Psychological treatment to enhance the 24 personal strengths.

A step-by-step guide to develop your personal strengths.

Traditionally, psychology has focused mainly on eliminating symptoms, something that the patient demands when he or she comes for consultation. Thus, if you have depression, you demand to remove sadness and hopelessness, and if for example you have anxiety (with breathing difficulties, palpitations, etc.) you want to remove anxiety.

From my point of view, if the psychological treatment is focused exclusively on the negative ("I remove the bad and that's it") it is incompleteIt is incomplete, since it only focuses on the elimination of what creates discomfort without working on the positive, the possibility of developing strengths.

Treatment should not only be directed at "eliminating suffering" but also at strengthening the resources we have and cultivating positive feelings and thoughts.

Psychology to develop strengths

In addition to using techniques to control the symptoms (relaxation techniques, thought modification techniques, problem solving, self-control...) it is necessary to develop in the person the ability to enjoy, the ability to recognize the meaning of one's own life, personal capabilities, optimism...

In this way, not only weaknesses are compensated for and wounds are healed, but also competencies are developed that the person can use to develop competencies that the person can use in the future.. Moreover, it is also possible to work in a preventive way (not only from a model of "cure if there are symptoms" on issues such as violence or drug use.

From this position, positive emotions are cultivated in three temporal moments: in the past, valuing it in a positive way so that it generates well-being; in the present, to be motivated and to flow; and in the future to look towards it in a positive way with hope and optimism.

One can have positive emotions in one temporary moment but not in the others: For example, one can feel calm in the present and have little hope for the future, or look at the present and future with illusion but be dissatisfied with the past. The important thing is that this is something that can be cultivated..

Learning to gain autonomy

If, for example, it is the past that "traps us", we can learn during the therapy, we can learn throughout the therapy to rewrite our history in order to be able to follow our own path.. In the case of the past, our feelings are totally determined by our thinking, by the interpretation we make; therefore, by rewriting the lived history, feelings change.

We can reflect on these three tenses: in the past, what I did long ago that I am proud of; in the present write down 3 positive things for example from today; and in the future, what I would like to do in the short term and in the long term.

24 personal strengths

Strengths are psychological traits and characteristics that are present in different situations and over time and can be trained and therefore improved. They are the following.

Strengths that involve the acquisition and use of knowledge.

1. CuriosityInterest in the world.

2. Love for knowledge and learning (continuous tendency to acquire new learning).

3. Judgment, critical thinkingopen-mindedness (thinking about things and examining all their meanings, without drawing conclusions at random).

4. Resourcefulness, originalitypractical intelligence (thinking of new and productive ways and ways of doing things).

5. Social intelligencePersonal intelligence, personal intelligence, emotional intelligence (knowledge of oneself and others).

6. Perspective (being able to help others solve problems and gain perspective for themselves).

Strengths that involve the achievement of goals in difficult situations

7. Courage and bravery (not being intimidated by threat, change, difficulty or pain).

8. PerseverancePerseverance, industriousness, diligence (to persist in an activity even when there are obstacles).

9. Integrity, honesty, authenticity (taking responsibility for one's feelings and actions).

Strengths that involve caring and offering friendship and affection to others.

10. Kindness and generosity.

11. Loving and letting oneself be loved (valuing intimate and deep relationships with others).

Strengths that imply a healthy community life.

12. Civilityteamwork, teamwork, loyalty (working well within a team or group of people, being loyal to the group and feeling part of it).

13. Impartiality and fairness (not allowing personal feelings to bias decisions about other people).

14. Leadership (encouraging the group of which one is a member to do things and strengthening relationships between people in the group).

Strengths that protect against excesses (temperance)

15. Self-control (ability to regulate one's feelings and actions, to have control over impulses and emotions).

16. Prudencediscretion, discretion, caution (not to say or do anything that you may later regret).

17. Modesty, humility (do not try to be the center of attention or think you are more special than others).

Strengths that provide meaning to life (transcendence).

18. Appreciation of beauty and excellence (to be able to appreciate the beauty of things, of everyday life or to be interested in aspects of life such as nature, art, science).

19. Gratitude (being aware of the good things that happen to you and expressing gratitude).

20. Hope, optimism, projection into the future (hoping for the best in the future and planning to achieve it).

21. Spirituality, faith, religious sense (having a philosophy of life, religious or not, that situates you as part of the universe in general, having a purpose in life).

22. Forgiveness (forgiving, giving a second chance to others).

23. Sense of humor (likes to laugh and make others laugh, sees the positive side of life).

24. Passion, enthusiasm.