can promote a positive atmosphere that enhances strong relationships ties both in the physical and virtual environments for new college entrants.

medical students commented more on the cognitive messages

Promoting positive traits can have substantial impact on adolescents’ future development and many of positive traits can be cultivated partially by emotional events and social influence.

many students believed this event can motivate their positive thinking and improve understanding of their classmates

that for this group of students, using certain types of positive messages with various presentation modes can estimate social influence under certain numbers of individual engagements to a message.

positive messages designed in this study included two content types and three presentation modes were intended to attract student’s attention and motivate them to spread their influences within the social groups.

For students in this study at least, Facebook seems to have dominated their Internet time, and this online social network has become a portal for information sharing, activity organizing, and friendship maintenance.

This relationship implies that when we control message type 2 (cognitive message) and presentation model 3 (graphic or motion picture with long message) then we can estimate the social influence according to the three levels of individual engagement (IndE = 1, 2, and 3) as 14.00, 9.07, and 3.40, respectively.

120 (80%) participated in this experiment

A questionnaire consisting of nineteen 6-point Likert scale questions and three open questions was developed to estimate the acceptance level of this formal event by new college entrants. The open questions were used to assess the benefit and the potential improvements of this event.

The messages were categorized by the university counselors and researchers from two perspectives: the message content types which included 20 emotional and 18 cognitive messages, aiming to contact students’ deeper emotional and cognitive functions; and the presentation modes which included 17 graphic with directive short messages, seven graphics with motivational short messages, and 14 graphics or motion pictures with long messages, focusing on the tone and structure of how the messages were presented. Figure 1 is a graphic illustration of the emotional type with a directive short message.

A series of positive messages were collected and organized to deliver to the students’ online social network. The messages were delivering on the class groups’ Facebook “Walls” by class secretaries. These “Walls” were used as a major platform for sharing class- or non-class-related information and students could browse the posted messages individually.

This study was conducted in close collaboration with university staff including university counselors and class teachers on promoting positive development to a group of new entrants with a series of online positive messages

In February 2012, a group of new college entrants (N = 150) in a northern Taiwan university were invited to participate in this online social network study.

study designed an online positive message delivery event for a group of new college entrants through Facebook social groups to explore how this new platform may be used to provide positive message to enhance the development of positive capabilities.

tudents can decide freely

However, programs on motivating students’ positive trait development through informal channels have yet to be fully explored.

Colleges organize supportive activities

can have considerable impact on the future development of their strength and behavior

peer-support programs are emerging as highly effective and empowering ways for people to manage their health related issues and benefit from a supportive social context

positive institutions at a group level

positive traits at an individual level

The first area is positive emotions at the subjective level, such as happiness, love, and contentment with lives that enables individuals to value subjectively and feel satisfied on their past experiences, happy about current situations, and optimistic about the future

practitioners and researchers of positive psychology may have the opportunity to design proper initiatives for positive development by means of observing the relationship between individual behavior and social influence

. Psychological practitioners have typically devoted their attention to diagnosing and treating human pathological errors rather than understanding how normal individuals develop positive capabilities to cope with possible mental illnesses

Positive psychology is the scientific study of how ordinary individuals apply their strength and virtues effectively when facing objective difficulties and how this subjective capability can be properly cultivated with certain approaches

Positive psychology is a scientific study of how ordinary individuals can apply their strength effectively when facing objective difficulties and how this capability can be cultivated with certain approaches

Internet time and has the potential to assist students’ positive development

“Everyone needs emotional support.”

Eventually she saw her school’s psychologist, who reassured Kianna that she did not have depersonalization disorder, but also did not discount the difficulties she experienced during remote learning.

“I suddenly felt like I was happy again,” Kianna said.

on TikTok claiming the condition could be treated by varying your daily routines and starting new hobbies.

“Diagnosis is a starting point of understanding,” she added. “It’s not the endpoint.”

But other times, she added, they just want to discover why they feel different, “or what makes me the same as other people that I know that struggle with the same thing.”

directory of mental health topics, which is also available in Spanish, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s resources page for families and youths.

What are they identifying with? What is it that they’re concerned about?”

your teenager and some of the challenges and struggles that your teenager is going through,

it’s best to remain open and curious, experts say.

‘Your diagnosis is not who you are.

“Oh my god, it was so transformative,” Mr. Alvarez said. The impulsivity and other difficulties he had experienced now made sense.

“It wasn’t just a food craving. It was like my brain needed this dopamine

“It kind of brought me into a world that I would have never otherwise have seen,” he said.

And teenagers may also come across inaccurate information or accounts that encourage harmful behavior, like cutting, or trigger those who are struggling, she added.

TikTok as a source of support, and the advice there is largely driven by users’ conversations.

adults in their lives are not open to talking about it.

using their current struggle with mental health symptoms as a way to find like-minded people, sometimes wearing their symptoms as a badge of pride or a shorthand way to explain themselves to others, Dr. Prinstein said.

It’s so easy to get roped in.”

ho are diagnosing themselves with mental illnesses — including rare disorders — after learning more about the conditions online

reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, there are downsides

find bite-sized definitions and self-assessment quizzes online.

on TikTok, where the format allows for easily digestible, intimate videos that appear in a never-ending algorithmic feed

in my head that something was wrong with me.

“I have this,” she recalled thinking to herself. But mental illness wasn’t the type of thing she would normally discuss with her friends or family

Her anxiety bred headaches, poor sleep and the odd feeling of living outside of her body.

my self-esteem started declining.”

pandemic

It would be a sad irony if a medical disciplinethat prides itself on its ability to embrace the biological,psychological and social were to fail in this task.

we must find ways to harness theemotional anger that comes from the countless tales toldout in our ward rounds and clinics

psychiatrists who teach others about stigma willinevitably learn much about it themselves.

terms for insanity, areclearly less workable than others, working mental healthstorylines into popular dramas, or targeting opinionformers in schools, theatres, advertising and industry

mental illness touches `every familyin the land'.

guile and knowledge of humannature to engage the industry more effectively.

attempt to make live rather than pre-recorded broadcasts, as this limits the extent to which amessage can be influenced by the editorial process

Instead, psychiatrists should tryto view such programmes and the reaction that theygenerate as an important way of stimulating debat

candidly admit that theirs is an industry heavily influencedby egotism, disingenuity and an all important need toachieve ratings for programmes

creating a working dialogue with media agents across theland, we can make a significant difference

f psychiatrists are to make better use of the press,they must cultivate their sense of what makes a goodstory. All health stories fall into one of four basic types:the scare story e.g. `flesh-eating killer bug'); the curestory e.g. `magic bullet drug breakthrough'); the moneystory e.g. `Titanic NHS sinks after cash cuts') and thehuman interest story e.g. `my struggle with bulimia')

understanding in order to alter attitudes and ultimatelybehaviour.

felt differently from`the rest of us'.

of Americans read at least some news from social media websites. Specifically, Pew found that in four years the percentage of Twitter users receiving news increased 22%, from 52% in 2013 to 74% in 2017.

LinkedIn also first appeared in 2003

Demand for information in health care has driven participation in social media related to updates on the health of friends and acquaintances or peer information and support.

s might also be concerned with problems such as narcissism and voyeurism, and can even support the efforts of law enforcement in cracking down on child pornography and exploitation or helping counsel victims

The new world of social media and its capacity to facilitate interaction and promote wellbeing is at our doorstep.

including media personnel in planning programs and research; adding a media/communication component to all projects; learning media rules, finding trusted “media-pros” and partnering; providing media partners with positive psychology information; translating positive psychology data into mixed-media community-friendly formats; including target groups and communities in the cocreation of formats and messages; developing a two-pronged approach for community impact: broad- and virtual- casting linked to active community involvement; embedding positive psychology in existing population processes, on-going interventions, and daily life realities; taking action when necessary to curtail abuse by media;

They took it on themselves to start up activities and projects aimed at re-building trust among their fellow Kenyans, channeling youth's energy in positive directions, and sustaining healthy dialogue on issues raised in The Team, and which resonate very much with their realities.

economic empowerment model and building a system for providing loans to youths so that they could carry out their business ideas

started holding informal discussions on leadership and development issues, attracting other local youth into the discussions through the assistance of local community dancers who did their performance for free, and also joined in the discussions.

Youths formed football teams across tribal lines, following The Team's model; a national commemoration day incorporated The Team model into its educational activities; community members formed reconciliation teams to help displaced citizens return back home, and in Nairobi there was a governmental response, in that Kenya's Ministry of Education incorporated The Team outreach model into the extracurricular activities of some government-run schools

small-group workshops was developed to bring the show to communities with little access to television and to areas most deeply affected by the post-election violence.

to share their stories and experiences.

n talk show, Fist to Five for Change, was developed and aired on national television during primetime to reach the largest possible audience

directive in their calling for accountability with the agenda of promoting peace in Kenya

epicted in the series implied that individuals can help themselves, find relief from depression, and/or prevent it from reoccurring.

People who did not report depressive symptoms had begun to pay more attention to mood, positive thinking, and their selection of daily activities in response to the program, a striking population effect. Even more remarkable was that those who had reported depressive symptoms before the series reported significant symptom reduction thereafter

Two Examples of Mass-Media Interventions From the United States and Kenya

eople of different ethnic backgrounds with the immediate goal of preventing future violence through changing attitudes and promoting national unity.

iscussion related to the experienced trauma of the ethnic violence by encouraging social healing and national unity.

the country began a process of healing and reunification that is still underway in which a media response played an important role.

social media has been shown to be effective in engaging, creating empowerment, and challenging dysfunctional beliefs (Webb, Joseph, Yardley, & Michie, 2010).

Existing programs such as this provide just one example of a good fit for positive psychological principles to be employed, further enhancing sustainable success.

Positive psychology can thereby set the agenda for wellbeing interventions, depathologize troublesome aspects of human experience, and emphasize resilience, coping skills, positive social interaction, and communication.

estimated at 60–90% of a

d influences behavior more quickly than traditional approaches

“the objects” of these media productions but are coproducers.

broadcasters and publishers can provide a place where people rediscover themselves and interact, a place where security not anxiety is fostered, and a place where both the new can be depicted and discussed, while sustaining references to the past

wellbeing at the community and individual level.

e individual with its direct negative consequence for maintaining social and other supportive networks. A culture mix has evolved that we often

and, most recently, global financial stress and debt. It has even been suggested that factors such as developmental changes leading to earlier occurrence of puberty perhaps create more active and environmentally sensitive brains and people (Saugstad, 1989). Of course, one of the most malicious contributors to our ability to deal adequately with mental health and psychological issues is the almost globally ascribed stigma around these human experiences

growing public interest in dealing with lifestyle, mental health, and wellbeing.

al prevention strategies for common mental disorders will achieve substantial savings, potentially reaching billions over ensuing years

poverty, unemployment, living in disadvantaged areas, domestic violence, social isolation, and lack of social cohesion (Flannery-Schroeder, 2006; Latkin & Curry, 2003; Lorant et al., 2003). On the other hand, mental health (mental capital) and wellbeing is increasingly recognized as a vital aspect of community life and a prerequisite to citizenship, and social participation (Laverick, 2004). The experience of general wellbeing has been linked to the adequate social and economic functioning of communities, even at times of economic crisis

quickly, directly, and conveniently, for the improvement of people's wellbeing.

social media intervention itself is shaped interactively, in a context of mutual learning, so that the user/community is not just “the object” of the production but a coproducer.

I propose that media and positive psychology can play a major role here and influence positive mental health and wellbeing.

seen as a key element for health and wellbeing

with soaring divorce rates and split families, and work insecurity is increasingly common in fragile economic times, both issues often resulting in debt and long-term financial insecurity.

chools play an increasingly minor role in developing attitudes and mind sets in a fluid environment of constant rapid change

globalization

Urbanization, the search for economic advancement,

as school bullying and violence have had an effect. For example, a media campaign in middle schools in the United Kingdom to prevent violent youth behavior (Swaim & Kelly, 2008) has been successful in decreasing intent for violence, physical assault, and verbal victimization, and increasing perceived safety.

HIV prevention television series Soul City in South Africa (Usdin, Singhal, Shongwe, Goldstein, & Shabalala, 2004) to name just one.

meaning

Psychosocial Adaptation in Today's World

rger population-based interventions

? This is an opening to adjust the shortcoming of traditional illness-based policy, challenging us to develop innovative approaches in order to respond to this public interest and need. Here is where positive psychology and media meet and can become part of the solution.

to community resistance, especially in difficult-to-reach groups

scientific work has been carried out toward strengthening wellbeing in the world's communities.

Depression and anxiety are among the most prevalent disorders,

Modern humans find themselves at a time of increasing social complexity, instant mass communication, and constant wireless, online information.

an in-depth discussion of the impact of a successful socially embedded mixed-media approach in Kenya following the ethnic violence in 2007–200

positive thinking at the individual level and empowerment and participation at the community level can encourage people under diverse circumstances to use and communicate through media to improve the quality of their lives.

storytellers and co-producers

the quality of experience should become the guiding principle in the design and development of new technologies and media,

improving communication and information exchange, increasing awareness of key social issues, enabling social change as well as entertaining large numbers of people (Costera Meijer, 2008).

For all its potential positive power, it also has an oft-criticized, social “downside,” ranging from state-deployed propaganda to the commerc

ut the use of media to improve the wellbeing of a population has been less actively pursued.

address a wide range of topics as well as target and reach a broad audience.

intertwined through the experience of mass and social media

social media use benefits or undermines adolescents' well-being