eInsights - October 2008

Reaching for PossibilitiesTeaching Optimism, Emotional Resilience and Hope in Recovery and Rehabilitation

Hope, emotional resilience, and the capacity to maintain an optimistic perspective are often the invisible ingredients for coping with chronic illness and establishing wellness.

Positive psychology, founded by Martin Seligman in 1998, is an emerging area in the field of mental health focused on researching these qualities. Seligman's theoretical framework is dedicated to the study of mental "wellness" versus mental illness. Positive psychology does not deny that people may have emotional difficulties; rather, it explores in greater depth what makes people happy, resilient and able to thrive despite their circumstances.

A primary teaching point of this counseling methodology is the teaching of optimism, outlined in Seligman's 1998 book, Learned Optimism. Practitioners of this approach believe that optimism can be taught; it is not solely the purview of those born with optimistic temperaments. In this counseling approach, patients are taught how to evaluate disappointments, with the ultimate goal of having one's optimistic voice be stronger than the pessimistic voice.  

Perspective Skills
At the most basic level, positive psychology looks at the way people process difficult emotional events. In my treatment sessions with depressed individuals, a primary skill I teach patients is perspective skills.

Jody Esposito, 22, a woman with Spina Bifida, provides some powerful examples from a patient perspective. Jody's story is compelling in that she has the most severe form of Spina Bifida and has undergone multiple interventions related to the condition. She is a wheelchair user who was confronted with the decision to amputate her legs at the age of 13, and she has undergone 38 surgeries for her back, legs, and clubbed foot, as well as surgeries related to shunts and bladder and bowel interventions. Jody shares how her support system was pivotal in maintaining her perspective at different points in her development:

"When I was in high school and struggling, my parents would always say, 'You will learn it, if you keep continuing. If you just go a little bit more, you will get it.' My physical therapist would say, 'Keep doing your exercises and you will get stronger (even though it is hard to stick to it).'

I also remember my medical team always maintained a positive attitude when I had relapses. My doctor would say, 'This is a temporary setback, it will get better.' My medical team also tried to make my hospitalizations as fun as possible. On my 18th birthday, I was hospitalized. I remember my doctor came in with a 'happy birthday' banner for me. These moments reduced how traumatic these times could have been for me."  [Click here for the complete article]

This article is excerpted from Dr. Reji Mathew?s monthly column for Advance for Occupational Therapy Practitioners. The complete article focuses on teaching optimism, emotional resilience, and hope. She supports her clinical perspective with real-life examples from Jody Esposito, a young woman with Spina Bifida.

Dr. Mathew also does advocacy work for Post Polio Health International and is a disability advocate/freelance writer affiliated with New York University.

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eInsights is an electronic newsletter brought to you quarterly by the Spina Bifida Association