Positive Psychology has good news for expats

I recently attended a workshop with Dr Barbara Fredrickson. Her work in the area of positive emotions and her broaden and build theory have been cornerstones of positive psychology.

In case you haven't heard of her research; over the past twenty years it has revealed the powerful effects of positive emotions. Those emotions such as gratitude, hope, serenity, awe, humour, love and happiness have been found to have a number of positive effects.

They increase resilience, strengthen social bonds, enhance problem solving, undo the effects of stress, and reduce own-race bias. All things critical for expats!

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Stress, resilience and expatriates

I recently revisited the research and data around stress at work.  With my colleague Susan MacDonald from Psychology At Work, we designed and delivered a workshop for one of our clients presenting strategies to build resilience and stress management capabilities at individual, team and organizational levels. 

We all know the messages that tough times can make us stronger, but the key fact that remains with me from reviewing the research is how damaging chronic stress can be at a physical, mental and financial level for individuals and for organizations.

We all know about the risk of heart attacks, strokes and depression but did you know that being in a state of chronic stress can impact right down to a genetic level re-writing our most basic

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