ABSTRACT
As this volume exemplifies, there is a movement within psychology to focus on the positive aspects of life, in contrast to psychology's more typical focus on deficits and problems. The purpose of this chapter is to describe specific measures counseling psychology researchers and practitioners can use to as .. sess various aspects ofoptimal human functioning, and to discuss some gen.. eral assessment issues in this area. More specifically, we begin by briefly describing various definitions of optimal functioning and our rationale for choosing specific domains to cover. We next outline the criteria we used to evaluate measures. We then describe and critique assessment instruments in three domains of optimal functioning that we feel are particularly impor.. tant for counseling psychologists: subjective well..being, meaning in life, and posttraumatic growth. We conclude with a discussion of some broader issues to consider in the assessment of optimal functioning.
