Contribute to the conversation by asking questions, respectfully debating positions, or presenting supporting information.

1- 2 hours agoSundi Paredes u08d01COLLAPSE

Contemplative psychotherapy teaches clients to focus on their experiences, moods, and relationships in the here and now rather than focusing on the past or living with anxiety about the future. These therapies include the use of meditation and mindfulness to help a client gain control of their thoughts and attention to improve their cognition and reach higher states of consciousness. Positive psychotherapy focuses on assisting clients to achieve more satisfying and fulfilling lives rather than only eliminating negative emotions and symptoms. This therapy helps clients to reevaluate troubling memories and current problems to help them see their own character strengths and view situations as opportunities for growth.

Both therapies aim to elevate clients to their highest level of potential and life satisfaction through the means of altering cognition and therefore all other aspects of their lives. Both take a holistic view of the client rather than seeing the client as their dysfunction. They do have different approaches, however. Contemplative therapies believe that disorders will resolve if clients are able to achieve greater control and self-awareness of their own cognition while positive therapy takes a more direct approach in analyzing a person's thoughts, assessing for their positive strengths, and assigning homework such as gratitude journaling to assist in changing their maladaptive or negative cognitions.

I have a hard time saying that I lean toward one of these therapies more than the other. I feel that using both therapeutic technics will help clients to overcome negative cyclic behaviors and moods and assist them in living more satisfying and comfortable lives. I believe positive psychotherapy would have a more immediate effect due to its more direct approach, but believe that practicing mindfulness and meditation would have a more enduring effect. I also believe that positive psychotherapy would be more beneficial for treating depression as it helps the client focus on the positive aspects of themselves and their lives, while contemplative therapy would be more helpful for anxiety disorders as it allows one to take more control of their reactions and emotions.

Wedding, D., & Corsini, R. J. (2018).Current Psychotherapies(11th ed.). Cengage Limited.https://capella.vitalsource.com/books/9780357191514

2- 1 hour agoSundi Paredes u08d02COLLAPSE

The three primary assumptions of positive therapy state that happiness comes from the interaction of a person and their environment and first that "psychopathology results when clients' inherent capacities for growth, fulfillment, and happiness are thwarted by sociocultural factors" (Wedding, 2018). Second, that positive emotions and strengths are just as important as symptoms and disorders. Third, effective therapeutic relationships are built on the exploration of a person's positive attributes and events.

These three primary assumptions would affect therapy differently from cognitive behavioral therapy as this therapy focuses on the client's strengths rather than focusing on what a client is doing wrong. This therapy immediately helps the clients to view themselves and their lives in a more positive light and then teaches the client to continue to focus on those things as they navigate through their lives. I liked the part in the movie, "Rethinking Happiness", where it showed that our attitudes and what we focus on contribute more to happiness than anything else such as money, marriage, or children. The man who won the lottery and was able to use the money effectively stated "happiness is work" and that "a life well-lived doesn't depend on money". I think incorporating this philosophy of working to change your own experiences and find your own happiness would benefit clients more in the long term than merely focusing on alleviating their current symptoms.

Wedding, D., & Corsini, R. J. (2018). Current Psychotherapies (11th ed.). Cengage Limited.https://capella.vitalsource.com/books/9780357191514

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