Dec 23, 2025 01:19 AM
Positive psychology experts don't follow their own advice. What they actually do may be the key to well-being
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-p...dvice.html
INTRO: Positive psychology forms the backbone of well-being programs around the world. Many people aiming to improve their mental health and live a good life are told to follow a program of activities that focus on making an intentional effort to improve their well-being.
But recent research I conducted with colleagues shows that while well-being experts often recommend these activities to others, in real life, they rarely practice them themselves. This discrepancy may tell us something important about what truly sustains well-being over time.
I interviewed 22 experts and practitioners in positive psychology -- some with more than a decade of experience. All of them regularly recommended well-being activities to clients, friends and family members and told me they would tailor each activity according to an individual's needs.
But when I asked them about their own application of positive psychology practices, it became apparent that they didn't engage in these activities regularly. They only tended to use them during difficult periods, when they felt a need for a well-being boost.
Positive psychology programs often recommend patients activities like "gratitude journaling" (writing down the things one is grateful for) daily, or undertaking three acts of kindness each week. The key emphasis with these programs is to make an intentional, concerted effort to be more positive.
But our study showed that experts don't use well-being the way many positive psychology programs teach it. Instead of following a schedule of activities, their well-being came from having a flexible, well-being-oriented mindset, which we termed a "meliotropic well-being mindset."
The term is derived from the Latin "melior" (better) and Greek "tropism" (movement towards). It's about moving toward what makes life worth living. This way of thinking meant that experts didn't treat well-being as a set of tasks they needed to complete—but rather merely as part of everyday life.
It also meant that none of the experts actively "chased" happiness or positivity. When they had a bad day, they just let it be—accepting that life sometimes comes with difficulty.
Our participants did not make the kind of drastic, intentional changes in their lives that they'd recommend patients make to improve well-being... (MORE - details)
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-p...dvice.html
INTRO: Positive psychology forms the backbone of well-being programs around the world. Many people aiming to improve their mental health and live a good life are told to follow a program of activities that focus on making an intentional effort to improve their well-being.
But recent research I conducted with colleagues shows that while well-being experts often recommend these activities to others, in real life, they rarely practice them themselves. This discrepancy may tell us something important about what truly sustains well-being over time.
I interviewed 22 experts and practitioners in positive psychology -- some with more than a decade of experience. All of them regularly recommended well-being activities to clients, friends and family members and told me they would tailor each activity according to an individual's needs.
But when I asked them about their own application of positive psychology practices, it became apparent that they didn't engage in these activities regularly. They only tended to use them during difficult periods, when they felt a need for a well-being boost.
Positive psychology programs often recommend patients activities like "gratitude journaling" (writing down the things one is grateful for) daily, or undertaking three acts of kindness each week. The key emphasis with these programs is to make an intentional, concerted effort to be more positive.
But our study showed that experts don't use well-being the way many positive psychology programs teach it. Instead of following a schedule of activities, their well-being came from having a flexible, well-being-oriented mindset, which we termed a "meliotropic well-being mindset."
The term is derived from the Latin "melior" (better) and Greek "tropism" (movement towards). It's about moving toward what makes life worth living. This way of thinking meant that experts didn't treat well-being as a set of tasks they needed to complete—but rather merely as part of everyday life.
It also meant that none of the experts actively "chased" happiness or positivity. When they had a bad day, they just let it be—accepting that life sometimes comes with difficulty.
Our participants did not make the kind of drastic, intentional changes in their lives that they'd recommend patients make to improve well-being... (MORE - details)