Positive Psychology Vs. Clinical Psychology

Psychologists provide expertise on mental illness, coping strategies, relationship counseling and rehabilitation to help patients resolve issues. The methods they follow depend on the branch of psychology they represent.

Clinical Psychology

• Clinical psychology focuses on helping people with mental illnesses and behavioral issues via the application of psychological theories, including behavior modification and drug prescriptions.

Positive Psychology

• Positive psychology, inspired by humanism, instills power and confidence in the patient in order to resolve issues; it focuses on how people's strengths can help them overcome their struggles.

Treatment of Patients

• Clinical psychologists are more centered on "curing" patients of their abnormal behaviors and delusions, whereas positive psychologists hone in on nurturing talents and building up patient-confidence by focusing on abilities and successes.

Values

• Clinical psychologists focus on what is wrong while positive psychologists focus on what could be right. For example, "learned helplessness," where a person gives up because of constant setback and pain, is a concern of clinical psychologists. In contrast, positive psychologists focus on "learned optimism"---the habit of contributing failures to external outcomes and acknowledging they were temporary and specific to an event.

Which Is Better?

• The type of psychology you choose to study depends on where your beliefs are and who you would like to help. For example, choose clinical psychology if you are more interested in mental illnesses and deviant behavior. Choose positive psychology if you want to help shy or awkward people to develop a meaningful existence.