Positive Psychology Interventions in Patients with Depression: A Review

Abstract

Positive Psychology Interventions are a new branch of Psychology. Such interventions
employ various techniques to improve psychological well-being and build positive
feelings, behaviors, and cognitions rather than focusing on reducing negative emotions
and negative cognitions. The broadening of positive emotions has been found to help
in the development of long-term resources such as psychological resilience and
flourishing. In this view, the review paper is aimed at exploring the impact of positive
psychology interventions on patients with depression. The related literature was searched
on PubMed and Google Scholar for all the available studies associated with Positive
Psychology Interventions (PPI), Positive Psychotherapy, and PPI in depression. The
search was restricted to 20-year-old studies, i.e., between 1998 and 2022. The review
of studies shows that PPI is better or equally effective than Cognitive Behavior Therapy
(CBT) or treatment as usual. PPI results not only in the reduction of depressive symptoms
but also in enhancing wellbeing, happiness, satisfaction in life, and attention. It was
seen that there is a dearth of Indian studies with a clinical population. Future research
needs to be done with a larger sample size among diverse populations and conducted
by trained therapists; standard protocols should be followed; and long follow-up
assessments need to be done.