CONNECTIONS to HEALTH

The Optimistic Child by Martin E.P. Seligman I thought this might be 'just another American positive thinking book', but it's not. Martin Seligman and his colleagues have studied the links between pessimism and depression for years, and this book is subtitled 'A proven program to safeguard children against depression and build lifelong resilience'. A big claim! The first part of the book looks at the growth in rates of childhood depression in America (it is an American book), and sets out the author's theory about the reasons for this. He defines what he means by optimism and pessimism in terms of a person's 'explanatory style'. Each of us has particular ways that we tend to think about causes of both good and bad events that happen to us, and we can come to hold beliefs about ourselves and other people without even realising it. There's a lot about how these beliefs, and the thoughts that stem from them, affect how we feel about ourselves and our lives. Dr Seligman concentrates particularly on three aspects of how we explain events; whether the causes are more temporary or more permanent, whether they are more global or more specific, and whether they are more internal (personal) or more external. There's a lot to it, and it's well written and easy to read, with the second half of the book a practical guide to the program that Dr Seligman and his colleagues have used with American schoolchildren. Although it's written for use with children, this would benefit anyone - what he says is equally true for adults, and I think this is a book worth reading. Buy from Amazon

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