TEHRAN – “Positive Psychotherapy: Clinician Manual” by Tayyab Rashid and Martin P. Seligman has been published in Persian by Saless.

Originally published in 2018, the book has been translated by Javad Khalatbari, Shohreh Qorban Shirudi and Targol Moradhaseli.

For over a century the focus of psychotherapy has been on what ails us, with the therapeutic process resting upon the assumption that unearthing past traumas, correcting faulty thinking, and restoring dysfunctional relationships is curative. 

And indeed, they are - but in the rush to identify and reduce symptoms of mental disorder, something important has been overlooked: the positives. Should enhancing well-being, and building upon character strengths and virtues, be explicit goals of therapy?

“Positive Psychotherapy” provides therapists with a session-by-session therapeutic approach based on the principles of positive psychology, a burgeoning area of study examining the conditions and processes that enable individuals, communities and institutions to flourish. 

This clinician’s manual begins with an overview of the theoretical framework for positive psychotherapy, exploring character strengths and positive psychology practices, processes and mechanisms of change. 

The second half of the book contains 15 positive psychotherapy sessions, each complete with core concepts, guidelines, skills and worksheets for practicing skills learned in the session. 

Each session also includes at least one vignette as well as a discussion of cross-cultural implications. Mental health professionals of all orientations will find in Positive Psychotherapy a refreshing alternative to symptom-based approaches that will endow clients with a sense of purpose and meaning that many have found lacking in more traditional therapies.

Photo: Front cover of the Persian edition of “Positive Psychotherapy: Clinician Manual”.

MMS/YAW