ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the role that positive psychology might play in addressing the well-being of law students. Positive psychology has been described as a subfield of psychology with a 'long past, but a very short history'. It suggests the importance of balance in what people do, balancing focus on litigation with increased instruction in alternative dispute resolution, supplementing some pessimistic traits encourage and reward in law school with instruction and facilitation of hope and optimistic traits. The main thrust of the positive psychology movement is that the scientific study of what goes right in life is just as important as the study of mental illness and what goes wrong in life. According to psychology Professor Christopher Peterson, since World War II the field of psychology has adopted a disease model of human nature where 'people are seen as flawed and fragile, casualties of cruel environments or bad genetics, and if not in denial then at best in recovery'.
