70244 - Clinical Applications of Positive Psychology.

Learning outcomes

Positive Psychology is a new line of research, which is being developing only in recent years. Positive Psychology is aimed to study issues which have been neglected for a long time, such as psychological well-being, quality of life, optimal human functioning, happiness, optimism, etc..Students in this course will learn the most recent topics related to Positive Psychology, with particular emphasis on their applications in clinical psychology. 

Course contents

1. Historical and philisophical background of Positive Psychology
2. Subjective well-being and life satisfaction
3. Positive emotions and their role in human development
4. psychological well-being
5. Positive mental health and its implications for psychotherapies
6. Well-Being Therapy
7. Love: strategies for improving love in couples
8. Strategies for improving optimism
9. Strategies for improving hope
10. Gratitude and altruism
11. Forgiveness, Wisdom and spirituality
12. Post-traumatic Growth and psychotherapies
13. Strategies for improving resilience
14. the concept of flow and otpimal experience
15. biological substrates of optimal human functioning

The course will take place during the second semester (March-June) at the Cesena Campus of the School of Psychology and Education (address: Pzza Aldo Moro, 90, Cesena -FC)

Readings/Bibliography

Chiara Ruini. Positive Psychology in the Clinical Domains. Research and Practice. Springer International Publishing, 2017.

ISBN978-3-319-52110-7 DOI10.1007/978-3-319-52112-1

Available at: http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319521107

OR

Alex M. Wood, Judith Johnson: The Wiley Handbook of Positive Clinical Psychology. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2016.

ISBN: 9781118468241 DOI: 10.1002/9781118468197

Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781118468197

Fava GA, Ruini C. Increasing Psychological well-being in Clinical and Educational Settings. Springer, 2014

together with

David SA, Boniwell D., Conley Ayers A. : The Oxford Handbook of Happiness, Oxford University Press, 2013. Chapters: 3, 10, 14, 15, 18, 25, 43, 46, 47, 67, 68, 69, 73, 74, 77

OR

Joseph, S. (Ed) Positive Psychology in Practice. 2nd Edition. New York , Wiley, 2015. Capitoli: 2,5,10, 28,29,30,31,33,34,38, 46

Optional readings:

Sheldon KM, Lucas RE (eds). Stability of Happiness. Academic Press, Elsevier,2014. capitoli: 2, 5, 8,12

Snyder C, Lopez S. (Eds) Handbook of Positive Psychology. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002. Chapters: 4,5,7,9,17,19,32,33,34,35,37,39,47

Magyar-Moe JL: Therapist's Guide to Positive Psychological Interventions. Academic Press, Elsevier, 2009

Slides of the lectures are available on internet

Teaching methods

• Lectures with Power Point Presentation.
• Case exemplifications and role-playing
• team work
• journal club
  

Assessment methods

The final evaluation will consist in a written exam (test) with 28 multiple choice questions  + 1 open question regarding the topics included in the textbooks and discussed in class.

Only for students attending at leat 30 hour class: team work for preparing a brief dissertation/essay on a  specific Positive Psychology topic +  final oral questions

Teaching tools

Handouts and power point presentations available on internet (AlmaDL Campus)

Team work, bibliographic search and essay writing

Links to further information

http://www.unibo.it/docenti/chiara.ruini

Office hours

See the website of Chiara Ruini