Positive Psychiatry

The book is well-written and well-structured in easily accessible and short chapters, each of which is followed by a summary and a list of clinical key points. Positive Psychiatry encourages us to rethink psychiatry and offers a compelling new paradigm to treatment, not only in psychiatry, but in medicine in general. I can warmly recommend this book. N. Okkels, Psychitric Resident and Research Assistant, Department of Affective Disorders, Aahurs University Hospital, Risskov, Denmark The editors and authors of Positive Psychiatry: A Clinical Handbook discuss pertinent background information on positive psychology, psychological assessment tools, and interventions. The book is easy to follow, and the authors of the various chapters include "Clinical Key Points" or bulleted concise information that serve as a check-in for readers to ensure they are able to acquire main chapter points. Overall, this handbook accomplishes its goal of providing psychiatrists and other mental health professionals with a great overview of positive psychology. Alan M. Gross and Lauren N. Weathers, PsycCRITIQUES, December 28, 2015, Vol. 60, No.52, Article 9 Positive Psychiatry: A Clinical Handbook a valuable and needed addition to the literature in our field. Educators will find a user-friendly resource for adding material on positive psychiatry to their curricula. Clinicians will find both guidance in expanding the range of their interventions, as well as strong theoretical and research support for the positive interventions they have already been implicitly practicing. -- Dr. Adam M. Brenner, Professor of Psychiatry, Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Vice Chair for Education in Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Journal of Psychiatric Practice Vol. 22, No. 6 The handbook is very well written, carefully edited and 'reader-friendly'. Each chapter concludes with clinical key points, and where applicable, the text includes clinical vignettes, which illustrate practical applications of theoretical concepts. In addition to a detailed general index, each chapter ends with suggested cross-references to other chapters, and includes a list of additional suggested readings (and websites). Of special interest to the Australian and New Zealand readers are references to recovery programs and government-supported recovery oriented-services developed in these countries. Research at the Centre for the Mind in Sydney is mentioned in regard to research on neurocircuitry of positive psychological traits, and the ReachOut program is provided as an example of cultivating resiliency and health behaviour involving change in the social fabric and collective efficacy... The handbook can be recommended for clinicians, researchers, as well as consumers and carers. It is a significant step towards a broader vision of psychiatry, evolving 'from just the alleviation of misery to the building of well-being' (Jeste & Palmer, 2015, p. xix). -- Karolina Krysinska, Dementia Collaborative Research Centre, University of New South Wales Advances in Mental Health: Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention