Happy Couples Roadmap

Over the past few years, the notion of a “positive psychology intervention” (or PPI) has risen to prominence, as it was discovered that certain intentional actions can be effective in increasing and sustaining happiness and other positive states, as well as in reducing depression and anxiety. A good definition of what constitutes a positive intervention is “treatment methods or intentional activities aimed at cultivating positive feelings, positive behaviours, or positive cognitions” (Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009, p. 467).

How do we know what works and what doesn’t? What is effective, and what is less so? Here is where the science comes in! Positive interventions come tested through Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs). RCTs involve the random allocation of participants to two or more groups and comparing the proposed intervention with another exercise intended as a placebo. All of the actions in the set have been tested through RCTs AND have appeared in one or more meta-analyses. Considered the gold standard of applied research, a meta-analysis evaluates the overall impact of a group of interventions on our functioning.

The 64 intervention cards are organised into seven categories, which form the ACTIONS acronym.

1) A = Active interventions; concerned with sport and physical activity.

2) C = Calming actions; concerned with mindfulness and meditation.

3) T = Thinking or taking stock; working through and integrating past events, whether negative or positive, into our present situation.

4) I = Identity related actions; concerned with personal strengths and one’s representation of oneself.

5) O = Optimisation actions; that enable you to set goals, look to the future, and to potentially improve the current situation.

6) N = Nourishing actions; concerned with self-soothing, pleasure and taking care of yourself.

7) S = Social actions; to do with establishing and maintaining positive relationships.