UCB Researchers’ New Brain Training Promises Lasting Happiness in Times of Trouble
At a time when so many feel pushed around by powerful forces, such as a rocky economy or the global COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Rick Hanson from UC Berkeley, USA, has shown a way to develop lasting happiness whatever the external circumstances. Hanson’s evidence-based approach teaches people how to turn everyday experiences into durable inner strengths – such as grit, gratitude, self-worth, and compassion – by literally changing the structure of the brain.
In a peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology, Hanson – a leading clinician in emotional intelligence and senior fellow at Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Centre – tested what he and his colleagues call the “HEAL framework”, part of their Positive Neuroplasticity Training (PNT).
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PNT breaks away from conventional psychological models such as psychotherapy, human resources training, coaching or even self-help, which treat people as passive vessels into which experiences and information are poured in the hopes that something will stick. Instead, Hanson’s approach sees people as active participants in their own healing and transformation. It helps train the brain to internalise beneficial experiences – even in the flow of everyday life. Bit by bit, synapse by synapse, this becomes a reservoir of positivity that can help grow confidence, inner peace, and happiness, which are literally hardwired into the nervous system.
Hanson and his colleagues summarise this approach through what they call the “HEAL process”, which involves: Having a good experience, Enriching it, Absorbing it, and Linking it to related “negative material” to keep the positive feelings front and centre when stress arises.
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The research paper describes the neurological basis for the methods in the HEAL framework, which the team tested on 46 people. After following the HEAL framework, all participants completed a questionnaire of 21 commonly used measures to assess their cognitive resources, positive emotions, and total happiness. Results show statistically significant improvements in inner strengths such as self-compassion, positive mood, self-esteem, resilience, and general contentment with life – plus less anxiety and depressed mood. Notably, participants were experiencing these improvements even four months after they started the PNT, evidence that their brains had retained the “rewiring” process.
Hanson’s study and the emerging science of positive neuroplasticity show that people have an extraordinary power to change themselves for the better, to be happier and healthier in the face of adversity. Being stronger inside means people are better at dealing with life’s knocks – and more able to help others.
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