Gudrun Frerichs, PhD

The Economic Down-Turn and Mental Health

For a long time people in New Zealand enjoyed a good life! After all, aren’t  we living in ‘Godzone”? Yes, we are still living in one of the most beautiful places in the world. However, the world-wide economic down-turn also effects us in li’l old New Zealand. Lots of people who struggled for years with their mental and physical health know the impact of financial insecurity and (-hopefully-) have a fair understanding of how/where to get help, and what they can do to help themselves.

How Can You Help Unhappy Friends?

Dr. Martin Seligman, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Positive Psychology Center, and founder of the field of positive psychology, answers the questions: how can I use positive psychology with my unhappy friends? What should be available for unhappy people? How do I use positive psychology? Hear it from “the horses mouth” – Dr. Martin Seligman talks about positive psychology and authentic happiness.

Source: www.ted.com

Don't Worry - Be Happy!

Today I want to focus on happiness. Why? I am glad you asked. Most clients, when they come to counselling, they have as a goal to feel better. When asked, they respond “I want to be happy”. Although the therapist in me cringes when I hear that, because happiness can be so many things and is so different for everybody, I do understand people’s strive to happiness. Who wouldn’t want to be happy?

Is Happy-ology The Panacea For Trauma?

I am always amazed by the common perception that traumatic experiences from the past or traumatic experiences in the present should be overcome in a swift movement of “Getting over it” or “Letting it go”.  In a way, what people are saying is that OOOps, even though something really bad happened to you, you can’t change it, so you might as well put a smile on your face and get on with your life.

Techniques For Building Happy Children

On the danger that I am stepping on dangerous ground here, I am giving some pointers to the difficult area of parenting. Not that I am an expert in that field. Not at all! However, I know that many people worry about their parenting style. They are concerned whether they do it right by their children and end up with lots of self-blame for not getting it right. I’ve been reading the book ‘Authentic Happiness’ (by M. Seligman, 2002, Free Press). And it has a section on how to build positive emotions in children!

How To Build Happiness

“Depression really spirals downward because a depressed mood makes negative memories come to mind more easily. These negative thoughts in turn set off a more depressed mood, which in turn makes even more negative thoughts accessible, and so on. Breaking the downward spiral is a critical skill for the depressed patient to learn.” (Authentic Happiness, M. Seligman, 2002, Free Press, page 210).

Building happiness is, however, not just important for depressed people, research is conclusive that everyone can improve on their level of happiness by checking whether you have ‘all the ingredients for a happy life’ in your tool box. Here are some ideas:

How Does Happiness Impact On Society?

How can we link understanding how happiness is reflected in a person’s well being to the well being of society? Positive Psychology suggests that happy people have a great influence on society. Through their interest in and support of others, they make up a large number of volunteers, they are more likely to have a pro-peace attitude, and are overall more co-operative.

Happy-Ology

How Does Happiness Impact on Health and Social Habits? The answer is very simple: research over the last 30 years has shown conclusively that happy people function better! They are healthier and live longer, they have better social connections, and they are more successful in their careers (Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth, E. Diener & R.Biswas-Diener, 2008. )

Dr. Martin Seligman Talks About Positive Psychology

Hear it from "the horses mouth" - Dr. Martin Seligman talks about positive psychology and authentic happiness.Source: www.ted.com

 

Creating a Good Life in 7 Steps

Leading a Good Life is generally speaking a subjective experience. What might appear to be a good life for a person might not be perceived the same way by the people around him/her. Equally, a person might be considered leading a good life while he or she may not agree with such a statement.
It can be expected, that a good life leads to happiness and contentment with one’s life. Research has shown us that such a state of being is rarely achieved by accumulating ‘things’ and ‘gadgets’, but predominantly through the quality of the relationships people are able to establish. Most experts agree that happiness is not an experience or a consequence of following moral or Christian laws. Happiness is not a state that we are born with or that can be achieved. Happiness is an activity, a discipline that needs to be worked at.