Should Wellbeing and Positive Psychology be in our Curriculum? Dr Tony Fernando Psychiatrist, Senior Lecturer Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences University of Auckland a.fernando@auckland.ac.nz

Sleep Study of NZ senior High School Students (n=1388) Fernando et al 2013 Sleep Difficulties 517 (37.2%) Depression 267 (19.2%) Anxiety 231 (16.6%) Alcohol Problem 63 (4.5%) Drugs 28 (2%) Delayed Sleep Phase 69 (5%) Sleep walkers/ talkers 48 (3.5%)

Medical and Nursing students (n= 745) samaranayake Fernando arroll et al 2013 DEPRESSION 12.8% ANXIETY 12.8% (Females, Nursing) ALCOHOL 14% (Maori, PI) DRUGS 8.2% SUICIDAL THOUGHTS 6.4%

Positive Psychology Positive Emotions Resilience Strengths

Positive Psychology Key people Martin Seligman, Barbara Frederickson, Sonja Lyubomirksy, Ed Diener Richard Davidson

What motivates us? Why are you in your profession? Why did you marry? Or not marry? Why are you in this conference? Why Langham? We do things because we just want to be happy (avoid pain/ suffering)

All of us want to be happy

What do you most want for your children? (Seligman) Happiness Confidence Contentment Fulfilment Love Health WELLBEING

Preparation for Workplace What do schools teach? Success Discipline Literacy Science Math Analytical skills Preparation for Workplace

Looking back, what skills did I miss out in my own education? Emotion skills- managing disappointments, frustrations, losses Accepting our individuality (strengths, weaknesses) Practical skills- dating, cooking, DYI, managing money Flipside: Compassion and service to others

Circuitries for happiness Calm Excitement Drive Connection

Traps in our search for happiness Focus on fragile external conditions (appearance, status, possessions) Expectations*** Habituation and Pleasure Treadmill Money- how much do we need to be happy? Emotions***

Emotions/ Feelings States Positive Emotions Fleeting Not sticky; easily forgotten Negative Emotions Very powerful stick like tar; “negativity bias” Being negative, a bit%# is not fun for us AND makes everyone else feel bad

Positive psychology Interventions Gratitude Mindfulness, living in the moment Kindness and Compassion Self compassion Religion and Spirituality Dealing with negative thinking

Better coping strategies Flow experiences Committing to goals Physical exercise Optimism Identifying and applying strengths

Gratitude Turbo charger of happiness scores Easiest, most do-able Most popular

Gratitude exercises Gratitude diary at night for 6-8 weeks; 3-5 things; once a week versus nightly Three good things exercise (Strath Haven High School Positive Psychology Curriculum) Write 3 good things that happened daily for a week Why did this happen? What does it mean to you? How can you have more of this good thing in the future?

Mindfulness Mindfulness Continuous awareness of the present moment, accepting and without judgment Development of “mind’s eye” Not HIJACKED by negative thoughts/ emotions/ judgments Emotional fitness Awareness of the process and not going inside the story Enhanced through practice of Mindfulness Meditation- formal and informal 2 components of the practice: Attention Emotional Regulation

Mindfulness meditation Can be applied in most activities- eating, walking from carpark to office, washing the dishes, folding clothes… Practice, practice, practice Not different from trying to be physically fit Antidote: Expectations, negative emotions, habituation Foundation for Kindness, Compassion and Connection

Mindfulness Meditation Iphone App: Mindfulness Mentalworkout Free online meditation guide: calm.auckland.ac.nz Auckland U: Auckland Hospital Support Building, Thursday evenings 5:30 PM, room 80, Level 12 facebook page: Auckland University Meditation Group Many groups around Auckland

Kindness, compassion, connection Evolved capacity

Kindness, Compassion and connection Desire to connect Desire to be accepted Desire to alleviate other’s suffering

Barriers to compassion

Kindness, Compassion and connection From most religious traditions: Golden rule “if you want to be happy, practice compassion” “true happiness consists in making others happy”

Kindness, Compassion and connection How can you develop genuine kindness? See everyone else ( even other creatures) as similar to you Truly understand the other person from other perspectives Mental Exercises to increase compassion: calm.auckland.ac.nz (guided meditations)

Self compassion (lack of) Tendency to beat ourselves up Perfectionism Unforgiving stance

Self-compassion (self-compassion.org) Kindness to oneself Common humanity Mindfulness

Should or Can we teach positive psychology/ wellbeing in schools?

Penn resiliency Programme (seligman). teachers, coaches, staff, Penn resiliency Programme (seligman) teachers, coaches, staff, students handling day to day problems thinking realistically thinking flexibly assertiveness brainstorming coping skills

University of Auckland Medical School new Curriculum Clinical and Communication Skills Professional qualities Team engagement Health and Wellbeing Personal and Professional Skills Applied Science for Medicine Hauora Maori Population Health

Educational Focus? Apart from cognitive development and job preparation, How much are we teaching/ modelling gratitude? calm? connection? kindness and compassion? self compassion? Or perfectionism? Ruthless competitiveness? Achievement at all costs?

Happiness and wellbeing Job preparation Practical skills Happiness and wellbeing

Self development readings/ resources www.calm.auckland.ac.nz Compassionate Mind- Paul Gilbert How of Happiness- Sonja Lyubomirsky Positivity- Barbara Frederickson Happiness- Matthieu Ricard Peace is Every Step- Thich Nhat Hanh The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work- John Gottman http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu website on Positive Psychology self-compassion.org