Being there for your kids - Accentuate the Positive

Episode Date: July 12, 2024

One of the realities of life is that what we focus on grows. Focus on the negative and it grows. Focus on the positive and it will grow. In my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I incorporate positive psychology as one of three major treatment interventions, artfully interwoven, to define mentalligent psychotherapy. "Accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. That's What it's all about." A cute song back in the day that embraces positive psychology. Check it out.

Hi, I'm Dr. John Robinson, and this is Teachable Moments. Okay, so I'm going to go back in time with you. I'm showing my age here, but I want to share with you a title song, Accentuate the Positive. It was by Johnny Mercer and the Pied Piper's way back in the big band era of 1944. It topped the music charts that year and has been a cover song more recently for Paul McCartney in 2012, Barry Manilow in 2014, and Van Morrison in 2023. That means accentuate the positive as a music legacy. The first line is accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, that's what it's all about.

In positive psychology, a field heralded by researcher Martin Seligman in 2000, therapy interventions are all about accentuated the positive. In the healing journey, overcoming adversity on the path of the good life, I identify positive psychology as one of three primary treatment strategies, artfully interwoven. to comprise mental and psychotherapy. Our patients are stuck in the mire of trauma, heavy emotion, and multiple stressors. These are the sources of downward spiraling on their journey. Clinicians who practice MPT become their guides on a healing journey, helping them get unstuck and begin an upward spiraling on their path to the good life. We do that in part by helping them accentuate the positive in their lives and eliminate the negative.

Our work is more than simply giving patients happy thoughts. Seligman chose the Greek word eudaimonia to capture the therapeutic emphasis of positive psychology. The word translates human flourishing. How expansive, how descriptive of focusing on the good life. In my clinical practice, I encourage patients to complete two behavioral assessment instruments. One is from Arnold Lazarus's work, the multimodal life history questionnaire, while the other is Seligman's values and action. inventory of strengths. The former helps patients objectify what's wrong with their lives, while the latter captures what's right. With these foundations, we can help our patients

find their path out of the muck and mire of their lives and equip them with the resources to improve their stress management and strengthen their resilience. After giving your patient ample time to go down their rabbit hole of distress and despair, hearing their woe with active listening and empathy, give them an opportunity to settle. They will feel relief simply from getting it all out. However, settling is helpful, but not enough. With mental and psychotherapy, you then switch to challenging them to flourish, even in their despair. So, Sharon, what you've shared with me is horrible. I can't imagine going through it all. Yeah, tell me about it. It was rough. Well, I have both a truth and a challenge for you. What's the truth? It's good news. You have absolutely

no control over all this mess you're having to deal with. You do, however, have every control over how you respond to it all. Okay, Sharon thought about the truth. What's the challenge? I wonder how you can find some good in all the bad you've had to deal with. Human flourishing, eudaimonia, defines positive psychology and defines you're taking control over your responses to adversity. By doing so, you will put yourself on a quest to find the good in the bad things that happen to you. Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative. That's what positive is all about. Blessings, Dr. John. If these comments stir questions of your own, contact me through my website at www.org, thereformykids.com, or email me at John Robinson 0.0. at bell south.net. I'm Dr. Jonathan C.

Robinson, licensed clinical psychologist, and author of Teachable Moments, Building Blocks of Christian Parenting, and my new book, The Healing, The Healing, Overcoming Adversity on the Path of the Good Life. Blessings, Dr. John. Teachable Moments, Building Blocks of Christian Parenting is available online at AmazonBooks.com and in local and national bookstores. More on Dr. Robinson at TMC-P-I-N-C.com.