Teaching happiness to men with HIV boosts their health

Northwestern Now: Summaries

CHICAGO - When individuals recently diagnosed with HIV were coached to practice skills to help them experience positive emotions, the result was less HIV in their blood and lower antidepressant use, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.“Even in the midst of this stressful experience of testing positive for HIV, coaching people to feel happy, calm and satisfied — what we call positive affect — appears to influence important health outcomes,” said lead author Judith Moskowitz, professor of medical social sciences and director of research at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.This is believed to be the first test of a positive emotion intervention in people newly diagnosed with HIV. Based on the study results, the intervention is promising for people in the initial stages of adjustment to any serious chronic illness.  The paper was published recently in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.The HIV study is part of a larger body of positive affect research being conducted by Moskowitz. She also is studying the health effects of teaching the skills to individuals with type 2 diabetes, women with metastatic breast cancer and caregivers of dementia patients.For the HIV study, which was based in San Francisco, 80 participants (primarily men) were taught a set of eight skills over five weekly sessions to help them experience more positive emotions. Another 79 participants were in the control group. Moskowitz and colleagues designed the tools based on evidence showing these particular skills increase positive emotions. Some of the skills included: Recognizing a positive event each day
Savoring that positive event and logging it in a journal or telling someone about it
Starting a daily gratitude journal
Listing a personal strength each day and noting how you used this strength recently
Setting an attainable goal each day and noting your progress
Reporting a relatively minor stressor each day, ...

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