Principles
Image of man
The image of man behind positive psychotherapy is based on the abilities and resources of people. It sees a person as a whole: a unity of body, mind, feelings and soul.
Resource orientation
Positive psychotherapy considers not only the disturbed areas of a person but above all their abilities. “Positive” comes from the Latin positum: the whole, what is actually given. Conflicts are seen as a challenge to develop these skills further.
Areas of application
With cross-cultural tools and innovative techniques, positive psychotherapy can be used in many settings. Because it is easy to understand, it is also used successfully outside psychotherapy: in education, training and counselling.
Four areas of health, energy and conflict response
The balance model
Nossrat Peseschkian’s balance model is known as the “heart” of positive psychotherapy and is used in many settings. It is also called the “diamond model”, the “four qualities of life”, the “four ways of conflict management” or “the four media of cognitive ability”.
The model assumes four large areas of life in which people live and act. They influence life satisfaction, self-esteem and how a person handles conflicts and challenges. They correspond to the biological-physical, rational-intellectual, socio-emotional and spiritual abilities of a person.
Everyone has the potential for all four, but upbringing, environment and socialisation emphasise some and neglect others. Peseschkian sees a balance of life energy across body, achievement, contact and meaning as a favourable condition for health and resilience.
Source: H. Peseschkian, A. Remmers, Positive Psychotherapie, Ernst Reinhardt Verlag, Munich 2013, pp. 41–42.
The balance model, the “heart” of positive psychotherapy. Choose an area to learn more.
Conflict resolution
The five stages of therapy
The five stages give structure to the spontaneous conversation, within a single session and across the whole therapy. The therapist moderates them with an appropriate attitude, opening questions, stories and association aids. This prepares the patient early for working through conflicts and for self-help – especially for the time after therapy.
Source: H. Peseschkian, A. Remmers, Positive Psychotherapie, 2013, p. 92.
- Observation and distancing. Describing what is happening and who is involved, and gaining distance from the conflict.
- Inventory. Taking stock of the content of the conflict and of the four areas of the balance model.
- Situational encouragement. Strengthening the abilities that are already there.
- Verbalisation. Learning to talk about the conflict with the people involved.
- Broadening of goals. Developing new goals and looking to the future after therapy.
Research
Quality assurance
An effectiveness study with 415 patients and 38 psychotherapists showed significant, lasting improvements after an average of 30 sessions.
Resources
Glossary in 20 languages
About 150 terms of positive psychotherapy, explained by Nossrat Peseschkian and Anas Aziz.