Well-being therapy in depression: New insights into the role of psychological well-being in the clinical process

Traditionally the target of psychotherapeutic strategies in mood and anxiety disorders has been symptom reduction. Even though as early as in 1954, Parloff, Kelman and Frank suggested that the goals of psychotherapy were increased personal comfort and effectiveness, for long time these latter achievements were viewed only as by-products of the reduction of symptoms or as a luxury that clinical investigators could not afford. A number of converging developments in the past two decades have, however, modified such a stance and paved the clinical ground for an appraisal of the role of psychological well-being in mood and anxiety disorders. There has been an upsurge of positive interventions, mostly derived from the very heterogeneous and non-clinical field of positive psychology (Quoidbach et al., 2015). Within this broad spectrum, Well-Being Therapy (WBT) stands for certain specific features. We will examine its characteristic features and how it can fit the clinical process, using depression as an example.