Positive Psychology: Resilience Skills

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/positive-psychology-resilience

Introduction

### Course Review: Positive Psychology: Resilience Skills **Course Overview** If you are looking to bolster your emotional strength and navigate life’s challenges with grace, the "Positive Psychology: Resilience Skills" course on Coursera, led by the esteemed Dr. Karen Reivich, is an excellent resource. This course delves deep into the science of resilience, equipping you with evidence-based strategies designed to enhance both your personal and professional life. Through a comprehensive exploration of foundational research and practical interventions, students gain essential tools to cultivate mental agility, optimism, and emotional well-being. **Syllabus Breakdown** 1. **Resilience and Optimism** In the introductory module, you will learn the essential concepts of resilience, including the protective factors that contribute to it. Dr. Reivich emphasizes the difference between helplessness and mastery orientations, aiding you in identifying your own outlooks. This module culminates in a personal optimism assessment and discussions on how optimism can manifest in personal and organizational outcomes. 2. **Cognitive Approaches to Resilience: Strategies to Increase Optimism and Resilient Thinking** This segment dives into cognitive distortions—commonly known as "thinking traps"—that impede resilience. You'll learn to recognize these traps in your thinking patterns and practice 'Real-Time Resilience' techniques to combat them. The course reinforces the practical application of optimism in various life situations, empowering you to create a realistic and optimistic mindset. 3. **Managing Anxiety and Increasing Positive Emotions Like Gratitude** The third module provides insightful methods for managing anxiety rooted in catastrophic thinking. You'll explore non-cognitive strategies, such as Deliberate Breathing, to alleviate anxiety symptoms. Furthermore, this module introduces the Broaden and Build theory of positive emotions, highlighting how cultivating emotions like gratitude can enhance overall resilience. By the end, you’ll design a personal gratitude practice, seamlessly integrating positive psychology into your lifestyle. 4. **Leveraging Character Strengths and Strengthening Relationships** The final module assists you in identifying your unique character strengths through a validated questionnaire. You will learn to apply these strengths in challenging scenarios to bolster resilience. Moreover, Dr. Reivich presents the concept of active constructive responding to improve your relationships. This module is particularly valuable for those in leadership roles, as it covers incorporating resilience strategies into organizational culture. **Final Thoughts and Recommendation** "Positive Psychology: Resilience Skills" is not merely an academic exploration; it is a transformative experience that encourages introspection and personal growth. Dr. Karen Reivich’s expertise shines through her engaging teaching style and the real-world applications of resilience strategies. Whether you are seeking to improve your mental health, develop stronger relationships, or enhance your professional efficacy, this course provides a robust framework for personal development. The combination of scientific research and practical application makes it an invaluable resource for anyone interested in fostering resilience. I highly recommend this course to students, professionals, and anyone keen on making positive shifts in their emotional well-being. By equipping yourself with the skills learned in this course, you will be better prepared to face life’s inevitable challenges with resilience and optimism. With each module designed to build upon the last, you will emerge with a comprehensive toolkit for lifelong resilience. Don’t hesitate—enroll now, and start your journey toward becoming your most resilient self!

Syllabus

Resilience and Optimism

In this module, you will learn the definition of resilience and understand the protective factors that make one resilient. You will differentiate between helplessness and mastery orientations, and understand the thinking styles underlying each. You will summarize major outcomes of optimism, and the mediators of those outcomes, as well as assess your own levels of optimism, using a questionnaire. Finally, you will hear about personal and organizational outcomes of optimism, and will be able to apply these concepts to your own life.

In this module, you will learn about thinking traps and how they undercut resilience. You will learn about five common thinking traps and identify which you are prone to, in addition to the effects of those styles of thinking. You will practice Real-Time Resilience, a strategy to challenge non-resilient thinking. Finally, you will hear about personal and organizational outcomes of optimism, and plan how to apply these concepts to your own life.

In this module, you will learn the definition of catastrophic thinking and identify the effects it has on physiology, attention and contingency planning. You will experiment with several non-cognitive strategies to decrease anxiety, including Deliberate Breathing. You will be introduced to the Broaden and Build theory of positive emotions, and will be able to describe the effects of positive emotions on resilience. Finally, you will relate research and examples of gratitude to your own life and develop a plan for a gratitude practice.

In this module, you will identify your own character strengths using a well-validated questionnaire. Next, you will describe how to use your character strengths in stressful situations to increase resilience by creating a buffer of positive emotion. Additionally, you will learn the research on active constructive responding, and identify their predominant responding style with important people in their lives. Finally, you will hear examples of inculcating resilience into organizations, and plan how to incorporate resilience strategies into your personal and professional lives.