McMahon Gladeana - Positive Psychology For Dummies

Positive Psychology For Dummies

by Averil Leimon and Gladeana McMahon

Positive Psychology For Dummies

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
The Atrium
Southern Gate
Chichester
West Sussex
PO19 8SQ
England

E-mail (for orders and customer service enquires): cs-books@wiley.co.uk

Visit our Home Page on www.wiley.com

Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex, England

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, England, or emailed to permreq@wiley.co.uk, or faxed to (44) 1243 770620.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The contents of this work are intended to further general scientific research, understanding, and discussion only and are not intended and should not be relied upon as recommending or promoting a specific method, diagnosis, or treatment by physicians for any particular patient. The publishe, the author, AND ANYONE ELSE INVOLVED IN PREPARING THIS WORK make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation any implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. In view of ongoing research, equipment modifications, changes in governmental regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to the use of medicines, equipment, and devices, the reader is urged to review and evaluate the information provided in the package insert or instructions for each medicine, equipment, or device for, among other things, any changes in the instructions or indication of usage and for added warnings and precautions. Readers should consult with a specialist where appropriate. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. No warranty may be created or extended by any promotional statements for this work. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any damages arising herefrom.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN-13: 978-0-470-72136-0

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain, Ltd., Glasgow

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Authors

Averil Leimon is a Leadership Psychologist who uses positive psychology on a daily basis. Originally a clinical psychologist, she pioneered the transfer of techniques, knowledge and academic discipline from the reserve of the damaged to the domain of the eminently normal (well, relatively speaking) becoming a Coaching Psychologist as a result. When the Positive Psychology discipline became formalised, she was one of the first to undertake the Authentic Happiness Coaching programme with Martin Seligman.

Averil is co-editor of an ever-increasing coaching series. Previous books include Essential Business Coaching and Performance Coaching For Dummies . A founder member of the Association for Coaching, Averil was one of the first people accredited by the AC and now works as an accreditor herself in order to ensure high standards in coaching.

Also hailed as one of the Top 10 Coaches in the UK, she and Gladeana make a formidable team of heavy hitters in the coaching and psychology world.

Averils company, White Water Strategies, combines the best of psychology and business knowledge to coach and develop rounded leaders who get things done successfully, time after time.

Gladeana McMahon is considered one of the leading personal development and transformational coaches in the UK. She was instrumental in founding the Association for Coaching for which she now holds the positions of Fellow and Vice President. She is also a Fellow of the BACP, The Institute of Management Studies and The Royal Society of Arts. Gladeana is widely published with some eighteen popular and academic books on Coaching and Counselling.

An innovator, Gladeana is one of the UK founders of Cognitive Behavioural Coaching and currently works as Director, Professional Coaching Standards for Cedar Talent Management and is Co-Director of the Centre for Coaching. She is passionate about her work in coaching business and public sector leaders to master the psychological complexities of 21st Century corporate life. She was named as one of the UKs Top Ten Coaches by the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Observer and one of the UKs Top Twenty Therapists by the Evening Standard.

Dedication

From Gladeana: To all my clients who have allowed me to help them and who have taught me as much about living life to the full as I have taught them. To Averil who has, as always, been a joy to work with on this project. To my partner Will who provides me with love and support and makes me laugh.

Acknowledgements

From Averil: Thank you to all the wonderful full time researchers who are working in the field of Positive Psychology, making it possible for us practitioners to use evidence-based techniques in our work. To all my clients who have been living proof of the existence of strengths and virtue even if they didnt know it at first. Thank you to all my friends and family who have proved recently how much I have to be grateful for. To Gladeana, part of that circle, but also an excellent writing partner. To Sam Spickernell and Simon Bell at Wileys for their encouragement and light touch.

Publishers Acknowledgements

Were proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.