A practical guide to positive functioning assessment in clinical psychology

Clinical psychology is a profession concerned with the promotion of human well-being. But for the past thirty years clinical psychology research and practice has largely been driven by the psychiatric terminology of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, now in its fifth edition (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). What this has meant is that clinical psychologists have traditionally not been concerned with the promotion of well-being but with the alleviation of disorder. But since the introduction of the positive psychology perspective (Seligman, 1999; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) there has been an increasing emphasis in psychology on the promotion of optimal functioning defined by the presence of certain emotions, cognitions and behaviours.