ABSTRACT
In recent decades emotional concepts denoting positive states such as resilience, well-being and happiness have been increasingly researched and debated, and a new field of positive psychology has arisen (Seligman, 2012). This in part has been a reaction against a previous almost exclusive emphasis on understanding and working with difficult experiences such as stress, trauma or abuse in psychology and psychotherapy. The more traditional focus on negative affective states has been seen as not providing a sufficient understanding of how more positive mind-states develop. This chapter will examine and unpick some of these issues.
