Doctoral research carried out by Linda Bolier at the University of Twente has shown that positive psychological interventions can be effective in promoting well-being and reducing psychological problems. Well-being also has a positive effect on physical functioning and recovery following illness.
In her doctoral thesis, Bolier, who is an academic staff member for the Public Mental Health programme at the Trimbos Institute, looked at the value of positive psychology for preventative mental health care. Positive psychological interventions focus on boosting well-being and on increasing people's resilience. They can be used to supplement the treatments currently offered by mental health-care services, which are primarily aimed at combating symptoms and the pathology behind them. An online application provides starting points for reaching large groups of people and motivating them.
Literature review
To start with, Bolier analyzed the scientific research available into the relationship between well-being and physical functioning during illness and into the effects of the positive psychology programmes already developed. While the results were positive, the quality of the studies into the effectiveness of programmes varied enormously. Many of the studies did not take the rules for carrying out good randomized research into account. Examples include the analysis of those people who dropped out of the study and analysis of all of the participants who registered to take part. This meant that there were many improvements to be made in terms of methodology.
Mental fitness
Bolier then looked at the effectiveness of one particular online intervention (Psyfit.nl), which is designed to allow people to train their mental condition, in a way that is comparable to maintaining a physical condition. Through six principles, which include giving direction to your life, promoting positive emotions and living in the here and now, the participants are provided with points of reference that allow them to gain a greater insight into their strong points and into how they can deal with the day-to-day worries life presents. The intervention proved to be effective in increasing a sense of well-being and vitality in the short term and in reducing the symptoms of anxiety and depression in both the short and long term.
Future
Terms such as 'self-management', 'self-reliance' and 'positive health' are becoming increasingly important in the health-care sector today. Positive psychology can contribute to giving substance to these terms, both for interventions and for methodologies that professionals can put to use.
High investments will need to be made in order to increase intervention therapy adherence and to embed online positive psychology in the health-care system if its impact is to be guaranteed. There is great potential, as mental health care is not the only area of application: paying attention to patient well-being and resilience is important in somatic health care, too.
Linda Bolier defended her doctoral thesis, which is entitled Online positive psychology: using the Internet to promote flourishing on a large scale on Friday, 27 March at the University of Twente.
