Reality Psychology: A New Perspective on Wellbeing, Mindfulness, Resilience and Connection

240 Pages·2022·5.38 MB·English

by  Stephen Paul McKenzie

Stephen Paul McKenzie
Reality
Psychology
A New Perspective on Wellbeing,
Mindfulness, Resilience and Connection
Reality Psychology
Stephen Paul McKenzie
Reality Psychology
A New Perspective on Wellbeing,
Mindfulness, Resilience and Connection
StephenPaulMcKenzie
UniversityofMelbourne
Melbourne,VIC,Australia
ISBN978-3-030-97169-4 ISBN978-3-030-97170-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97170-0
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To my brother Dean, who has shown me the
way backtoreality since wewere veryyoung.
Preface: From Positive Psychology to Reality
Psychology
Thereisanoldstory—aseawindsuddenlychangesandapessimistonboardaboat
thatissweptalongwithitthinksthatitwillgetworse,anoptimistontheboatthinks
that itwillgetbetter, and arealist adjuststheirsailstomeet thenew wind.Reality
psychology is a possible new way of meeting psychological reality, which could
valuablycounterbalancethepositivepsychologyparadigm.Realitypsychologycan
also provide an independently valuable paradigm, which can help guide the pro-
gression of psychological theory and practice towards the optimal development of
real-lifeapplicationstomeetreal-lifeneeds.
Reality Psychology: A New Perspective on Wellbeing, Mindfulness, Resilience
and Connection dynamically introduces and describes a new psychological para-
digmthatcanpotentiallyhelpawiderangeofpeoplebenefitfromreal-lifefocused
psychological principles and practices. These principles and practices start with
acceptance of current reality, no matter what it is, and making the best of it rather
thandistortingit.Thiscanallowandencourageoptimalandrealisticresponsestolife
challenges, including the development of real-life wisdom. This book can help a
widerangeofpeoplerecognisehowpsychologycansystematicallyprovideabasis
forhelpingpeoplehelpthemselvestoitsrealbenefits,includingstudents,teachers,
practitioners,andotherhumaninfluencersfrompsychologyandotherdisciplines.
Psychologyisneedednowevenmorethaniteverwas,tohelptransformourgreat
human challenges into our great human opportunities—to expand rather than to
contract our deep responses to our large and small real-life challenges. To achieve
ourrealhumanpotential,weneedtofullyconnectwithrealityasitreallyis,rather
than pretend that it is positive in ways that it really is not, and therefore not fully
connectwithitandbenefitfromit.
Positive psychology was developed in the 1990s as an attempt to shift the
emphasisofpsychologyfromfixingwhatiswrongwithpeople torecognisingand
expanding what is right with them. It is now a very well-known and successful
psychological paradigm that is being increasingly widely used in psychological
practice and research, as well as in education. It is possible, however, that the
value of positive psychology has been reduced by distortions of its popular
vii
viii Preface:FromPositivePsychologytoRealityPsychology
conception or misconception—that we can and need to be positive—always (for
exampleSmith,2020).
The positive psychology paradigm has become increasingly influential in psy-
chologyandalsoineducation,eventhoughitisincreasinglybeingrecognisedthat
therearepotentialproblemswithitaswellasbenefits.Ciarrochietal.(2016,p.1),
stated that“positivepsychologyhasbeencriticized forbeingdecontextualizedand
coercive,andforputtinganexcessiveemphasisonpositivestates,whilstfailingto
adequatelyconsidernegativeexperiences”.Theparadigmcanleadpeopleincluding
its practitioners towards unrealistic, unachievable, and unsustainable desires for
ongoingpositivity, andeventowards guilt about alackofpositivity,ratherthanto
reality. This can lead to a non-acceptance and non-appreciation of life’s realities
ratherthan toadeepacceptanceandappreciationofthem.Thiswas actually akey
aspectoftheancientlifewisdomtraditionsthatpositivepsychologyhasbeenrelated
to.Artificiallypositivethoughtaimssuchas“Ishouldbepositive,nomatterwhat!”
areactuallydistortionsoftherealmessagesoftheongoinglifewisdomsystemsthat
positivepsychologyandseeminglyrelatedtechniquesincludingmindfulness,resil-
ience,andacceptanceandcommitmenttherapy(ACT)arebasedon.
The ongoing life wisdom of accepting that it is not always possible or even
desirable to be positive has been widely recognised before and after the advent of
positivepsychology.Forexample:
(cid:129) The Buddhist noble truths that there is suffering, as well as a reason for suffer-
ing—theillusionofnon-unity,andawayoutofsuffering—unity.
(cid:129) Oliver Cromwell, England’s Lord Protector who fatally took over as England’s
CEO in 1653 from King Charles 1st, and instructed that his portrait be painted
realisticallyratherthanartificiallypositively—“wartsandall”.
(cid:129) The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously observed that “What
doesn’tdestroymemakesmestronger.”
(cid:129) TheEnglishsupergroupTheRollingStonesobservedinthetitleandlyricsofone
oftheirsongsthatYoucan’talwaysgetwantyouwant.
(cid:129) TheAustralianPrimeMinisterMalcolmFrazeronceveryunpopularlyobserved
indefenceofaveryunpopularpolicythat“Lifewasn’tmeanttobeeasy.”Hewas
infactparaphrasingalineinGeorgeBernardShaw’sBacktoMethuselah:"Lifeis
notmeanttobeeasy,mychild;buttakecourage:itcanbedelightful."
(cid:129) ThefamousCanadiansingerandpoetLeonardCohenobservedthat—“Realityis
oneofthepossibilitiesIcannotaffordtoignore.”
The reality psychology perspective potentially offers psychological insights and
solutions that are genuine and sustainable. This introductory book about it can
bring to life and potentially to your life deeply practical as well as theoretical
knowledge, and professional as well as personal knowledge. Reality Psychology:
ANewPerspectiveonWellbeing,Mindfulness,ResilienceandConnectionprovides
a working knowledge of reality psychology and its context, applications, and
potential new directions. The book provides a coming together of diverse psycho-
logical theories and practical applications that can valuably be returned from a
Preface:FromPositivePsychologytoRealityPsychology ix
twilight zone of distortions of their true nature and value, and includes these key
components:
(cid:129) Self-knowledge
(cid:129) Mentalhealth
(cid:129) Wellbeing
(cid:129) Mindfulness
(cid:129) Resilience
(cid:129) Behaviourchange
(cid:129) Communication,connection,andcreativity
Reality Psychology:ANewPerspective onWellbeing,Mindfulness, Resilience and
Connectionincludesdescriptionsofthesecomponentsandtheirexistingandpoten-
tialrelationshipwiththerealitypsychologyparadigm.Thebookfeaturesevidence-
based explorations of how these relationships can be even greater than the sum of
their parts, and transcripts of interviews with a range of reality psychology
relatedexpertsincludingProfessorElizabethLoftus,fromtheUniversityofCalifor-
nia, who was listed by the Review of General Psychology as the most influen-
tialfemalepsychologicalresearcheroftheTwentiethCentury.Thishelpsbringthe
booktoreallifeaswellastotheoreticallifeandtotransformitsideasintoreality,by
providingarangeofexpert’sperspectives,knowledge,andwisdom.
Melbourne,VIC,Australia StephenPaulMcKenzie
References
Ciarrochi, J., Atkins, P., Hayes, L., Sahdra, B., & Parker, P. (2016). Contextual
positive psychology: Policy recommendations for implementing positive psy-
chologyintoschools.FrontiersinPsychology,7,1561.https://doi.org/10.3389/
fpsyg.2016.01561
Smith,J.(2019).Ispositivepsychologyallit’scrackeduptobe?Thehighlight,by
Vox. https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/11/13/20955328/positive-psychol
ogy-martin-seligman-happiness-religion-secularism
Acknowledgements
Partsofthisbookarebasedoncontentthatwasinitiallydevelopedbyitsauthorfor
the Wellbeing in Practice Master’s level psychology course that he developed and
taughtattheUniversityofMelbourne.Permission hasbeengrantedbyeachofthe
experts whose conversation transcripts appear in this book to include these in
thebook.
xi
Contents
1 IntroductiontoRealityPsychology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 ChapterKeystones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 WhatRealityIsn’t,IsandCanBe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 WhatRealityPsychologyIsn’t,IsandCanBe. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4.1 WhatRealityPsychologyIsn’t. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4.2 WhatRealityPsychologyIsandCanBe. . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.5 RealityPsychology:AMentalHealthExpert’sPerspective. . . . 8
1.6 RealityPsychology:PsychologyStudents’Perspectives. . . . . . . 10
1.7 ABriefHistoryandPossibleFutureofRealityPsychology. . . . 12
1.8 TheBigRealityPicture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.8.1 TheRealityGestalt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.9 TheEndoftheChapter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2 RealityPsychologyandSelf-Knowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2 ChapterKeystones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3 Self-Knowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4 EmotionRegulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.5 ClinicalSelf-Knowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.6 Self-Actualisation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.7 DeepLifeMeaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.8 RealLifeOpportunities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.9 TheEndoftheChapter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3 RealityPsychologyandMentalHealth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.2 ChapterKeystones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
xiii