Section Page • WPA

Positive Psychiatry

Positive Psychiatry shifts the focus of mental health beyond studying disorders and psychopathology to studying factors that contribute to mental wellbeing. Historically, psychiatry has focused on the diagnosis of disease and the treatment of individuals with mental illness. Positive psychiatry takes a more expansive approach. It is the science and practice of psychiatry that seeks to understand and promote wellbeing through assessment and interventions. Positive psychiatry can help psychiatrists expand their range of treatment options and better engage patients in the treatment process.

The WPA’s Positive Psychiatry Section seeks to share research and expertise in this rapidly growing area. We host Zoom meetings to discuss positive psychiatry in clinical practice and keep our members informed and engaged. Please join us!

Section Officers

Chair

Karen Reimers, MD

Chair, WPA Section on Positive Psychiatry Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota Assistant Professor, University of Central Florida Co-Chair, AAGP Clinical Practice Committee Co-Chair, AAPL Geriatric Psychiatry and the Law Committee

USA

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Secretary

Hernán Alessandria, MD

Secretary, WPA Positive Psychiatry Section President, GlobalPsy (https://globalpsy.org.ar/globaltest/) President-elect, Suicide Section of APSA Coordinator, Observatorio de Prevención del Suicidio, UNLP

Argentina

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Editor

Ewa Dobiała, MD

Editor, WPA Positive Psychiatry Section Psychiatrist, psychotherapist, supervisor (Polish Psychiatric Association, WAPP) Medical Director, Mental Health Centre, Leszno Founder, Day Ward for Children and Adolescents Organizer of conferences on trauma, autism, neurodiversity Founder, WAPP Support Project for war-affected professionals and refugees

Poland

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Section member list can be found here

Section Activities

Call for Submissions

We invite submissions for the Special Issue of Academia Mental Health and Well-Being titled “Positive Mental Health and Well-Being Across Modern Cultures.” This issue, guest edited by Dr. Dilip V. Jeste, Dr. Karen Reimers, and Prof. Dr. Uriel Halbreich, focuses on positive psychosocial factors that foster resilience, flourishing, and well-being across diverse cultural contexts. Scholarly scoping or narrative reviews are especially encouraged, though a limited number of original research articles and brief reports will also be considered. The aim is to expand global understanding of well-being and its role in promoting mental health.

Submission deadline: 28th February 2026

APC waivers available until the 31st of December 2025

View the full Call for Papers flyer here.

WPA Mexico City 2024
1. Course on Positive Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychology, and Healthy Aging (Jeste, Peseschkian, Boardman, Machado).
2. State of the Art Lecture: Wisdom, Aging, and Positive Psychiatry (Jeste).

APA 2025, Los Angeles
1. Symposium on Positive Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Across Cultures: Transcultural Insights and Lifespan Applications (Peseschkian, Jeste, Messias, Dobiała).
2. Symposium on Positive Psychiatry: A Decade of PROGRESS Meets the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Boardman, Reimers, Matta,Torous, Jeste).

WPA Prague 2025
1. State Of The Art Symposium On Positive Psychiatry: 10th Anniversary Of Positive Psychiatry: Exciting Prospects Of Artificial Intelligence And Artificial Wisdom During The Next Decade (Jeste).
2. Poster on Positive Psychiatry in the Americas: Community-Based Suicide Prevention and Life (Alessandria & Reimers)
3. Poster on Positive Psychosocial Determinants of Health (Reimers)

Recommended Readings

Books
- Matta, S., Boardman, S., & Jeste, D. V. (Eds.). (in press, 2026). Positive psychiatry: A clinical handbook (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.
- Messias, E., & Peseschkian, H. (Eds.). (in press, 2026). Positive psychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychology: Clinical applications for positive mental health (2nd ed.). Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature.
- Seligman, M. E. P. (in press, 2026). Agency: A psychological history of progress. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
- Boardman, S. V. (2021). Everyday vitality: Turning stress into strength. New York, NY: Penguin Random House.
- Machado, L., Matsumoto, L. S. (Eds.). (2020). Psicologia positiva e psiquiatria positiva: A ciência da felicidade na prática clínica. São Paulo, Brazil: Manole.
- Messias, E. L., Peseschkian, H., & Cagande, C. (Eds.). (2020). Positive psychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychology: Clinical applications. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature.
- Jeste, D. V. (2020). Wiser: The scientific roots of wisdom, compassion, and what makes us good. Boulder, CO: Sounds True.
- Jeste, D. V., & Palmer, B. W. (Eds.). (2015). Positive psychiatry: A clinical handbook. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Other Professional Media
- Jeste, D. V. (2024, April). Positive psychiatry: Its time has come. Invited lecture handout. World Association of Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy. Retrieved from here.
- Jeste, D. V. (2024, March). Positive psychiatry: Promoting well-being. American Psychiatric Association Blog. Retrieved from here.
- Jeste, D. V. (2024, January). Special report: Positive psychiatry shines light on patients’ strengths. Psychiatric News. Retrieved from here.

Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Shin, J., Halbreich, U., & Jeste, D. V. (2025). Positive global mental health: an overview. Academia Mental Health and Well-Being, 2(1).
- Thomas ML, Palmer BW, Lee EE, et al. Abbreviated San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-WISE-7) and Jeste-Thomas Wisdom Index (JTWI). Int Psychogeriatr. 2022;34(7):617-626.
- Jeste DV, Hall MH. Guest Editorial: Wisdom-Focused Intervention Reduces Loneliness: Proposing an Evolutionary Basis for Wisdom and Social Cooperation to Reduce Loneliness in the Homo sapiens. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2025;33(1):31-33.
- Jester DJ, Thomas ML, Sturm ET, et al. Review of Major Social Determinants of Health in Schizophrenia-Spectrum Psychotic Disorders: I. Clinical Outcomes. Schizophr Bull. 2023;49(4):837-850.
- Na PJ, Jeste DV, Pietrzak RH. Social Disconnection as a Global Behavioral Epidemic-A Call to Action About a Major Health Risk Factor. JAMA Psychiatry. 2023;80(2):101-102.
- Lam J, Aftab A, Lee E, Jeste D. POSITIVE PSYCHIATRY INTERVENTIONS IN GERIATRIC MENTAL HEALTH. Curr Treat Options Psychiatry. 2020;7(4):471-488.
- Jeste DV, Lee EE, Palmer BW, Treichler EBH. Moving from Humanities to Sciences: A New Model of Wisdom Fortified by Sciences of Neurobiology, Medicine, and Evolution. Psychol Inq. 2020;31(2):134-143.
- Jiménez JP, Botto A, Herrera L, et al. Psychotherapy and Genetic Neuroscience: An Emerging Dialog. Front Genet. 2018;9:257. Published 2018 Jul 17.
- Jeste DV, Palmer BW, Rettew DC, Boardman S. Positive psychiatry: its time has come. J Clin Psychiatry. 2015;76(6):675-683.