Review of the Upside of Your Dark Side: Why Being Your Whole Self – Not Just Your “Good” Self – Drives Success and Fulfillment, by Todd Kashdan and Robert Biswas-Diener

The Upside of Your Dark Side is the result of collaboration between Todd Kashdan, a research powerhouse and vocal critic from within the positive psychology movement, and Robert Biswas-Diener, an accomplished author, coach, consultant, and researcher in his own right. The resulting product gives readers the best of both authors’ strengths: outstanding empirical rigor, vibrant writing, and groundbreaking ideas. The central thesis of Upside is to turn on its head the common wisdom that negative emotions are bad and should be avoided; they show how in moderation, in the right situations, three key negative emotions (anger, guilt, and anxiety) can be tremendously beneficial. They also argue that happiness and mindfulness, two constructs often thought to be universally beneficial, are not all good. They close with the proposition that a person who avoids negativity misses out on the benefits of being “whole” – a person who experiences both positive and negative emotions and harnesses each to their full potential

Effect of Brief Biofeedback via a Smartphone App on Stress Recovery: Randomized Experimental Study.

BACKGROUND:Smartphones are often vilified for negatively influencing well-being and contributing to stress. However, these devices may, in fact, be useful in times of stress and, in particular, aid in stress recovery. Mobile apps that deliver evidence-based techniques for stress reduction, such as heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) training, hold promise as convenient, accessible, and effective stress-reducing tools. Numerous mobile health apps that may potentially aid in stress recovery are available, but very few have demonstrated that they can influence health-related physiological stress parameters (eg, salivary biomarkers of stress). The ability to recover swiftly from stress and reduce physiological arousal is particularly important for long-term health, and thus, it is imperative that evidence is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of stress-reducing mobile health apps in this context. OBJECTIVE:The purpose of this research was to investigate the physiological and psychological effects of using a smartphone app for HRVB training following a stressful experience. The efficacy of the gamified Breather component of the Happify mobile health app was examined in an experimental setting. METHODS:In this study, participants (N=140) underwent a laboratory stressor and were randomly assigned to recover in one of three ways: with no phone present, with a phone present, with the HRBV game. Those in the no phone condition had no access to their phone. Those in the phone present condition had their phone but did not use it. Those in the HRVB game condition used the serious game Breather on the Happify app. Stress recovery was assessed via repeated measures of salivary alpha amylase, cortisol, and self-reported acute stress (on a 1-100 scale). RESULTS:Participants in the HRVB game condition had significantly lower levels of salivary alpha amylase during recovery than participants in the other conditions (F2,133=3.78, P=.03). There were no significant differences among the conditions during recovery for salivary cortisol levels or self-reported stress. CONCLUSIONS:These results show that engaging in a brief HRVB training session on a smartphone reduces levels of salivary alpha amylase following a stressful experience, providing preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of Breather in improving physiological stress recovery. Given the known ties between stress recovery and future well-being, this study provides a possible mechanism by which gamified biofeedback apps may lead to better health

Testing a scalable web and smartphone based intervention to improve depression, anxiety, and resilience: A randomized controlled trial

Psychological interventions targeting wellbeing can reliably increase wellbeing and decrease depressive symptoms. However, only a handful of studies have implemented wellbeing interventions online, and those studies have largely done so in a way that prioritizes experimental control over realism and scalability. We sought to take existing wellbeing interventions with established efficacy and to evaluate their impact when translated into a format that is publicly accessible, scalable, and designed with the goal of engaging users. Participants in this fully online trial were first-time registrants of the Happify platform, a fully automated web and mobile wellbeing intervention grounded in positive psychology, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and mindfulness-based stress reduction, which has offered wellbeing programs to over 3 million registrants to date. Consenting participants were randomly assigned to access the full Happify platform or a psychoeducation comparison condition and further categorized by their usage during the study: recommended usage (a minimum of 2-3 activities per week) or low usage (usage less than the recommended level). Participants were assessed on depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and a composite measure of resilience at baseline and 8 weeks later. Participants who used Happify at the recommended level reported fewer depressive and anxiety symptoms and greater resilience after 8 weeks than participants who used Happify at a low level or participants who used the psychoeducation condition at any level. The Happify group also experienced greater rates of reduction in depression and anxiety symptom severity category, and had a greater net benefit (% users who improved minus % users who deteriorated), compared to the other groups. The results of this study suggest a successful first attempt at implementing and scaling a comprehensive package of lab-tested wellbeing interventions without losing efficacy

Positive Psychotherapy: Building a model of empirically supported self -help

A sizable portion of the population experiences subthreshold depressive symptoms, and these symptoms can lead to substantial functional impairment. However, there is little research on psychological interventions for depressive symptoms in nonclinical populations. In a series of three studies, I examine the efficacy of Positive Psychotherapy (PPT)—an intervention designed to decrease depressive symptoms in mild-moderately depressed individuals by increasing pleasure, engagement, and meaning—both in-person and over the web. I also explore the mechanism by which PPT decreases symptoms without ever targeting depression directly. In Study 1, I piloted a 6-week group PPT intervention. Participants randomly assigned to receive group PPT experienced fewer depressive symptoms and greater life satisfaction than did no-intervention controls. Decreases in depressive symptoms were mediated by increases in life satisfaction, but only partially. In Study 2, I examined the effects of the techniques used in PPT when administered individually. I randomly assigned participants to complete one of the six PPT exercises or a placebo control exercise. When analyzed as one group, PPT exercises led to significant improvement in depressive symptoms while the Control exercise did not. Both PPT exercises and the Control exercise increased life satisfaction. However, the PPT exercises did not significantly differ from the Control exercise on either outcome. In Study 3, I piloted an online version of PPT. Compared to assessment-only controls, online PPT participants experienced significantly fewer depressive symptoms. However, there were no significant effects on life satisfaction, nor on another potential mediator: positive emotion. There was substantial variation in rates of compliance and continued use for each exercise; however, three months later, 91% of those who completed the follow-up assessment were still practicing at least one of the six exercises, with the average participant continuing to use between 2 and 3 exercises. Despite limitations, which include high dropout rates and structural rigidities due to the automated design of online PPT, this series of studies provides an important first step in developing a low-cost, acceptable intervention for decreasing mild-moderate depressive symptoms in nonclinical populations

Impact of psychoeducational content delivered online to a positive psychology aware community

Happiness-increasing interventions demonstrate significant variation in outcomes, suggesting that the people who use them might be as important as the interventions themselves to determine efficacy. In light of this, instructive interventions might not be necessary to increase happiness given a population with knowledge of happiness-increasing strategies. We recruited 270 participants with knowledge of positive psychology to receive six weeks of online psychoeducation. We explored participants' use of the website, reported use of happiness strategies, and changes in well-being. Those who spent more time on the website reported smaller changes in well-being than those who spent less time on the website. Conversely, those who reported employing more happiness strategies reported greater increases in well-being than those who used fewer strategies. This shows that for those already familiar with positive psychology, information, rather than instruction, might increase well-being. This has implications for studies evaluating the efficacy of happiness-increasing interventions more broadly

L’EFFICACITÉ DES INTERVENTIONS FAVORISANT LE BONHEUR : UNE SYNTHÈSE

L’objectif du présent article est de passer en revue la littérature grandissante portant sur les interventions psychologiques destinées à accroître le bonheur. On discute d’abord de la notion de bonheur et de l’importance de celui-ci pour les individus et les groupes sociaux. Ensuite, on présente une vue d’ensemble des interventions orientées vers le bonheur au moyen d’exercices spécifiques variées en considérant leur efficacité. Une section est consacrée aux implications cliniques des dites interventions pour la santé mentale et physique. Enfin, on fait la promotion de l’usage des technologies sophistiquées pour la diffusion des stratégies favorisant le bonheur.The purpose of this paper is to review the growing literature on psychological interventions for increasing happiness. The concept of happiness is studied and his importance for individuals and social groups is discussed. Then, a comprehensive overview of interventions is presented through the use of specific activities and the efficacy of these interventions is examined. A section is reserved for the clinical applications of happiness interventions for mental and physical health. In conclusion, the use of sophisticated technologies is promoted for the diffusion of happiness strategies