Rewriting Narratives of Crisis into Stories of Resilience, Growth & Hope Tayyab Rashid, World Congress, IPPA 2025 World Congress on Positive Psychology Five Considerations 1. Narratives are Dynamic 2. Narratives and Patterns 3. Strengths are Contextual 4. Live into Your Question 5. Learning & Growing Together Case Illustration: Jenny • Coherent Life Story: Selective autobiography of past & present; provide unity an arc • Simplify Complexity: Makes complicated ideas easier to grasp • Empower: Help clients see themselves as the main character fosters self-agency & growth. (Adler, Skalina & McAdams, 2008; Pals, 2006) • Require verbal/reflection skills • Fragmented & disorganized • Therapist bias risk • Crises & Severe Conditions need structured approaches • Can Retraumatize (Carey & Russel, 2003; Combs & Freedman, 2012 & Madigan, 2011) When Stories Can Guide — and When They Mislead • Narratives contextualize data; give it a meaning • Single case narratives can also skew data patterns (Mäkelä & Björninen, 2021; Rance, 2014) Positive Psychotherapy Martin E. P. Seligman, Tayyab Rashid, and Acacia C. Parks Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania • From Hypothesis to Practice – PPT started as a structured set of 14 exercises. • Early Research & Findings – Small randomized clinical trial (2006) showed promising results. • More than 25 Randomized Clinical Trials – Independently conducted, validating PPT's effectiveness. • Third the Most Cited Works – Third most referenced study in Positive Psychology (Khademi & Najafi, 2020). 3036 citations; Google Scholar, 2025) • Two Meta-Analyses Positive Psychotherapy (PPT): Mechanism of Change PPT Phases: Phase one: Building mastery from past (re-authoring narrative with strengths) Phase Two: Unpacking and re-packing negative memories Phase Three: Exploring and pursuing meaning Possible Mechanism - Re-educating Attention to notice and remember positive experiences - Positive Appraisal (re-interpreting negative memories) - Identifying character strengths - Balanced use of strengths - Exploring meaning & purpose Outcomes: Reduction in symptomatic stress Better management of unchangeable negative memories Increase in well-being Increase in resilience Possible Moderators Person features - Motivation & effort - Beliefs about treatment efficacy - Baseline emotional distress - Personality - Social support and social stressors - Demographics - History of psychopathology Person- Intervention fit Intervention Features Across Between Dosage Present vs. Future vs. Past Social Others vs. Self-oriented Support Social vs. Reflective Variety Therapeutic relationship Trigger Expectations (from self, Within session work therapist, others) Uliaszek, A. A., Harndulahpur, K., Chugani, C. D., & Rashid, T. (2018). Mechanisms of change in group therapy for treatment-seeking university students. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 109, 10-17. Behaviour Research and Therapy 109 (2018) 10–17 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect