Geoff W. Sutton Blog

  A Circle of Well-Being Gratitude and Joy One of the beautiful holiday connections in the United States is the Thanksgiving to Christmas festivities. Just after Thanksgiving, I noticed that a former student posted a photo of an ultrasound. She and her husband had smiles as they hugged. She posted her Spring due date. Great Expectations! We know a lot about gratitude. Saying thanks, writing gratitude letters, and keeping a gratitude journal are annual reminders of things we can do to promote our wellbeing and make the world a nicer place. That’s Thanksgiving. But psychologists have also begun the study of joy, which until recently has been hidden amongst a sea of happiness research. Enter Philip Watkins and his colleagues who find evidence that sets joy apart from other good feelings. Psychologists link the emotion of joy to good news. It’s not just any good news but something we long for—something we look forward to, hope for, and expect. Moreover, joy is not like getting ...

  Can the practice of gratitude actually improve mental health? Many studies extol the benefits of expressing gratitude. What’s different about this study by Joel Wong and his colleagues are the participants. All of them were psychotherapy patients. The research question: Would gratitude writing add value to psychotherapy?   The patients All 293 volunteers were young adults having an average age of 22 and the youngest were age 18. Most were women (65%). And most identified as “White/European.” They were seeking psychotherapy services at a university. The plan The researchers randomly assigned the patients to one of three groups. 1. Gratitude Letter writing and Psychotherapy . In three gratitude sessions, the participants wrote letters of thanks to people—most wrote to friends, mothers, and fathers. They had the option to send their letters or not—23% sent a letter. 2. Expressive Writing and Psychotherapy . In their sessions, the expressive writing group wrote...

  In the past few decades, psychological scientists have studied gratitude along with other virtues as part of the broad field known as positive psychology, which focuses on well-being in contrast to studies of mental disorders. Expressing gratitude is one of those classic virtues encouraged in many cultures. Short Summary Two psychological scientists studied the effects of expressing gratitude over a period of 10 weeks. Those in the gratitude group felt better and had fewer health symptoms than those in other groups. The Experiment In 2003, two psychological scientists published the results of several studies. Robert Emmons of the University of California, Davis and Michael McCullough of the University of Miami assigned volunteers to one of three groups, which the research team called Gratitude, Hassles, and Events. The study required 10 weekly reports. Here’s what the scientists told each group. Gratitude group The gratitude group were asked to think about their past week...