Positive psychology has flourished in the last 5 years. The authors review recent developments in the field, including books, meetings, courses, and conferences. They also discuss the newly created classification of character strengths and virtues, a positive complement to the various editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (e. g., American Psychiatric Association, 1994), and present some cross-cultural findings that suggest a surprising ubiquity of strengths and virtues. Finally, the authors focus on psychological interventions that increase individual happiness. In a 6-group, random-assignment, placebo-controlled Internet study, the authors tested 5 purported happiness interventions and 1 plausible control exercise. They found that 3 of the interventions lastingly increased happiness and decreased depressive symptoms. Positive interventions can supplement traditional interventions that relieve suffering and may someday be the practical legacy of positive psychology.

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Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions.

Preface All individuals exist in social, political, historical, and economic contexts, and psychologists are increasingly called upon to understand the influence of these contexts on individuals’ behavior. The “Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists” reflect the continuing evolution of the study of psychology, changes in society at large, and emerging data about the different needs of particular individuals and groups historically marginalized or disenfranchised within and by psychology based on their ethnic/racial heritage and social group identity or membership. These “Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists” reflect knowledge and skills needed for the profession in the midst of dramatic historic sociopolitical changes in U.S. society, as well as needs of new constituencies, markets, and clients. The specific goals of these guidelines are to provide psychologists with (a) the rationale and needs for addressing multiculturalism and diversity in education, training, research, practice, and organizational change; (b) basic information, relevant terminology, current empirical research from psychology and related disciplines, and other data that support the proposed guidelines and underscore their importance; (c) references to enhance ongoing education, training, research, practice, and organizational change methodologies; and (d) paradigms that broaden the purview of psychology as a profession.

Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists

The notion that social identities and social inequality based on ethnicity, sexual orientation, and sex/gender are intersectional rather than additive poses a variety of thorny methodological challenges. Using research with Black lesbians (Bowleg, manuscripts in preparation; Bowleg et al., Journal of Lesbian Studies, 2008; Bowleg et al., Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology 10:229–240, 2004; Bowleg et al., Journal of Lesbian Studies, 7:87–108, 2003) as a foundation, I examine how these challenges shape measurement, analysis, and interpretation. I argue that a key dilemma for intersectionality researchers is that the additive (e.g., Black + Lesbian + Woman) versus intersectional (e.g., Black Lesbian Woman) assumption inherent in measurement and qualitative and quantitative data analyses contradicts the central tenet of intersectionality: social identities and inequality are interdependent for groups such as Black lesbians, not mutually exclusive. In light of this, interpretation becomes one of the most substantial tools in the intersectionality researcher’s methodological toolbox.

When Black + Lesbian + Woman ≠ Black Lesbian Woman: The Methodological Challenges of Qualitative and Quantitative Intersectionality Research

A conceptualization of racism-related stress and its impact on well-being is offered that integrates existing theory and research on racism, multicultural mental health, and the stress process The conceptualization is relevant to diverse racial/ethnic groups, considers the larger social and historical context, and incorporates attention to culture-based variables that may mediate the relationship between racism and well-being Implications for intervention are discussed

A Multidimensional Conceptualization of Racism‐Related Stress: Implications for the Well‐Being of People of Color

All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community. C. B. Stack. New York: Harper & Row. 1974. Carol Stack wrote one of the most powerful books of the last half century about African American families. The book's power derived from its focus on the stories and the lives of persons who were struggling to manage with limited resources and who had evolved seamless methods of survival and coping strategies. Stack was not content to view the problems of impoverished African American families from an outside perspective, as had been done in the past, but chose instead to present her work from the view of the participants. She presented a sensitive view of families that has not been duplicated to this day. Stack put specific emphasis on being accepted by the families before she began interviewing them. She and her son took a long time to be accepted by the families as they gradually became participants in the day-to-day lives of the "Flats." She was sensitive to the patterns of interactions among the networks of family and friends that would have been overlooked by almost any other researcher or method of observation. The book showed how a person from another racial and economic group was able, with skill, to become an intimate part of the experience and the lives of very poor families. Her anthropological approach stands in sharp contrast to the countless attempts of others to quickly go in and pull out slices of families' lives with a preexisting conceptual framework. The African American families of the Flats were presented as they were, not from a White academic theoretical perspective that was not based on reality. Stack made many observations that allowed one to see the intricate workings of the families that "outsiders" had not been documented before. Participants were allowed to make observations about their own families' patterns of interaction and to uncover truths of family functioning based on the reality of their lives. Important data on these second-generation urban dwellers are presented in such a calm manner that one could overlook their significance to the field. The impact of the economic pressures on the men and women in the African American community show how persons can have mainstream values but are prevented from achieving them because of the lack of employment and economic security within the community. In response to the reality, Stack found that African Americans have cooperated to produce an adaptive strategy of exchanging goods and trading resources, as well as offering child care or temporary fosterage. Kinship boundaries were more elastic than they were in more affluent families because these individuals immersed themselves in a domestic network of kinfolk and fictive kin, or those who became as kin. The participants in Stack's study moved around and had loyalties to more than one household grouping at a time, making their family networks unlike the "household" structures of most American families. These networks were diffused over several kin-based households that changed frequently. The usual method of arbitrarily specifying widely accepted definitions of the family as nuclear or matrilocal may block one from seeing the world as it exists in very poor communities. Stack's observations refuted the "culture of poverty" position that had seen African Americans as having no culture or totally negative qualities of family disorganization, personal disorganization, and fatalism. Unfortunately, too many current writings on African Americans still take these same positions. The views may be the result of ignorance, naivete, or complex levels of racism that insidiously make their way into present family literature. Stack continued to reflect on the poverty of the participants' situations. By doing so, she avoided another position that is all too common-assumption that all African American families are the same, regardless of their levels of poverty or affluence. …

All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community

1. Resolving Ethical Issues 1.01 Misuse of Psychologists’ Work 1.02 Conflicts Between Ethics and Law, Regulations, or Other Governing Legal Authority 1.03 Conflicts Between Ethics and Organizational Demands 1.04 Informal Resolution of Ethical Violations 1.05 Reporting Ethical Violations 1.06 Cooperating With Ethics Committees 1.07 Improper Complaints 1.08 Unfair Discrimination Against Complainants and Respondents

Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct

Forewords, Jean Baker Miller and Elaine Pinderhughes I. WOMEN OF COLOR: A PORTRAIT OF HETEROGENEITY. Overview: An Ethnocultural Mosaic, Comas-Diaz and Greene 1. African American Women, Greene 2. American Indian Women, LaFromboise, Berman, and Sohi 3. Asian and Asian American Women: Historical and Political Considerations in Psychotherapy, Bradshaw 4. Latinas, Vasquez 5. West Indian Women: The Jamaican Woman, Brice-Baker 6. Women of the Indian Subcontinent, Jayakar II. THEORETICAL AND APPLIED FRAMEWORKS. Overview: Gender and Ethnicity in the Healing Process, Comas-Diaz and Greene 7. Psychodynamic Approaches, Chin 8. Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches, Lewis 9. Family Therapy: A Closer Look at African American and Hispanic Women, Boyd-Franklin and Garcia-Preto 10. Feminist Approaches, Espi'n 11. An Integrative Approach, Comas-Diaz 12. Psychopharmacology, Jacobsen III. THE LABYRINTH OF DIVERSITY: SPECIAL POPULATIONS OF WOMEN OF COLOR Overview: Connections and Disconnections, Comas-Diaz and Greene 13. Women of Color with Professional Status, Comas-Diaz and Greene 14. Lesbian Women of Color: Triple Jeopardy, Greene 15. Women of Color in Battering Relationships, Kanuha 16. Mixed Race Women, Root 17. Southeast Asian American Refugee Women, Tien

Women of color: Integrating ethnic and gender identities in psychotherapy.

Foreword - John C Gonsiorek Lesbian and Gay Sexual Orientations - Beverly Greene Implications for Clinical Training, Practice and Research When Perceptions Meet Reality - Mary E Kite Individual Differences in Reactions to Lesbians and Gay Men Our Politics and Choices - Carla Golden The Feminist Movement and Sexual Orientation Sexual Pride and Shame in Lesbians - Suzanna Rose Lesbians and Physical Appearance - Esther D Rothblum Which Model Applies? Boundaries in Lesbian Therapist-Client Relationships - Nanette K Gartrell Lesbian and Gay Male Development - Anthony R D'Augelli Steps Toward an Analysis of Lesbians' and Gay Men's Lives The Nature and Correlates of Relationship Quality in Gay, Lesbian and Heterosexual Cohabiting Couples - Lawrence A Kurdek A Test of the Individual Difference, Interdependence and Discrepancy Models Children of the Lesbian Baby Boom - Charlotte J Patterson Behavioral Adjustment, Self Concepts and Sex Role Identity Internalized Homophobia - Ariel Shidlo Conceptual and Empirical Issues in Measurement Assessing Heterosexuals' Attitudes toward Lesbians and Gay Men - Gregory M Herek A Review of Empirical Research with the ATLG Scale

Lesbian and gay psychology : theory, research, and clinical applications

Clinical psychological research has been a part of a significant growth of scholarly literature in mental health that appropriately explores relevant cultural variables and their effects on both the mental health and treatment of ethnic minority group members. A similar expansion of material seeking to develop affirmative perspectives in the treatment of gay men and lesbians has also found its way into the psychological literature. Scarcely any research seeks to explore the particular psychological strengths and vulnerabilities of men and women who are members of both groups. This article reviews literature pertinent to the cultural proscriptions of several ethnic minority groups and their relevance to mental health issues and treatment of gay and lesbian members, as well as a review of potential countertransference dilemmas for therapists.

Ethnic-minority lesbians and gay men: mental health and treatment issues.

1. Perspectives on Abnormal Psychology. 2. Classification and Assessment of Abnormal Behavior. 3. Methods of Therapy and Treatment. 4. Stress, Psychological Factors, and Health. 5. Anxiety Disorders. 6. Dissociative and Somatoform Disorders. 7. Mood Disorders and Suicide. 8. Personality Disorders. 9. Substance Abuse and Dependence. 10. Eating Disorders, Obesity, and Sleep Disorders. 11. Gender Identity Disorder, Paraphilias, and Sexual Dysfunctions. 12. Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders. 13. Abnormal Behavior in Childhood and Adolescence. 14. Cognitive Disorders and Disorders Related to Aging. 15. Violence and Abuse. 16. Abnormal Psychology and Society.

Beverly Greene

Papers

Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct

Women of color: Integrating ethnic and gender identities in psychotherapy.

Lesbian and gay psychology : theory, research, and clinical applications

Ethnic-minority lesbians and gay men: mental health and treatment issues.

Abnormal Psychology in a Changing World