L'optimisme dans la thérapie d'affirmation de soi

In positive psychology, psychologists argue that there are human strengths that can act as protection against mental illness; among these strengths is optimism. According to different theories and research, it is necessary to consider these strengths in order to understand and learn how they can help to cope with or to prevent clinical disorders (Seligman et Peterson, 2003). Optimism can be defined as a global expectation that good things will appear in the future (Carver et Scheier, 1990). It can also be defined as an individual's characteristic explanatory style. According to Seligman, individuals who tend to explain negative events with external, stable, and global causes are pessimistic. Whereas those who explain negative events with internal, unstable, and specific causes are optimistic. Some researchers argue that despite the different techniques used in psychotherapy, all psychotherapists should employ strategies which are for the most part techniques suggested by positive psychology (Seligman et Peterson, 2003). Theorists in positive psychology believe that building a strength such as optimism and learning about how to use it, rather than just learn how to deal with specific problems, is a more meaningful way of initiating positive change for the patient. Given that psychologists are encouraged to focus on strengths such as optimism; the purpose of the present study is to evaluate the short-term utility and outcome of an assertiveness group therapy on optimism. Nine patients were recruited through a private psychotherapy practice; among them, there were 7 men and 2 women. All the participants were involved in the same group psychotherapy and demonstrated by an overall inability to assert themselves according to quantitative and qualitative measures. The therapy included 13 sessions over a period of 5 months. Each session lasted between 2 h and 2h30. The therapy aimed to decrease inhibition of assertive behavior; interventions were based on social skills training. Therapy progress and outcome was evaluated through measures of assertiveness, optimism, general symptomatology, anxiety, avoidance, and depression. Participants completed this series of self-report questionnaires, prior to the first session, following the seventh group session and following the thirteenth group session (last session). Thus, there were pre-intervention, intervention, and post-intervention assessments. The assessment battery included five questionnaires: the Rathus Self-Assertiveness Scale, the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, the Seligman Questionnaire, the Outcome Questionnaire-45, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Additional data collected at baseline included demographic and clinical data (e.g. age, medication). Mean comparison analysis was conducted to evaluate data regarding each assessment point; in order to check whether the treatment effects observed differed across time. Analyses show significantly improved results concerning assertiveness; furthermore there was no significant change in optimism scores at the three time points (pre-intervention, intervention, and post-intervention). Descriptive analyses allowed for identification of improvement in general optimism, optimism in adversity, and happiness scores, which are subcomponents of optimism. Nevertheless, these improvements were modest. These findings suggest that social skills training resulted in moderate optimism improvement. Findings must be interpreted with caution; it is difficult to determine to what extent results were influenced by the intervention, and in that case, little is known about which specific elements of the therapy have enhanced optimism. This study highlights the potential for supportive cognitive-behavioral group therapy for patients with assertiveness disorders. It also addresses the need to investigate and to clarify the place of positive psychology techniques in group psychotherapy. Further studies could lead to further understanding about how some strengths such as optimism are reinforcing and provide evidence that a combined optimism and assertiveness skills training is an effective intervention.