Positive psychology in times of the COVID-19 pandemic 



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## Positive psychology in times of the COVID-19 pandemic

06/05/2020 |
SCP

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[Watch the video on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xrs9vgtfa3A)

Marisa Salanova, director of the WANT research group WANT (Psychosocial Prevention and Healthy Organisations).

We are living in a time of convulsive changes due to the global extension of the epidemic triggered by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, and the consequent health, economic, social and also humanitarian crisis. Although change has accompanied human beings since their origins, it is true that in a very short period of time we have been forced to drastically stop our "normal" life and to change our daily routines, experiencing radical changes in the way we live and communicate, but also in the way we work and in how organisations have had to face this crisis.

At this time, the results of extensive research on Positive Psychology can help us to overcome confinement in homes and this crisis in general, because Positive Psychology clearly and directly contributes to people, groups, collectives and organisations having a fuller and more satisfactory life, more worthy of being lived. Its contribution to this crisis comes from the definition raised by Martin Seligman (one of its founding researchers) as "the scientific study of the optimal functioning of people and organisations" that "studies positive people and organisations", and that "wants to understand the basis of well-being and happiness".

However, the "positive" goes beyond the purely hedonic or pleasurable. We can use the well-known concept of "happiness" in psychology to clarify this a little bit. Happiness is not the mere satisfaction of needs without effort, without tolerance to frustration, without courage to face adversities like the one we are living today with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Authentic happiness, that which is sustainable over time, has a broader meaning, if we want to be eudaimonic (from Eudaimonia in the Aristotelian sense as happiness in the fullness of being and the practice of virtues and the search for meaning and significance), in line with knowing one's own strengths and putting them at the service of something that transcends us. It is happiness related to congruence with one's own values, the meaning of life, basic human needs and social connection with others. For me, this idea of happiness is what I would wish for our children and our children's children, and for planet Earth in general.

In any case, the positive should not only be defined as "pleasant" but also as that which promotes the optimal functioning, progress and development so necessary right now because of the effects of the COVID-19 crisis. For example, some emotions and not so pleasant situations such as sadness, the uncertainty of what the future holds, the need for perseverance and continuous effort in rebuilding what has been destroyed by the virus, can be important in rebuilding our individual and collective well-being, personal, family and professional development, the development of personal and organisational resilience, the advancement of societies, and so on. The same concept of resilience or that of post-traumatic growth implies the existence of stressful and traumatic events so that the possibility of continuing to function positively and even emerging strengthened after the trauma generated by the COVID-19 arises as a consequence.

Positive Psychology can help us to know what our personal strengths are and put them at the service of something that transcends us. In these moments of crisis, we have seen how many people have altruistically mobilised to serve the professionals who are in the trenches in this fight against the virus, the community, the most vulnerable families, and a long etcetera. These social actions are giving us a meaningful life right now, because happiness from Positive Psychology is not being “happy-go-lucky”, but to lead a meaningful life with purpose. And more so now in these moments where perhaps we can ask ourselves if being closed and enclosed to help not spread the virus, maintaining personal and family hygiene, doing voluntary actions to help others, etc., are actions in which we put our own strengths at the service of something that transcends us.

For me, one of the most satisfying and personally successful actions during these days of quarantine has been to develop a series of training pills that I called PsiCOVID-19 and that are available on my YouTube channel on Positive Psychology for Everyday Life. In them, I explain in more detail how Positive Psychology can help us to cope with this crisis with empirically validated exercises that can be done to improve levels of well-being that deal with topics such as optimism, sense of humour, the search for meaning, the concept of happiness, personal strengths, gratitude, mindfulness, prioritizing the positive, etc.

You can find these videos at:

<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0ZtUt6JgnOIK_7JSACRiHkMZvvz7nX2r>

A little self-reflection these days is a good way to start discovering what really matters in life. Discovering our most important values, what gives meaning to our lives. Maybe we can discover the positive changes that our life and our world need too.

Take care of yourselves, so that you can take care of others.

**Marisa Salanova, director of the group of investigation WANT (Psychosocial Prevention and Healthy Organisations).**

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