This article introduces the empirical support for and theoretical tenets of Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP), a comprehensive, evidence-based, psychotherapy model. GFPP's approach emerges from positive and social psychology research, and is informed by psychotherapy research from the common and contextual models. Its interventions focus…

Psychological literature in the field of internal dialogical activity assumes that internal temporal dialogues perform several important functions, namely: support, redefining the past, balancing, distancing, advising, making decisions, acquiring wisdom and managing the future. The article is an attempt to verify this proposal through qualitative…

This study evaluated the effect of positive psychology interventions (PPIs) on hope and well-being among adolescents living in a child and youth care centre (CYCC) in South Africa. Adolescents (n = 29) were allocated to either the experimental or control group through matched sampling. The experimental group engaged in one-hour intervention…

This paper examines how people find happiness and create wellbeing when confronted by extreme adversity. Utilising the Dialogical Self Theory for an analysis of published autobiographies, it investigates two case studies, Nick Vujicic, who was born without limbs, and Austrian author Barbara Pachl-Eberhart, who narrates creating a fulfilled life…

It is very often in counselling and psychotherapeutic procedures that clients need to cope with negative emotions such as sadness, guilt, fear or anger. The implementation of the Dialogical Stage Model (DSM) (Hermans, H. & Hermans-Konopka, A. [2010]. "Dialogical self theory: Positioning and counter-positioning in a globalizing…

In this paper, the theme of multi-voicedness in the search on the path of life is explored. It will be argued that we, as human beings, not only live within an ambiguous world, but also have to deal with an ambiguous self. In the quest for happiness it is the challenge to acknowledge all inner positions, each with their own perspective on reality.…

In contemporary culture, it is natural to think that purchasing and owning the "right" possessions results in happiness. This belief supports our loyalty to consumer society. However, several lines of research demonstrate that high consumption lifestyles and materialistic values are not a trustworthy path to well-being. Instead,…

Genuine happiness is impossible without authentic concern for and corresponding behaviour towards the well-being of others. Such an incorporation of others into the self refers to a "democratic self" and the related regard for the common good. The author argues that the honesty of professionals who work in or for an educational or…

Tutors of a child and adolescent psychotherapeutic counselling programme undertook a thematic analysis of five student assignments, from the same student cohort, designed to investigate their motives for undertaking the course. The assignments were thematically analysed utilising ideas derived from consensual qualitative research and narrative…

A growing body of research suggests that hope and other positive emotions are important in disrupting the cycle of pain and negative emotionality common to chronic pain sufferers. This qualitative research study focuses on the in-session experience of hope for participants during a specific arts-based hope intervention, as part of an…

The prevailing sociopolitical and economic difficulties advance a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness among youth in South Africa. This paper describes a Hope-Infused Future Orientated intervention piloted with a group of juvenile sex offenders. The intervention incorporated activities to bolster the constructs of hope as a unique foundation,…

By examining the specific emotional phenomena of self-narratives and how they are expressed in normal counselling interactions, this paper highlights the importance of taking emotional information into account within a career-counselling context. Based on three cases taken from a corpus of 64 interviews and on a protocol identifying the…

This study recruited 4799 university students to complete a Spanish language version of Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation -- Outcome Measure and an ad hoc questionnaire to determine the presence and severity of psychological problems and identify potential explanatory factors. The percentage of participants who exceeded the cut-off point for…

The paper presents an introduction of a newly developed, avatar-based virtual reality therapy, as an addition to the therapeutic programme, within a therapeutic community prison in the UK. The participants had six group sessions facilitated by a counsellor. The aim of the project was to investigate whether this approach would improve mental health…

This opinion piece considers the current predominance of assessment tools and strategies in working with people at risk of suicide, and questions their efficacy and how they are privileged in day to day mental health practice. While such tools and an evidence-based "scientific" approach to assessment clearly has its place, the author…