Positive psychotherapy

Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) (since 1968) is the name given to the design of the psychotherapeutic approach by Nossrat Peseschkian and colleagues, which this Wiesbaden-based specialist in neurology , psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine , who comes from Iran, has developed and successfully established as an independent psychotherapy method. The method belongs to the humanistic psychodynamic psychotherapies.

overview

It belongs to the humanistic depth psychologies ( psychodynamic psychotherapy ). The basis is the 'positive image of man ', which corresponds to a salutogenic , resource-oriented , humanistic and concentrated approach.

Positive psychotherapy is a method within the framework of deep psychological psychotherapy that is recognized by numerous institutions (including the State Medical Association of Hesse, European Society for Psychotherapy (EAP), World Council for Psychotherapy (WCP), International Federation of Psychotherapy (IFP) and various national ones Corporations).

It integrates elements and techniques of different psychotherapy methods and in particular also uses stories and wisdom from different cultures to stimulate imagination and imagination alternatives in the sense of a resource-oriented approach.

Positive psychotherapy is now represented in around 33 countries with around 40 independent centers. Since 1977 u. a. As part of a medical training facility (Wiesbaden training group for psychotherapy and family therapy), doctors, psychologists and pedagogues trained in positive psychotherapy. The Wiesbaden Academy for Psychotherapy (WIAP) is today one of the leading institutes in the field of state-recognized, postgraduate training and further education for psychotherapy. Overall (as of 2015) more than 38,000 doctors, psychologists and educators have been trained in the method of positive psychotherapy since 1974 and, since the late 1980s, thousands of colleagues in Eastern European and Asian countries.

Positive psychotherapy is represented worldwide by the "World Association for Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy" (WAPP). Previous world congresses for positive psychotherapy took place in 1997 in St. Petersburg, Russia, 2000 in Wiesbaden, Germany, 2003 in Varna, Bulgaria, 2007 in Famagusta, Cyprus, 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey, 2014 and 2019 in Kemer / Antalya, Turkey.

Standardized training courses in the form of basic and master courses take place in many countries around the world, e.g. B. in Albania, Ethiopia, Bolivia, Bulgaria, China, Kosovo, Austria, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Cyprus etc. Occasionally u. a. the approaches of Seligman , Maslow , Antonovsky , Assagioli , Satir , Laing , Grof , Frankl , Längle , Perls , Rogers , Peseschkian , Kim Berg , de Shazer and Berne are attributed to positive psychotherapy.

In 1997 a study on the quality assurance of positive psychotherapy in Germany was completed. The results show the high effectiveness of this form of short-term therapy. The study was awarded the Richard Merten Prize. In 2006, the founder of positive psychotherapy, Nossrat Peseschkian, received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon .

Action

aims

The goals of positive psychotherapy are

• Development of a positive and transcultural approach in psychotherapy and psychosomatics
• Education , self-help and prevention
• Promotion of intercultural understanding
• Integration of different therapeutic directions

According to the understanding of positive psychotherapy, traditional psychotherapy and medicine can often be described by three criteria:

a) the psychopathological approach with the aim of eliminating diseases, disorders and conflicts,

b) a variety of methods that coexist,

c) the patient's passive posture.

Positive psychotherapy tries to expand the traditional approach:

a) positive action in response to psychopathology,

b) the content-related approach as a mediator for the cooperation of various specialist disciplines (balance model, basic skills, current skills),

c) the five-stage therapy and self-help in the sense of positive conflict management, to activate the patient and promote the therapist-patient relationship - according to the oriental saying: "You can only hold onto happiness if you pass it on".

Main principles

The three main principles in positive psychotherapy are the positive, the content and the strategic approach (principles of hope, balance and counseling):

1. The principle of hope is mainly found in the fact that one does not try to eliminate a disorder immediately, but first to understand it in its wider context and to address its positive aspects. The word "positive" (from the Latin "positum") means "actually", "given", "really" - the positive therapists want to help the client to make the disorder transparent and to see its meaning (basic skills and actual skills ).

   Accordingly, illness is reinterpreted. Examples:

   • Sleep disorder is the ability to be alert and get on with little sleep
   • Depression is the ability to react to conflict with the deepest emotionality
   • Schizophrenia is the ability to live in two worlds or to enter a fantasy world
   • Anorexia is the ability to get by on little food and identify with the world's hunger.

   This procedure causes a change of location, not only of the client, but also of the environment. Illnesses thus have a symbolic function that therapist and patient must first recognize together. The client learns that his symptoms and complaints are signals to bring his four areas of life into a new balance.

2. The principle of balance : conflict dynamics and conflict content. The four qualities of life and primary and secondary skills.

   Despite cultural and social differences and the uniqueness of each person, it can be observed that all people resort to typical forms of conflict processing when dealing with their problems. Thomas Kornbichler explains:

   With the balance model of positive psychotherapy (an innovative contemporary variant of dynamic psychotherapy), Nossrat Peseschkian has formulated a clear model of conflict processing in different cultures

   1. Body, senses - psychosomatics ,
   2. Performance, activity - stress factors,
   3. Contact, fellow human beings - depression,
   4. Fantasy, future, worldview - fears and phobias .

   If we get into distress due to stressors or microtraumatisation, we can express our conflict situation in four typical forms of conflict processing:

   • body-oriented modes
   • performance-oriented modes
   • relationship-oriented modes
   • fantasy-oriented modes

   These four areas are inherent in all people; in the western hemisphere , the focus is often more on the body / senses and work / performance; in the Orient, on the other hand, in the areas of contact, fantasy and future (transcultural aspect of positive psychotherapy).

   A lack of contact and a lack of imagination are reasons for many psychosomatic illnesses. Everyone develops their own preferences for how they deal with conflicts that arise. Due to the one-sided development of one form of conflict processing, the others take a back seat.

   These one-sidednesses in the four qualities of life lead to eight typical modes of conflict processing, depending on whether it is an active or passive variant:

   • Overcompensation in the cult of the body ( narcissistic overvalue of the body)
   • Decompensation into the somatic illness ( somatization , substance- related addictions, risk factors: obesity, etc.)
   • Overcompensation in activity and performance
   • Decompensation in performance and concentration disorders
   • Overcompensation in socializing
   • Decompensation into loneliness
   • Overcompensation in size fantasies, delusional disorders, etc.
   • Decompensation into senseless experiences, existential fears, etc.

   The content of the conflict (e.g. punctuality, cleanliness, order, politeness, trust, time, patience) is described by primary and secondary skills, which are based on the basic skills of love and knowledge. This can also be understood as a substantive differentiation of Freud's classic instance model.

3. The principle of counseling: the five stages of therapy and self-help.

   The five levels represent a concept of positive psychotherapy, within which therapy and self-help are closely related. The patient and his relatives are informed together about his illness and individual solutions:

   1. Level: observation , distancing (perceptual ability: the ability to express wishes and problems)
   2. Level: inventory (cognitive skills: events in the last 5–10 years)
   3. Level: Situational encouragement (self-help and resource activation of the patient: the ability to make use of healthy parts and successes in previous conflict processing)
   4. Level: Verbalization (communication skills: the ability to express open conflicts and problems in the four qualities of life)
   5. Level: Goal expansion (ethical and moral abilities of the patient for the future: the question: "What to do when you have no more complaints and problems - what goals do you have for the next 3–5 years?")

Help with relocating: One way to mobilize the client's resources instead of persistently dealing with old, familiar problems is through stories and proverbs. In positive psychotherapy, stories, parables , parables , and wisdom facilitate the mental and emotional change of location - "You can stand where you are, but you shouldn't sit on it." Prejudices and resentments can be reduced through transcultural examples and stories. These can be a valuable approach to changing consciousness. This in turn is a prerequisite for changes in medicine, politics, economics and environmental behavior.

Image of man

Positive psychotherapy puts the individual development of the human being in the context of globalization : For the first time in human history a global, networked society is emerging, the main characteristic of which is its cultural diversity.

The process of globalization - not only on the political, but above all on the mental level - does not proceed without challenges. This is interpreted as a challenge to design the methodical procedure according to the current situation. This requires rethinking - from a monocultural and mono- etiological approach to a multicultural and multi- etiological approach. These experiences and considerations led Peseschkian to understand people - especially in psychotherapy - not only as an isolated individual, but also to take into account their interpersonal relationships and - as it corresponds to their own development - their "transcultural" situation, which first affected them do what it is:

"Own experiences are expensive, others are valuable."

The image of man in positive psychotherapy can be compared with that of humanistic psychology. In contrast to the drive determinism in classical psychoanalysis or the image of a "human machine" in classical behavioral therapy , people are generally considered to be good and healthy in positive psychotherapy.

He has a wealth of skills, laid out like seeds, which can and must be developed through upbringing and self- education .

Literature of the founder

• 1974 Positive psychotherapy in everyday life. Fischer, Frankfurt (2008, 12th edition)
• 1977 Positive psychotherapy. Fischer, Frankfurt (2008, 8th edition)
• 1979 The merchant and the parrot. Oriental stories in psychotherapy. Fischer, Frankfurt (2009, 30th edition)
• 1980 Positive family therapy. Fischer, Frankfurt (2007, 11th edition)
• 1993 Psychosomatic and Positive Psychotherapy. Fischer, Frankfurt (2008, 7th edition)
• 1998 Anxiety and depression in everyday life. A guide to self-help and positive psychotherapy. With Dr. med. Udo Boessmann. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main (2007, 6th edition)
• 2003 Morgenland-Abendland: Positive Psychotherapy in the Dialogue of Cultures. Fischer, Frankfurt
• 2005 If you want what you've never had, do what you've never done. Herder, Freiburg (2008, 14th edition)
• 2006 Positive Psychotherapy . In: A. Pritz (Ed.): Globalized Psychotherapy Facultas Universitätsverlag, 2002, ISBN 978-3-85076-605-0 .
• Nossrat Peseschkian & Raymond Battegay: The stairs to happiness: 50 answers to life's big questions. Fischer-Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-596-17112-5 .

There are a total of 26 books by the founder. Some of them are translated into 23 languages ​​(e.g. Chinese, Russian, Spanish and English). There is also extensive secondary literature in the form of monographs, dissertations and scientific articles in various cultures.

Web links

• Positive Psychotherapy website (World Association for Positive Psychotherapy )
• Prof. Peseschkian Foundation International Academy for Positive Psychotherapy and Transcultural Psychotherapy (IAPP), Psychodynamic Positive Psychotherapy
• N. Peseschkian: Fantasies and parables as media in psychotherapy . In: Discussion forum Med Ethics . 1991 Nov; (11): LXIII-LXVI, PMID 1801452 . Quoted in: O Cottencin, C Versaevel, M. Goudemand: In favor of a systemic vision of liaison psychiatry . In: Encephale . 2006 May-Jun; 32 (3 Pt 1): 305-14; PMID 16840923
• N. Peseschkian: Psychosomatic aspects of Parkinson disease . In: Psychiatr Neurol Med Psychol (Leipz), 1990 May; 42 (5): 264-74., PMID 2388955 . Quoted in G. Schmid-Ott, F. Lamprecht: Inpatient treatment of a patient with large duodenal diverticulum and psychogenic vomiting - somatic and psychosomatic approach . In: Versicherungsmedizin , 1997 Oct 1; 49 (5): 173-7, PMID 9417744 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ PsyOnline - www.psyonline.at: EAP - European Association for Psychotherapy . Europsyche.org. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
2. ^ IFP . Ifp.name. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
3. ↑ WIAP Wiesbaden Academy for Psychotherapy -Startseite . Wiap.de. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
4. ^ Positive Psychotherapy: The World of Positive Psychotherapy . Positum.org. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
5. ^ RICHARD MERTEN PRIZE Board of Trustees . Richard-merten-preis.de. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
6. ^ Positive-Psychotherapy-Globalized-Psychotherapy . Peseschkian-stiftung.de. Archived from the original on August 25, 2007. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 21, 2010. 

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