New DVD Offer! - Hardwiring Happiness, the New Brain Science

Our DVD offer this week features Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm and Confidence.

This 3 DVD set features Neuropsychologist, international speaker, and bestselling author of Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and his newest book, Hardwiring Happiness, Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

http://www.psychotherapydvds.com/Hardwiring-Happiness-The-New-Brain-Science-of-Contentment-Calm-and-Confidence

Based on his latest book, Hardwiring Happiness, this workshop presents the four simple HEAL steps of taking in the good, which turn passing experiences into lasting neural resources.

It explores how to use these methods to lower anxiety and stress, lift mood, grow confidence, calm, and contentment, and fundamentally, hardwire happiness into the brain.

The mind shapes the brain. Neurons that fire together, wire together.

Positive experiences are the main source of the neural structures underlying positive mood, resilience, feeling loved, the executive functions, and other inner strengths. Unfortunately, most positive experiences are wasted on the brain because it evolved a negativity bias to help our ancestors survive. It’s like Velcro for bad experiences but Teflon for good ones.

You will learn many practical ways to help your clients overcome this negative bias; which is disheartening, flattens learning curves, undermines compliance and progress in treatment, and fosters drop outs or relapsing. And instead draw upon the positive experiences available in both treatment and everyday life to weave strength and happiness into the fabric of their brain and their life.

In addition to teaching general-purpose methods for deliberately internalising positive experiences – taking in the good – the workshop will explore how to identify and use key resource experiences to soothe and even heal clinical issues related to the three fundamental systems of the brain:
Avoiding Harms, Approaching Rewards, & Attaching to others.

These methods include how to skilfully hold both positive and negative material in awareness so that, “as neurons fire together, they wire together”. The positive factors connect with, dampen, and gradually replace the negative ones.

The workshop also covers applications to particular populations and needs, notably trauma, children, plus addiction & recovery. Follow the link below for much more information.

http://www.psychotherapydvds.com/Hardwiring-Happiness-The-New-Brain-Science-of-Contentment-Calm-and-Confidence

PROMOTIONAL OFFER!
Order this 3 disc DVD set today to save a huge £30 off the regular price.
Offer expires tomorrow at midday!

You will also receive a certificate for 6 CPD Hours

On Happiness

BBC is promoting "Happiness" very heavily in their breakfast show this week: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/12263893

Lots of techniques from Positive Psychology field…

Have you ever tried any of them yourself? Please share your experience with us if you feel like it…

Fascinating question:
Can it work for your clients?

We believe so and can prove that it can!

Come to our Positive Therapy courses to find out how: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=52

See what Paul Grantham thinks about it:

The 'Secret Ingredient' of Religion

Entering the world of Positive Psychology now, a recent study has found that a 'Secret Ingredient' in religion actually makes people happier!

Researchers found that it was not necessarily the spiriual aspect of religion that makes people happier - but the social side! Friendships made within religious congregations lead to greater life satisfaction!

The study compared those who attend religious services weekly, those who attended a few times a year and those that never attended. According to the study, 33% of religious people who have three to five close friends in their congregation report that they are "extremely satisfied." But only 19% of religious people who have no close friend in their congregation report the same.

23% of those who attended only a few times a year but have three to five close friends in their congregation reported that they were "extremely satisfied."

Last of all, 19% of those who never attend religious services say they are extremely satisfied with their lives. The same as those who attend every week, but have no friends within the congregation. This suggests strongly that the part of the service that is most beneficial to the person, in terms of life satisfaction is the socil side!

The researchers commented that: "One of the important functions of religion is to give people a sense of belonging to a moral community based on religious faith. This community, however, could be abstract and remote unless one has an intimate circle of friends who share a similar identity. The friends in one's congregation thus make the religious community real and tangible, and strengthen one's sense of belonging to the community."

They found this evidence within a wide range of Christian denominations as well as similar results within Jewish and Mormon communities.

So you want to be happier? Head out there and make some friends! :)

Article

Teasing about weight and its affect on pre-teens

"We tend to think of adolescence as the time when kids become sensitive about their body image, but our findings suggest that the seeds of body dissatisfaction are actually being sown much earlier," said Timothy D. Nelson.

For the study, Nelson and his colleagues surveyed hundreds of public school students whose average age was 10.8 years. They collected participants' heights and weights and calculated their Body Mass Index, then examined the relationships between weight-related criticism and children's perceptions of themselves.

Their results showed that overweight pre-teens who endured weight-based criticism tended to judge their bodies more harshly and were less satisfied with their body sizes than students who weren't teased about their weight.

Because children who develop such negative views of their bodies are at higher risk for internalizing problems, developing irregular eating behaviors and ongoing victimization, researchers said these results should be a signal for more early identification and intervention efforts at schools.

"There's often a sense that overweight people 'deserve' it, or that if they are continually prodded about their weight, they'll do something about it," said Nelson

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So what do you think?

Do children think about their body weight as much as this study suggests? Are weight-related criticisms found more in groups of girls or boys? Can pre-adolescent taunting really affect children for the rest of their lives?

And what should be done to try and stop this happening in schools?

Are weight issues a problem generated by the media? e.g. super skinny people in magazines and on the tv.
Or are they now being generated by the Health Authority by chastising those who are overweight?

What's your opinion?

Link to Article

The Pain of Discrimination

"In a new study, researchers found that adolescents from Latin American and Asian backgrounds experienced more discrimination than their peers from European backgrounds and that the discrimination came not only from other adolescents but from adults as well. The level of discrimination also impacted these teens' grade-point averages and their health and was associated with depression, distress and lower levels of self-esteem.

601 Teens (equal males and females) kept a daily diary for 2 weeks to record any discriminatory events or comments they experienced. They were also asked to separately record on a four-point scale any physical symptoms, such as headaches, stomach-aches or general pain.

Among the teens in the study, nearly 60% reported experiencing discrimination from other teens, and 63% reported discrimination from adults; 12% reported experiencing discrimination on a daily basis.

The researchers found that teens who reported higher levels of peer or adult discrimination also reported more aches, pains and other symptoms, as well as a lower overall grade-point average. Thus, discrimination may not only tax adolescents' physical and psychological resources but may also affect their ability to achieve in school, the researchers said.

"Discrimination significantly predicted lower GPAs, higher levels of depression, higher levels of distress, lower self-esteem and more physical complaints," Fuligni said. "So the bottom line? Discrimination is harmful."

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This interesting study highlights the link between the personal world, i.e. one's own wellbeing and health, and the social world. This link can be good, in terms of positive interactions and suppport, but, as this study shows, negativity in the social world can create bad results in the personal world.

Although people may think the discrimination is only small, it can mount up on a single individual, much like in the story 'An Inspector Calls' by J.B Preistley, and can manifest itself in a number of physical and psychological problems.

The modern world already seems to be accelerating the number of people that are being diagnosed with depression and ADHD and personality disorders etc, and people are quick to blame the fast paced life and music and videogames. This study is an interesting wake-up call that shows how our interactions with each other, although seemingly harmless, may be commiting more pain than we realise.

Link to article

Mindfulness Meditation Increases Well-Being in Adolescent Boys

'Mindfulness', the process of learning to become more aware of our ongoing experiences, increases well-being in adolescent boys, a new study reports.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge analyzed 155 boys from two independent UK schools, Tonbridge and Hampton, before and after a four-week crash course in mindfulness. After the trial period, the 14 and 15 year-old boys were found to have increased well-being, defined as the combination of feeling good (including positive emotions such as happiness, contentment, interest and affection) and functioning well.

Professor Felicia Huppert of the Well-being Institute at the University of Cambridge said: "More and more we are realising the importance of supporting the overall mental health of children. Our study demonstrates that this type of training improves well-being in adolescents and that the more they practice, the greater the benefits. Importantly, many of the students genuinely enjoyed the exercises and said they intended to continue them -- a good sign that many children would be receptive to this type of intervention.

"Another significant aspect of this study is that adolescents who suffered from higher levels of anxiety were the ones who benefitted most from the training."

The success of this initial study has recently led to the creation of an exciting 8 week mindfulness curriculum for schools in both the state and private sectors. This new curriculum, which includes games and video clips, should have even greater benefits.

(More information by clicking HERE)

Another link: mindfulnessinschool