Positive Activity Interventions for Mental Health Conditions: Basic Research and Clinical Applications

Cost-effective, quick-acting, efficacious, and long-lasting treatments are needed to augment traditional drug and psychotherapy treatments. This chapter describes the potential of positive activity interventions (PAIs): that is, simple, self-administered cognitive and behavioral strategies that can increase subjective well-being by promoting positive feelings, positive thoughts, and positive behaviors. The chapter proposes that PAIs could complement traditional drug and psychotherapy treatments by building strengths and working to address the paucity of positive affect, engagement, and life meaning that characterize depression. Historically, conventional treatments have focused on mitigating depressive symptoms, but most people want not only to not be depressed but also to flourish and feel happy. Most research on PAIs has been conducted on nondepressed, nonclinical populations. PAIs involving the practice of gratitude, kindness, and optimism have beenshown to reliably increase well-being across many different settings in nonclinical samples.