1. Should Wellbeing and Positive Psychology be in our Curriculum?
Dr Tony Fernando
Psychiatrist, Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences
University of Auckland

3. 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%)

4. 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%

5. Positive Psychology
Positive Emotions
Resilience
Strengths

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

7. 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)

8. All of us want to be happy

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

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

11. 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

12. Circuitries for happiness
Calm
Excitement
Drive
Connection

13. 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***

14. 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

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

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

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

18. 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?

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. Kindness, compassion, connection
Evolved capacity

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

26. Barriers to compassion

27. 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”

28. 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)

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

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

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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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?

35. Happiness and wellbeing
Job preparation
Practical skills
Happiness and wellbeing

37. Self development readings/ resources
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
website on Positive Psychology
self-compassion.org