Hope in the Face of Despair: Lessons Learned from Life´s Challenging Times
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
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| Description | The events of recent years have caused many crises and challenging life situations that have taken their toll on the mental health of the Central European population. However, it turns out that despite adversity, many people are able to maintain hope and even come out of difficult times strengthened. In this lecture, we briefly introduced the concepts of perceived hope and posttraumatic growth and presented the results of current research studies conducted on large samples of Czech adults. It showed that despite the past two years being associated with higher stress and anxiety, there are vital sources of hope and encouragement that can contribute to posttraumatic growth. We discussed which coping strategies contributed to better mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and what protects us from despair in the face of close war. We also suggested effective positive psychology strategies for increasing psychological well-being and resilience, which can pave our way to personal growth, humanity, and wisdom in difficult times. |