Name:
Location: Indiana, United States

I became a Professor Emeritus after serving 29 years as a recreational therapy faculty member at Indiana University. I'm a long-time Hoosier, having grown up in Hanover, Indiana. My RT practitioner work was in psych/mental health. After completing my Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, my first faculty position was at the University of North Texas. RT has been a wonderful profession for me as I have had the opportunity to serve as an author and national leader.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Optimism Powerful Medicine

Did you see the article in today's Parade magazine titled "Why Optimism is Powerful Medicine"? It reports research on the power of optimism in affecting health. The article does point out that pessimists can learn to become optimistic.

I have written that RTs can play a large role in helping clients to become more optimistic. See my chapter on control in Conceptual Foundations for Therapeutic Recreation by Austin, Dattilo and McCormick.

Dr. Hilary Tindle is listed as the lead author of the research study. I'll see if I can locate anything on the origional research and will pass it along if I can. Martin Seligman is quoted extensively in the Parade article.

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