Best wishes for the holiday season: From psychology

With the holiday season in full swing, people all over the world are extending best wishes through words, gestures and gifts. In keeping with the Christmas spirit, I will extend my best wishes in this article. Given that I am a psychologist, I thought it would be appropriate for my season’s greetings to be rooted in psychology.

A Merry Freudian Christmas

Psychoanalysis, as pioneered by Sigmund Freud, focuses on people bringing disturbing material from their unconscious into conscious awareness and then working through the material to lessen their distress. My wish is for you to engage in this challenging but beneficial endeavour with a therapist who you trust.

Season’s Greetings from Behaviourism

Behaviourism, spearheaded by Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, Edward Thorndike and B.F. Skinner, has as its fundamental concepts classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning entails pairing a neutral stimulus with one which has an effect so that the neutral stimulus will elicit the effects of that stimulus. My classical conditioning wish is that you make mundane tasks more enjoyable by doing them in the presence of pleasant stimuli such as enjoyable music, picturesque visuals and captivating aromas.

Operant conditioning’s premise is that people are more likely to continue engaging in behaviours which are followed by positive consequences. My operant conditioning wish is that you reward yourself more—especially for engaging in important behaviours in which you put in a lot of effort.

Joyeux Noel from CBT

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) helps people to improve their moods by changing their thoughts and their behaviours. My cognitive wish is that you foster a balanced view of your life by listing what you are grateful for one day per week.

My behavioural wish is that you add one or more enjoyable activities to your routine, take steps toward solving a problem which is stressing you out, and overcome your fears by gradually exposing yourself to safe situations which you have been avoiding.

Feliz Navidad from ACT

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) espouses the value of accepting your thoughts and emotions while acting consistently with your values as the keys to happiness and fulfillment. My ACT wish is that you focus each day on engaging in activities which are consistent with your values.

Buon Natale from Solution-Focused Therapy

In solution-focused therapy, clients are guided toward solving their problems with strategies such as the miracle question and scaling. My solution-focused wish for you is that you use the miracle question to determine how you would like your life to be better, that you rate on a scale how far you have come in  achieving your goals, and that you identify the steps you can take to move up the scale toward the achievement of your goals.

May you and yours have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday,

-Dr. Pat