Religious diversity and well-being in positive psychology: implications for clinical practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT Positive psychology, as a subdiscipline oriented to promoting human well-being, has grown significantly as a field over the past thirty years. To date, clinical applications in positive psychology have tended to advance more generalized, universal understandings of what constitutes well-being. We assert in this article that greater attention ought to be paid to more particular understandings of well-being, especially those emerging from religious traditions. We summarize visions of well-being from four different religious traditions, while highlighting possibilities for integrating understandings of these with clinical approaches in psychotherapeutic contexts. For each religious tradition, we also describe case examples to elucidate therapeutic possibilities when working with clients from diverse religious contexts. The article concludes with an extended discussion concerning points of divergence among religious traditions’ conceptions of well-being, along with commentary on the merits and practical demands of integrating universal and particular understandings of well-being in positive psychology interventions.