A proven program to safeguard children against depression and build lifelong resilience.
In The Optimistic Child, Dr. Martin Seligman offers parents, teachers, and coaches a well-validated program to prevent depression in children. In a thirty-year study, Seligman and his colleagues discovered the link between pessimism — dwelling on the most catastrophic cause of any setback — and depression.
Seligman shows adults how to teach children the skills of optimism that can help them combat depression, achieve more on the playing field and at school, and improve their physical health. As Seligman states, ‘Teaching children optimism is more, I realized, than just correcting pessimism . . . It is the creation of a positive strength, a sunny but solid future-mindedness that can be deployed throughout life — not only to fight depression and to come back from failure, but also to be the foundation of success and vitality.’
The Optimistic Child offers parents and teachers the tools developed by the author to teach children of all ages, life skills that transform helplessness into mastery and bolster self-esteem. Learning the skills of optimism not only reduces the risk of depression but boosts school performance, improves physical health, and provides children with the self-reliance they need as they approach the teenage years and beyond. ‘A world of optimists is a bigger world, a world of more possibilities’, says Seligman.
Filled with practical advice and written in clear, helpful language, this book is an invaluable resource for caregivers who want to open up this world for their children.
Author Bio:
Martin E. P. Seligman, PhD, is the Fox Leadership Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, the director of the Positive Psychology Network, and the former president of the American Psychological Association. Among his twenty books are Learned Optimism and The Optimistic Child.
Review:
“The first major work to provide an effective program for preventing depression in childhood–and probably later in life” – Aaron T. Beck, M.D., President, Beck Foundation For Cognitive Therapy.
“In clear, concise prose peppered with anecdotes, dialogues, cartoons and exercises, Seligman offers a concrete plan of action based on techniques of self-evaluation and social interaction…this encouraging volume moves beyond popular self-help tomes and ideology to offer hope and practical suggestions; it will be of great value to teachers as well [as parents]” – Publishers Weekly.
