Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Positive Psychotherapy: An Introduction

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Positive Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychology

Abstract

Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) is a humanistic psychodynamic psychotherapy developed by Nossrat Peseschkian in the 1970s and 1980s. As a conflict-centered and resource-oriented short-term psychotherapy, it is based on transcultural observations in more than 20 cultures. The method combines a humanistic conception, a psychodynamic understanding of disorders, and a culturally sensitive and systematic therapy process approach in five steps, in which tools of other methods can be integrated. The term “positive” is used as an expression of that which is available, the given, the actual. The positive connotation confronts the patient (and the therapist) with the function of the illness, to see it as capacity to react on a conflict. Based on a positive image of human beings, the humanistic concept of “capacity” runs throughout this method, such as viewing values and capacities as contents of actual, basic and inner psychodynamic conflicts and the key conflict. A feature of this method is that the concepts can easily be understood by all patients.

Central concepts are the four areas of life balance and conflict reaction, the modeling dimensions of the early developmental phase and of the actual relations, three dimensions of interaction, primary and secondary actual capacities, questionnaires (First Interview, WIPPF) and a five-stage-process for therapy, family treatment and self-help to empower the patient and the family.

Positive Psychotherapy (PPT after Peseschkian, since 1977) is now applied in more than 25 countries in psychotherapy, counseling, psychosomatic medicine, psychiatry, children, youth and family counseling, in prevention, pedagogy and social work. On the international level training programs for mental health professionals and counselors, conferences and international exchange are organized by the World Association for Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Positive Psychotherapy (PPT after Peseschkian, since 1977) is a registered trademark in the European Union (registration no. 014512578 and 014512537). Registrations in the United States of America (registration no. 1343592) and Canada (registration no. 1748288) are being processed.

  2. 2.

    Nossrat Peseschkian mentions the term ‘positive psychology’ in his book on Positive Psychotherapy in 1987, p. 389, but not going further.

  3. 3.

    similar to Kurt Goldstein (1939), who saw self-actualization as “the tendency to actualize, as much as possible, [the organism’s] individual capacities”

  4. 4.

    In recent years, some North American authors have published the clinical applications of positive psychology and named it Positive Psychotherapy (Martin E. P. Seligman, Tayyab Rashid, Acacia C. Parks, Positive Psychotherapy. November 2006, American Psychologist, 774–788) [43] .

  5. 5.

    In German language, there is a very exact word for worldview, philosophy of life, or image or conception of human beings: Menschenbild. This concept plays a very important role in philosophy, medicine and psychotherapy.

  6. 6.

    The two authors of this chapter supported this development with extended stays in Eastern Europe: Hamid Peseschkian in Russia from 1991 to 1999 and Arno Remmers in Bulgaria from 1992 to 1995, in Romania 1996.

References

  1. Antonovsky A. Health, stress, and coping. New perspectives on mental and physical well-being. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 1979.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bahá’u’lláh. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. Wilmette: US Bahá’í Publishing Trust; 1990. (pocket-size edition).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Boessmann U, Peseschkian N. Positive Ordnungstherapie. Stuttgart: Hippokrates; 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cope TA. Positive Psychotherapy’s theory of the capacity to know as explication of unconscious contents. J Relig Health. 2007;48(1):79–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Fonagy P, Moran GS, Edgcumbe R, Kennedy H, Target M. The roles of mental representations and mental processes in therapeutic action. Psychoanal Study Child. 1993;48:9–48.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Frank JD. Persuasion and healing: a comparative study of psychotherapy. 3rd ed. Baltimore: Hopkins Univ. Press; 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Grawe K, Donati R, Bernauer F. Psychotherapie im Wandel: Von der Konfession zur Profession. Göttingen: Hogrefe Verlag für Psychologie; 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hoffman E. The right to be human: a biography of Abraham Maslow. New York: St. Martin’s Press; 1988. p. 109.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Hübner G. Burnout. Lenzkirch: Lenzkircher Verlagsbuchhandel; 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Hubble MA, Duncan BL, Miller SD. The heart & soul of change: what works in therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 1999.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  11. Jork K, Peseschkian N. Salutogenese und Positive Psychotherapie. Bern, Stuttgart: Hans Huber Verlag; 2003/2006.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Kirillov IO. Supervision in positive psychotherapy (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). St. Petersburg: Bekhterev Federal Neuropsychiatric Research Institute; 2002. In Russian.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Kohut H. Narzißmus. Eine Theorie der psychoanalytischen Benhandlung narzißtischer Persönlichkeitsstörungen. Frankfurt/M: Suhrkamp; 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Kornbichler T, Peseschkian M. Nossrat Peseschkian: Morgenland – Abendland; Positive Psychotherapie im Dialog der Kulturen. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag; 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Lambert NJ. Psychotherapy outcome research: implications for integrative and eclectic therapists. In: Goldfried M, Norcross JC, editors. Handbook of psychotherapy integration. New York: Basic Books; 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Lapworth P, Sills C. Integration in counselling & psychotherapy. Los Angeles: SAGE; 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Maslow AH. Motivation and personality. New York: Harper & Row; 1954.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Mentzos S. Lehrbuch der Psychodynamik. Die Funktion der Dysfunktionalität psychischer Störungen. 7. Auflage. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Moghaddam FM, Harre R. But is it science? Traditional and alternative approaches to the study of social behavior. World Psychology. 1995;1(4):47–78.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Norcross JC, Goldfried MR. Handbook of psychotherapy integration. New York: Oxford University Press; 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Peev I. Позитивната психотерапия в модерната армия и общество. Военно издателство, София (Positive Psychotherapy in army and society). Sofia: Voenno Izdatelstvo; 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Peseschkian H. Psycho-soziale Aspekte beim lumbalen Bandscheibenvorfall (Psycho-social aspects of lumbar disc herniation. Doctoral dissertation. University of Mainz, Medical Faculty; 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Peseschkian H. Osnovy pozitivnoj psichoterapii (Basics of positive psychotherapy). Archangelsk: Publications of the Medical School; 1993. (in Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  24. Peseschkian H. Die Anwendung der Positiven Psychotherapie im Managementtraining. In: Graf J, (ed). Seminare 2002 – Das Jahrbuch der Management-Weiterbildung (ManagerSeminare). Bonn: Gerhard May Verlags GmbH; 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Peseschkian H. Die russische Seele im Spiegel der Psychotherapie. Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklung einer transkulturellen Psychotherapie. Berlin: VWB; 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Peseschkian H, Peseschkian N. Der Mensch ist seinem Wesen nach gut. Die Notwendigkeit eines positiven Menschenbildes für Priester und Ärzte im Zeitalter multikultureller Gesellschaften. In: Paris W, Ausserer O (eds.). Glaube und Medizin. Meran: Alfred und Söhne; 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Peseschkian H, Remmers A. Positive Psychotherapie. Wege der Psychotherapie. München: Ernst Reinhardt Verlag; 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Peseschkian N. Schatten auf der Sonnenuhr: Erziehung, Selbsthilfe, Psychotherapie. Wiesbaden: Verlag Medical Tribune; 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Peseschkian N. Positive Psychotherapie. Theorie und Praxis einer neuen Methode. Frankfurt: Fischer; 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Peseschkian N. Positive Psychotherapie – Beispiele für eine transkulturelle Analyse. Zeitschrift für Positive Psychotherapie. 1979;1(1):25–33.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Peseschkian N. Psychotherapy of everyday life. Training in partnership and self-help with 250 case histories. Heidelberg: Springer; 1985a. (first German edition in 1974, latest English edition in 2016 by AuthorHouse UK)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Peseschkian N. In search of meaning. A psychotherapy of small steps. Heidelberg; New York: Springer; 1985b. (first German edition in 1983, latest English edition in 2016 by AuthorHouse UK)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  33. Peseschkian N. Positive family therapy. The family as therapist. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 1986. (first German edition in 1980, latest English edition in 2016 by AuthorHouse UK)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  34. Peseschkian N. Positive Psychotherapy. Theory and practice of a new method. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag; 1987. (first German edition in 1977)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Peseschkian N. Positive psychosomatics. Clinical manual of positive psychotherapy. AuthorHouse UK; 2016. (German original in 1991)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Peseschkian N. Oriental stories as techniques in positive psychotherapy: The merchant and the parrot. Bloomington, USA: AuthorHouse; 2016. (first German edition in 1979)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Peseschkian N, Deidenbach H. Wiesbadener Inventar zur Positiven Psychotherapie und Familientherapie WIPPF. Berlin: Springer; 1988.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  38. Peseschkian N, Peseschkian N, Peseschkian H. Lebensfreude statt Stress. 2nd ed. Stuttgart: TRIAS; 2009. 

    Google Scholar 

  39. Reimer C, Eckert J, Hautzinger M, Wilke E. Psychotherapie: Ein Lehrbuch für Ärzte und Psychologen. Heidelberg: Springer; 2000.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  40. Remmers A. An integrated model for salutogenesis and prevention in education, organisation, therapy, self-help and family consultation, based on positive family psychotherapy [Realized projects and experiences in Bulgaria 1992–1994]. 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Robinson DJ. The psychiatric interview explained. 2nd ed. Port Huron: Rapid Psychler Press; 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Seiwert L. Balance your life. Die Kunst, sich selbst zu führen. München: Piper; 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Seligman M, Rashid T, Parks T. Positive psychotherapy. Am Psychol. 2006;61(8):774–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Snyder CR. Handbook of hope: theory, measures & applications. San Diego: Academic Press; 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Syrous S. Positive and crosscultural psychotherapy. Nossrat Peseschkian—his life and work. In: Leeming DA, editor. Encyclopedia of psychology and religion. 2nd ed. New York: Springer; 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Tritt J, Loew TH, Meyer M, Werner B, Peseschkian N. Positive psychotherapy: effectiveness of an interdisciplinary approach. Eur J Psychiatry. 1999;13(4):231–41.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Wampold B. How important are the common factors in psychotherapy?An update. World Psychiatry. 2015;14(3):270–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wiesbaden Academy of Psychotherapy (WIAP), World Association for Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy (WAPP), Wiesbaden, Germany

    Hamid Peseschkian & Arno Remmers

Authors
  1. Hamid Peseschkian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Arno Remmers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hamid Peseschkian .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Professor of Psychiatry, College of Medicine University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA

    Erick Messias

  2. Wiesbaden Academy of Psychotherapy, World Association for Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy, Wiesbaden, Germany

    Hamid Peseschkian

  3. Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Consuelo Cagande

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Peseschkian, H., Remmers, A. (2020). Positive Psychotherapy: An Introduction. In: Messias, E., Peseschkian, H., Cagande, C. (eds) Positive Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33264-8_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33264-8_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-33263-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-33264-8

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation