The psychology of the positive personality - Mohamed El Sherbini & Mohamed Abu Halaweh

One of the main challenges facing most practitioners in the clinical field is providing the disturbed individuals with everything that enables them to face the storms of life and its nervous conditions with balance, composure, optimism, and hope; and thus turning everything negative into positive. Positive psychology in its traditional form, and its focus on all that is good and correct for humans, has a very optimistic philosophical nature, perhaps exaggeratedly so, as it ignores the harsh reality of human existence. Similarly, it can be said, by the same logic, that existential psychology in its traditional form, and its focus on studying issues such as death anxiety, meaninglessness, existential loss, and alienation, has a deeply pessimistic and dark tone; because it neglects what can be called the joy of life and its bright aspects. Positive psychology without existential insight and phenomenological analysis (perceptual or experiential) represents what can be called the adolescent rush towards life without contemplation or depth in vision and path. Existential psychology, without focusing on the sources of strength within humans and the positive aspects of life and positive emotions, is filled with theoretical writings full of wisdom, but lacking vitality. Therefore, there is an urgent need to integrate these two approaches to arrive at what some specialists call “Positive Existential Psychology” or “Existential Positive Psychology,” according to each researcher’s preferences. Within this understanding, the focus of the book is on the positive aspects of the human personality, consisting of six integrated chapters: the authenticity of personality, happiness, forgiveness, positive social behavior, repentance, and optimism. The authors, Dr. Atef El-Sharbinie and Dr. Mohamed Abu Halaweh, hope that raising such positive issues will shed light on the sources of strength and human virtues that make life worth living.