2013 Hope
Kathy Douds
Many countries around the world are in protracted crises, enduring the challenges of disease outbreaks, natural disasters, or longstanding conflict all at once. Here are four facts to better understand complex crises and their impact on health.
Our work stretches across cultures, communities, and belief systems. We believe that everyone deserves hope, that health is a fundamental human right, and that together we can strengthen access to care around the world.
At Hope Foods, we aspire to manifest hope by providing tools that support your emotional well-being. Our on-site, certified Integrated Nutrition Health Coach and Mental Health First Responder and Trainer curated the tools below to support you in your emotional well-being journey. Each of these practices are proven to have a positive effect on emotional well-being, so keep scrolling to learn more!
One of the easiest breathwork practices is simply inhaling to the count of 4, holding for a beat, and exhaling to the count of 4. We love doing this just before bed instead of turning to our phone or TV screens. If you are prone to waking up in the middle of the night, just repeat this process and your body will head back to la-la-land in no time.
Mindfulness is simply focusing on one present thing at a time. Practicing mindfulness has a powerful impact on emotional well-being and acuity: breath slows, the parasympathetic nervous system takes over, and our minds and bodies relax. Meditation is just one way to develop a mindfulness practice. Here are some ways you can incorporate mindfulness into each and every day.
Not comfortable with that? Then up your contact with strangers at low risk times. Pay a stranger a compliment. Offer your seat to someone on the subway/bus. Pick up the coffee order for the car behind you. These random acts of connection will make both of you feel more joyful more often.
Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large.[1]As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish a desire with anticipation".[2]
Professor of Psychology Barbara Fredrickson argues that hope comes into its own when crisis looms, opening us to new creative possibilities.[4] Frederickson argues that with great need comes an unusually wide range of ideas, as well as such positive emotions as happiness and joy, courage, and empowerment, drawn from four different areas of one's self: from a cognitive, psychological, social, or physical perspective.[5] Such positive thinking bears fruit when based on a realistic sense of optimism, not on a naive "false hope".[6][7]
The psychologist Charles R. Snyder linked hope to the existence of a goal, combined with a determined plan for reaching that goal.[8] Alfred Adler had similarly argued for the centrality of goal-seeking in human psychology,[9] as too had philosophical anthropologists like Ernst Bloch.[10] Snyder also stressed the link between hope and mental willpower (hardiness),[11] as well as the need for realistic perception of goals (problem orientation),[12] arguing that the difference between hope and optimism was that the former can look like wishful thinking but the latter provides the energy to find practical pathways for an improved future.[13] D. W. Winnicott saw a child's antisocial behavior as expressing as a cry for help, an unconscious hope, meaning an unspoken desire for a positive outcome for those who are in control in the wider society, when containment within the immediate family had failed.[14] Object relations theory similarly sees the analytic transference as motivated in part by an unconscious hope that past conflicts and traumas can be dealt with anew.[15]
As a specialist in positive psychology, Snyder studied how hope and forgiveness can impact several aspects of life such as health, work, education, and personal meaning. He postulated that there are three main things that make up hopeful thinking:[16]
Snyder argues that individuals who are able to realize these three components and develop a belief in their ability are hopeful people who can establish clear goals, imagine multiple workable pathways toward those goals, and persevere, even when obstacles get in their way.
Snyder proposed a "Hope Scale" which considered that a person's determination to achieve their goal is their measured hope. Snyder differentiates between adult-measured hope and child-measured hope. The Adult Hope Scale by Snyder contains 12 questions; 4 measuring 'pathways thinking', 4 measuring 'agency thinking', and 4 that are simply fillers. Each subject responds to each question using an 8-point scale.[17] Fibel and Hale measure hope by combining Snyder's Hope Scale with their own Generalized Expectancy for Success Scale (GESS) to empirically measure hope.[18] Snyder regarded that psychotherapy can help focus attention on one's goals, drawing on tacit knowledge of how to reach them.[19] Similarly, there is an outlook and a grasp of reality to hope, distinguishing No Hope, Lost Hope, False Hope and Real Hope, which differ in terms of viewpoint and realism.[20]
Of the countless models that examine the importance of hope in an individual's life, two major theories have gained a significant amount of recognition in the field of psychology. One of these theories, developed by Charles R. Snyder, argues that hope should be viewed as a cognitive skill that demonstrates an individual's ability to maintain drive in the pursuit of a particular goal.[23] This model reasons that an individual's ability to be hopeful depends on two types of thinking: agency thinking and pathway thinking. Agency thinking refers to an individual's determination to achieve their goals despite possible obstacles, while pathway thinking refers to the ways in which an individual believes they can achieve these personal goals.
Snyder's theory uses hope as a mechanism that is most often seen in psychotherapy. In these instances, the therapist helps their client overcome barriers that have prevented them from achieving goals. The therapist would then help the client set realistic and relevant personal goals (i.e. "I am going to find something I am passionate about and that makes me feel good about myself"), and would help them remain hopeful of their ability to achieve these goals, and suggest the correct pathways to do so.
While the nature of the goals in Snyder's model differ with those in Herth's model, they both view hope as a way to maintain personal motivation, which ultimately will result in a greater sense of optimism.
Overall, studies have demonstrated that maintaining a sense of hope during a period of recovery from illness is beneficial. A sense of hopelessness during the recovery period has, in many instances, resulted in adverse health conditions for the patient (i.e. depression and anxiety following the recovery process).[29] Additionally, having a greater amount of hope before and during cognitive therapy has led to decreased PTSD-related depression symptoms in war veterans.[30] Hope has also been found to be associated with more positive perceptions of subjective health. However, reviews of research literature have noted that the connections between hope and symptom severity in other mental health disorders are less clear, such as in cases of individuals with schizophrenia.[31]
The inclusion of hope in treatment programs has potential in both physical and mental health settings. Hope as a mechanism for improved treatment has been studied in the contexts of PTSD, chronic physical illness, and terminal illness, among other disorders and ailments.[30][31] Within mental health practice, clinicians have suggested using hope interventions as a supplement to more traditional cognitive behavioral therapies.[31] In terms of support for physical illness, research suggests that hope can encourage the release of endorphins and enkephalins, which help to block pain.[27]
There are two main arguments based on judgment against those who are advocates of using hope to help treat severe illnesses. The first of which is that if physicians have too much hope, they may aggressively treat the patient. The physician will hold on to a small shred of hope that the patient may get better. Thus, this causes them to try methods that are costly and may have many side effects. One physician noted[33] that she regretted having hope for her patient; it resulted in her patient suffering through three more years of pain that the patient would not have endured if the physician had realized recovery was unfeasible.
The second argument is the division between hope and wishing. Those that are hopeful are actively trying to investigate the best path of action while taking into consideration the obstacles. Research[27] has shown though that many of those who have "hope" are wishfully thinking and passively going through the motions, as if they are in denial about their actual circumstances. Being in denial and having too much hope may negatively impact both the patient and the physician.
The impact that hope can have on a patient's recovery process is strongly supported through both empirical research and theoretical approaches. However, reviews of literature also maintain that more longitudinal and methodologically sound research is needed to establish which hope interventions are actually the most effective, and in what setting (i.e. chronic illness vs. terminal illness).[31]
Focusing on parts of Asia, hope has taken on a secular or materialistic form in relation to the pursuit of economic growth. Primary examples are the rise of the economies of China and India, correlating with the notion of Chindia. A secondary relevant example is the increased use of contemporary architecture in rising economies, such as the building of the Shanghai World Financial Center, Burj Khalifa and Taipei 101, which has given rise to a prevailing hope within the countries of origin.[34] In chaotic environments hope is transcended without cultural boundaries, Syrian refugee children are supported by UNESCO's education project through creative education and psycho-social assistance.[35] Other inter-cultural support for instilling hope involve food culture, disengaging refugees from trauma through immersing them in their rich cultural past.[36]
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