POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH
Year:2015 | Volume:1 | Issue:1 (1)|Papers Count:7

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of positive psychotherapy in increasing happiness and psychological well-being in people with symptoms of depression. Accordingly, a single-subject-multiple baseline with follow- up phase was conducted. Three individuals with depressive symptoms were recruited from a center of psychology and counseling in Tehran by purposeful sampling. Participants attended 3 to7 weeks baseline phase. Within base line stage (3-7 weeks) therapy phase (6 weekly) and follow up step (2 month after treatment), patients filled out Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Ryff’s Psychological Well-being Inventory, The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), of Diner, and Orientations of Happiness Scale, of Peterson. Treatment conducted in 6 sessions of 45 minutes, each. All three participants showed decreasing trend in depression scores (71%) and increasing trend in The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (46%) Ryff’s Psychological Well-being Inventory (21%) and Satisfaction With Life Scale (61%). These results remained after 2 months follow-up phase. It seems that positive psychotherapy is a short-term effective treatment for decreasing depression and increasing happiness, well-being and satisfaction with life in individuals with depression symptoms.

The present study examined and compared the effectiveness of three happiness interventions on risk biomarkers and psychological variables in coronary patients. In this study 68 coronary patients were assigned randomly to 4 groups of 17 patients, in three happiness intervention groups including Seligman, Lyubomirsky and Fordyce and a control group. The intervention groups completed 6 weeks of happiness training, and pre-intervention, post-intervention and follow-up measurements were carried out. Instruments were included assay kits for salivary cortisol, plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), IL-1, IL-6, and, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Oxford Happiness Inventory, Diner Satisfaction with Living Scale, and Snyder Dispositional Hope Scale. The results have shown that there was a strong trend for Seligman authentic happiness to induce positive changes in related psychoneuroimmunological biomarkers especially for the improvement of the cortisol awakening response’s flexibility and reduction of the level of hs-CRP. In addition the results indicated that all of three interventions types have had positive and significant effects on the psychological variables. The results suggest that authentic happiness may have positive influences on regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning and reduction of inflammatory markers in coronary patients.

The purpose of this research was to study the effect of positive psychotherapy on depression symptoms and character strengths in cancer affected patients. Based on a quasi-experimental design by available sampling, 58 cancer patients were investigated. 30 patients were assigned in two groups: 15 patients in positive psychotherapy group (treatment) and 15 patients as control group. In the present research, Oxford Happiness-Depression Questionnaire (OHDQ) and Values In Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) were used. The results showed that the positive psychotherapy was effective in reducing depression, increasing the character strengths and virtues, improving meaningful, pleasant and engaged life of cancer patients.

This study with the aim of investigating characteristics of wise people based on implicit theories was conducted in the frame of qualitative and quantitative research designs. 334participants (189 malesand145females) in three age groups of adolescent (n=113), Young (n=134) and middle-aged (n=87) who were selected randomly answered an open-ended questionnaire. Results showed that in the total sample of 334, considering all aspects of every event is at first place of mentioned traits/behaviors (39.1 percent). The other traits /behaviors were, considering all aspects of every event, faithful, thoughtful and rational, tolerant and lenient, knowledgeable, kind, respect for themselves and others, wise, farsighted and intelligent respectively. In males and females ‘view wise was at first place of mentioned traits/behaviors (35.4 and 44.8 percent respectively). The other traits/behaviors had different priorities, and only in faithful, intelligent, farsighted, thoughtful and rational, just and knowing differences were statistically significant. Furthermore, differences were seen in age groups priorities but only respect for themselves and other people was statistically significant.

This study was designed to investigate the effect of couple positivity training on marital attributions of married women in Isfahan. This study included two parts, the first was qualitative and another was quantitative. The design of this study in qualitative part was the texts and references related to positivity concepts. The methodology of this research on quantitative part was quasi experimental with pretest- posttest design and follow-up with control group. For selecting statistical sample, 60 married women were selected counseling clinics and family cultural center and randomly designed to experimental and control groups (each group 30 participants). The research instrument was Relationship Attribution Questionnaire (Bradbury & Fincham). The couple positivity training was administered to experimental group, in nine sessions but not to the control group. The data were analyzed using covariance analysis. The results as well as follow-up showed that couple positivity training improved marital attributions. It was effective in marital attributions subscales included internal/external to spouse, internal/ external on self, intentional/inadvertent, selfish/unselfish, blame/ forgiveness. But it wasn’t effective on the subscales of stable/ unstable and global/ specific.

The aim of this study was prediction of loneliness on the basis of quality of relationship with God in young people. Population of the study was 18-35 years old people in Tehran, from which 232 persons were chosen in public places by available sampling method. They completed 2 questionnaires: Iranian Loneliness Questionnaire (ILQ Rahimzadeh) and Quality of Relationship with God (Mazahery, Pasandideh, & Sadeghi).The data was analyzed using correlation and multiple regression methods. Results showed that the components of fear and disappointment about god are the positive predictors of loneliness, but affection to God is the negative predictor of loneliness. The findings revealed that the more the relationship with, and faith to god is strong, the less an individual would experience loneliness. And also lower levels of desirability in the relationship would increase loneliness.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of self-forgiveness group training program based on the Quran concepts on the self-esteem of adolescent boys. The statistical population of this study consisted of adolescent boys in the first grade of high school in Esfahan city in the academic year of 2013-2014, 20 high school students with low self-esteem were selected by accessible sampling. In a quasi- experimental design with control group and follow up session were randomly assigned (each group 20). The program was administered in 8 sessions of 90 minutes to the participants in the experimental group. The instruments were General Mental Health Screening Scale of educational office and The Cooper Smith Self-esteem Scale. Data were analyzed by the analysis of covariance. Posttest scores of participant’s self-esteem in the experimental group significantly increased. The results indicate that forgiveness group training program based on the Quran concepts was effective in increasing the adolescent boys’ self-esteem.