, Part 1 & 2 (Listen)

Sunday, January 16, 2011

CBC.ca | Ideas | To Be Or Not To Be, Part 1 & 2 (Listen)

CBC.ca | Ideas | To Be Or Not To Be, Part 1 & 2 (Listen)

Suicide.

Books

Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide by Kay Redfield Jamison.
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison.

Why People Die by Suicide by Dr. Thomas Joiner.

Myths about Suicide by Dr. Thomas Joiner.

The Savage God: A Study of Suicide by A. Alvarez.

Suicide: A Study in Sociology by Emile Durkheim.

November of the Soul: The Enigma of Suicide by George Howe Colt.

In Her Wake: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of Her Mother's Suicide by Dr. Nancy Rappaport.

The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon.

Positive Psychology given credence by Academia:

Positive psychology is the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.

Commentators on the subject Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, note that:

"The field of positive psychology at the subjective level is about valued subjective experiences: well-being, contentment, and satisfaction (in the past); hope and optimism (for the future); and flow and happiness (in the present).

At the individual level, it is about positive individual traits: the capacity for love and vocation, courage, interpersonal skill, aesthetic sensibility, perseverance, forgiveness, originality, future mindedness, spirituality, high talent, and wisdom.

At the group level, it is about the civic virtues and the institutions that move individuals toward better citizenship: responsibility, nurturance, altruism, civility, moderation,tolerance, and work ethic."