ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the critique the fundamental problems related to positive psychologys (PP) strategy before turning to the conceptual and methodological problems in PP interventions. M. E. P. Seligman, A. C. Parks, and T. Steen also emphasized that positive interventions are intended to "improve the lives of the people whose days are largely free of overt mental dysfunction". PP has taken the world of psychology by storm since Martin Seligman's presidential address at the American Psychological Association's Annual Convention of 1998, but the backlash has been just as fast and furious. Related to elitism is positive psychologists' general tendency not to read and cite the broader literature, as C. D. Ryff has rightly criticized. The fundamental problem with PP is scientism – the belief that the positivist paradigm of the scientific method is the only way to examine truth claims and the only good and trustworthy method to achieve happiness, well-being, and flourishing.
