I'm trying to broaden the scope of positive psychology well beyond the smiley face. Happiness is just one-fifth of what human beings choose to do.
Martin SeligmanRead
It's my belief that, since the end of the Second World War, psychology has moved too far away from its original roots, which were to make the lives of all people more fulfilling and productive, and too much toward the important, but not all-important, area of curing mental illness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Psychology should focus more on enhancing life rather than just curing mental illness.
Martin Seligman argues that since World War II, the field of psychology has shifted its emphasis too heavily towards treating mental illness at the expense of its original purpose: to improve the overall quality of life for individuals. He suggests that while addressing mental illness is important, the broader goal of helping people lead fulfilling and productive lives should also be prioritized in the discipline.
Themes
PsychologyMental HealthFulfillmentProductivityLife Improvement
In practice
Example use cases
In a public talk on mental health, one might quote Seligman to emphasize the importance of a holistic approach to well-being.
More from Martin Seligman
All quotes →One of my worries about America is the epidemic of depression we've been in. One of the possibilities about that is that the 'I' gets bigger and bigger, and the 'we' gets smaller and smaller.
Martin SeligmanRead
The dirty little secret of both clinical psychology and biological psychiatry is that they have completely given up on the notion of cure.
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The belief that we can rely on shortcuts to happiness, joy, rapture, comfort, and ecstasy, rather than be entitled to these feelings by the exercise of personal strengths and virtues, leads to legions of people who, in the middle of great wealth, are starving spiritually.
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I believe psychology has done very well in working out how to understand and treat disease. But I think that is literally half-baked. If all you do is work to fix problems, to alleviate suffering, then by definition you are working to get people to zero, to neutral.
Martin SeligmanRead
The good life is using your signature strengths every day to produce authentic happiness and abundant gratification.
Martin SeligmanRead
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