Beautiful Thinking in Action

Positive Psychology, Psychodrama, and Positive Psychotherapy

Authors

  • Dan Tomasulo, PhD, TEP, MFA, MAPP Author

Keywords:

positive psychology, psychodrama, positive psychotherapy, role playing, character strengths

Abstract

Like three strands of a braided vine, positive psychology, psychodrama, and positive

psychotherapy have been woven together since their beginnings. Having separate yet

connected roots, their combined effect offers evidence-based interventions for improving

communities, organizations, and relationships. The foundation of evidence-based positive

interventions, and broad interest in these topics, has now provided a platform from which

this braided vine can flourish. This article shows the historical roots of these movements and

how they intersect, overlap, and mutually inform each other.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of

mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Baim, C., Burmeister, J., & Maciel, M. (Eds.). (2013). Psychodrama: Advances in

theory and practice (Vol. 2). London, UK: Routledge.

Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental and theoretical aspects. New

York, NY: Hoeber.

Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J., & Erbaugh, J. (1961). An

inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571.

Braff, D. L., & Beck, A. T. (1974). Thinking disorder in depression. Archives of

General Psychiatry, 31, 456–459.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1976/1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience: Steps

toward enhancing the quality of life. New York, NY: Harper Collins.

Cope, T. (2014). Positive psychotherapy: Let the truth be told. International Journal

of Psychotherapy, 18(2), 62–71.

Dayton, T. (2015). Neuropsychodrama in the treatment of relational trauma. Health

Communications.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in

human behavior. New York, NY: Plenum Press.

Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with

life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.

Duckworth, A. L., Steen, T. A., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2005). Positive psychology in

clinical practice. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1, 629–651.

Ellis, A. (1962). Reason and emotion in psychotherapy. New Jersey: Citadel.

Eunoia. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunoia

European Association for Psychotherapy. (2011). Positive psychotherapy. Retrieved

from http://www.europsyche.org/contents/13148/positive-psychotherapypeseschkian-

since-1968

Flu¨ckiger, C., & Grosse Holtforth, M. (2008). Focusing the therapist’s attention on

the patient’s strengths: A preliminary study to foster a mechanism of change in

outpatient psychotherapy. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64(7), 876–890.

Fordyce, M. W. (1977). Development of a program to increase personal happiness.

Journal of Counseling Psychology, 24, 511–520.

Fordyce, M. W. (1983). A program to increase happiness: Further studies. Journal of

Counseling Psychology, 30, 483–498.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The

broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218–226.

TOMASULO

Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/jpsgp/article-pdf/66/1/49/2473364/18-00016_1.pdf by [email protected] on 24 April 2024

Fredrickson, B. L., & Joiner, T. (2002). Positive emotions trigger upward spirals

toward emotional well-being. Psychological Science, 13, 172–175.

Freidlin, F., Littman-Ovadia, H., & Niemiec, R. M. (2017). Positive psychopathology:

Social anxiety via character strengths underuse and overuse. Personality and

Individual Differences, 108, 50–54.

Freud, S. (1977). Introductory lectures on psychoanalysis. New York, NY: Norton.

Gable, S. L., Reis, H. T., Impett, E. A., & Asher, E. R. (2004). What do you do when

things go right? The intrapersonal and interpersonal benefits of sharing positive

events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(2), 228.

Kaufman, S. B. (2018). Self-actualizing people in the 21st century: Integration with

contemporary theory and research on personality and well-being. Journal of

Humanistic Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167818809187

Kipper, D. A., & Ritchie, T. D. (2003). The effectiveness of psychodramatic techniques:

A meta-analysis. Group Dynamics: Theory Research and Practice, 7(1), 13–25.

Littman-Ovadia, H., & Freidlin, P. (2018). Positive psychopathology and positive

functioning: OCD, flourishing and satisfaction with life through the lens of

character strength underuse, overuse and optimal use. Applied Research in

Quality of Life, 1–21.

Maier, S. F., & Seligman, M. E. (2016). Learned helplessness at fifty: Insights from

neuroscience. Psychological Review, 123(4), 349.

Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

Maslow, A. H. (1968). Toward a psychology of being. New York, NY: Van Nostrand.

Moreno, J. L. (1955). Theory of spontaneity-creativity. Sociometry, 18(4), 105–118.

Moreno Movies: 4-Video Series [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.

psychotherapy.net/video/jacob-moreno-psychodrama

Niemiec, R. M. (2013). VIA character strengths: Research and practice (The first 10

years). In H. H. Knoop & A. Delle Fave (Eds.), Well-being and cultures:

Perspectives on positive psychology (pp. 11–30). New York, NY: Springer.

Niemiec, R. M. (2017). Character strengths interventions: A field guide for

practitioners. Boston, MA: Hogrefe Publishing.

Nikzadeh, E., & Soudani, M. (2016). Evaluating the effectiveness of drama therapy by

psychodrama method on psychological wellbeing and false beliefs of addicts (pp.

–155). Canadian Center of Science and Education.

Peterson, C. (2000). The future of optimism. American Psychologist, 5, 44–55.

Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A

handbook of classification. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Peseschkian Foundation. (2016). Positive psychology. Retrieved from http://www.

peseschkian-foundation.org/ppt.html

Peseschkian, N. (2012). Positive psychotherapy: Theory and practice of a new method.

Springer Science & Business Media.

Beautiful Thinking in Action 65

Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/jpsgp/article-pdf/66/1/49/2473364/18-00016_1.pdf by [email protected] on 24 April 2024

Peseschkian, N., & Tritt, K. (1998). Positive psychotherapy effectiveness study and

quality assurance. The European Journal of Psychotherapy, Counselling & Health,

(1), 93–104.

Rashid, T., & Ostermann, R. F. (2009). Strength-based assessment in clinical practice.

Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65, 488–498.

Rashid, T., & Seligman, M. (2018). Positive psychotherapy: Clinician manual. New

York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Reivich, K., Gillham, J. E., Chaplin, T. M., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2005). From

helplessness to optimism. In S. Goldstein & R. B. Brooks (Eds.), Handbook of

resilience in children (pp. 223–237). New York, NY: Springer.

Reivich, K. J., Seligman, M. E. P., & McBride, S. (2011). Master resilience training in

the U.S. Army. American Psychologist, 66, 25–34.

Rogers, C. R. (1951). Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications, and

theory. Boston, MA: Houghton Miffllin.

Seligman, M. E. P. (1975). Helplessness: On depression, development, and death. New

York, NY: W. H. Freeman.

Seligman, M. E. P. (1992). Learned optimism. New York, NY: Pocket Books.

Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Positive psychology, positive prevention, and positive

therapy. Handbook of Positive Psychology, 2, 3–12.

Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and

well-being. New York, NY: Free Press.

Seligman, M. E. P. (2015). Chris Peterson’s unfinished masterwork: The real mental

illnesses. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(1), 3–6.

Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An

introduction. American Psychologist, 55, 5–14.

Seligman, M. E. P., Ernst, R. M., Gillham, J. E., Reivich, K., Linkins, M. (2009).

Positive education: Positive psychology and classroom interventions. Oxford

Review of Education, 35, 293–311.

Seligman, M. E. P., & Maier, S. F. (1967). Failure to escape traumatic shock. Journal

of Experimental Psychology, 74, 1–9.

Seligman, M. E. P., Rashid, T., & Parks, A. C. (2006). Positive psychotherapy.

American Psychologist, 61, 774–788.

Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology

progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 410–

Shahar, B., Bar-Kalifa, E., & Alon, E. (2017). Emotion-focused therapy for social

anxiety disorder: Results from a multiple-baseline study. Journal of Consulting

and Clinical Psychology, 85(3), 238.

Skinner, B. F. (1972). Beyond freedom and dignity. New York, NY: Bantam Books.

Slade, M., Brownell, T., Rashid, T., & Schrank, B. (2016). Positive psychotherapy for

psychosis: A clinician’s guide and manual. London, UK: Routledge.

TOMASULO

Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/jpsgp/article-pdf/66/1/49/2473364/18-00016_1.pdf by [email protected] on 24 April 2024

Sternberg, P., & Garcia, A. (2000). Sociodrama: Who’s in your shoes. Westport, CT:

Praeger.

Szucs, A., Schau, C., Muscara, K., & Tomasulo, D. (2019). Character strength

activation for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities using

video feedback in groups, Journal of Education and Learning, 8(1).

Tomasulo, D. (2014). Positive group psychotherapy modified for adults with

intellectual disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities. https://doi.org/10.

/1744629514552153

Tomasulo, D., & Pawelski, J. (2012). Happily ever after: The use of stories to

promote positive interventions. Psychology, 3, 1189–1195. doi:10.4236/psych.

312A176

Tomasulo, D., & Szucs, A. (2016). The ACTing cure: Evidence-based group

treatment for people with intellectual disabilities. Dramatherapy. doi:10.1080/

2016.1162824

Treadwell, T. W., Dartnell, D., Travaglini, L. E., Staats, M., & Devinney, K. (2016).

Group therapy workbook: Integrating cognitive behavioral therapy with

psychodramatic theory and practice. Denver, CO: Outskirts Press.

Walker, C. J. (2010). Experiencing flow: Is doing it together better than doing it

alone? The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5(1), 3–11.

Yazdekhasti, F., Syed, H., & Arizi, H. (2013). The effectiveness of psychodrama with

spiritual content on happiness, joy and mental health of students. Journal of

Applied Psychology, 23-7.

Zak, P. [FoST Films]. (2013, February 19). Future of story telling [Video file].

Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v¼DHeqQAKHh3M

Downloads

Published

2024-04-25