PROBLEM SOLVING THERAPY

Information gathered by Sonam & Aparna

II Year M.Sc.

Department of Psychology,

Jain University, Bangalore

Problem Solving Therapy is a brief intervention used in family therapy where the client and the therapist work together to identify and define the problems, solve these identified problems by coming up with practical solutions and improve the client’s general approach to problems.

It is also called as talk therapy.

Sessions in Problem Solving Therapy usually last for four to eight sessions.

It is associated with creative thinking. Steps in creative thinking include:

·         Orientation

·         Preparation

·         Incubation

·         Illumination

·         Verification

The problem is explained to every member of the family and the focus is on the client’s general approach to the problem.

Problem Solving Therapy involves seven steps. They are:

1)  Problem orientation:

In this step, the client’s attitude to solve the problem is evaluated. It must be noted that this is different from the actual problem solving skills they possess. There is an assessment of the client’s thoughts and feelings regarding the problem and also their ability and awareness about their strengths to solve problems. These two elements will determine how a client will respond in a stressful situation. All the dimensions about the problem are identified. To check whether the thoughts about problems are emotional or intellectual also becomes essential in this step. It is believed that many problems are created because people think about it emotionally rather than intellectually.

The kind of orientation about the problem that the individual has is also assessed. There are two kinds of orientation. They are:

Positive orientation - A person with a positive problem orientation is rational and effective in their problem solving style. They think about the positive aspects of the problem. They are also capable of bringing about a positive and effective problem solving style.

Negative orientation - Persons with negative problem orientation are impulsive, careless or avoidant in their problem solving style. They make immediate decisions without being ready to think about possible solutions. They also may ignore or deny the problem.

2) Recognizing and identifying the problem

Problem solving therapy aims to develop positive problem orientation in the client which can be achieved by helping the client recognize and challenge the negative orientation, and by motivating the client to believe in their ability to solve problems through positive experiences. In this step, the client is taught to recognize a problem so that the client’s can begin to solve the identified problem. This can be done by:

·         Making the client report the current problem and making a problem list

·         Learning how to track problem indicators and helping them understand the interconnection between thoughts, emotions, behavior and physical symptoms.

·         Educating the clients about some procedures to solve problems.

·         Using a checklist

This process of recognizing and identifying will help in the production of a list of problem areas which will serve as the foundation of the client and therapist working together.

3)  Selecting and defining a clear problem:

The focus of this step is to assist the client to select one clear problem that has to be solved first from the list of problems that have been identified in the problem list. Once the problem is selected, the client has to clearly define it so that possible solutions can be found and worked on. A problem has to be chosen in such a way that it also solves other related problems. The client is then asked to define the problem from his/her own perspective. While defining the problem, the client understands all the aspects related to the problem, for example, what is the problem? When does it occur? Where does it occur? How does it occur? Why is that problem a problem? Who is involved? What have you done to solve the problem in the past? Do you have control over the problem?

4) Generate solutions:

In this step, a process of brainstorming happens to create as many solutions as possible for the problem. The client is asked to generate solutions that are practically relevant and has a chance of solving the problem.  Every solution that the client comes up with is written down and the potentiality of each solution is identified.

5) Decision making:

In the decision making step, as a consequence of the brainstorming process, the client checks the pros and cons of the relevant solutions which was generated and hence, a decision is made as to which solution out of the listed can be implemented effectively and accurately.

This stage can become difficult for the clients, therefore, the therapist has to assist the client a systematic way to sort the solutions by using decision making guidelines. First, checking if there are solutions that can be discarded immediately (initial selection). Then, similar solutions are grouped together to determine the options available (grouping solutions) and finally, choosing very few (2 or 3) solutions which will have to be evaluated in depth (weighing the advantages and disadvantages).

6) Creating or implementing a SMART action plan:

The achievable steps are identified. In this step, the client creates and then implements the action plan. The action plan should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. Each family member including the children can be approached to establish the procedures that they want to follow. The client can also include a time-line. Targets reached have to be reviewed.

7) Reviewing the progress of the process:

This step basically reviews the client’s progress with the action plan. The therapist has to check if the clients are underway with their plans, if the plan has the desired impact on solving the problem, to check if any more needs to be done to make the plan more workable and to check if any areas or skills of the client’s needs to be  repaired/fixed or improved.

Advantages of Problem Solving Therapy:

·         It improves problem solving skills, communication, coping skills and reductions in family conflict.

·         Problem solving therapy is systematic and pragmatic.

·         Allows the client to come up with different solutions by himself/herself. Focus is on the client.

Disadvantages of PST:

·         It is too scientific and less humanistic.

References:

University of Auckland, (2015) from http://www.problemsolvingtherapy.ac.nz/index.php?p=steps

COMPARISON BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL THERAPY AND MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY

Information gathered and presented by:

Tumchobeni and Beni

Students of M.Sc.Psychology,

Jain University,

Bangalore

In individual therapy, the person who seeks treatment will be an individual. However in family therapy, there will be two or more individuals who seek therapy. The goal of individual therapy is for the therapist to provide some emotional healing for the client. The goal of couple therapy is for the therapist to help the two partners provide emotional healing for each other.

In individual therapy, the therapist may focus on understanding one person’s view and experiences. This is to help them to know what they want and to communicate that assertively and clearly. In family therapy, the therapists will likely focus on what both people want, how they can communicate that and do something about it. In a family therapy, it may involve some negotiating and compromises. It also mostly focuses on communication skills. As with individual clients, you try to help them come to an understanding of what’s going on for them, how this came to be a problem, and why it has continued. For couples, you do the same, but you help them both see what’s been happening in their relationship, how it came to be and how each of them has been a factor in it, and why it has continued.

In individual therapy the therapists traditionally meet their clients once a week for 50 minutes or so. This helps the therapist in providing some stability for the client, and creates a place where the client regularly pauses in life to reflect, evaluate their progress toward their goals, and make decisions. It may be seen as a weekly review to assess the personal life goals as well as the progress toward them. Family therapy is often much more flexible, the therapist may see the client for more than an hour and may meet clients once a month or after few months. This helps as a way to reduce relapse into problems.

When it comes to the effectiveness of the therapy, there are many studies that show the effectiveness of the many therapies available in individual therapy. Sometimes studies may show one kind of therapy is better than another for a specific problem. More often they show most therapies can help with most all problems. As for family therapy, according to a study done by Liddle et al. (2002) report that the transition from “distressed” to “non-distressed” after treatment occurs for 35% (Jacobson et al., 1984) to 41% (Shaddish et al., 1993) of couples. In other words, they get better, but generally only a third or so are in the “normal and happy with their relationship” range. The issue for studies of the effectiveness of therapy is that when married couples in treatment are compared to married couples on a wait-list, the couples on the wait-list decline into the “very distressed” range while they wait for therapy. Thus, the treatment really has only to halt the decline in order to yield significant results, and a statistically significant result may not mean much (Gollan and Jacobson’s chapter in Liddle et al. 2002). However, Johnson & Greenberg (1994), however, using the Emotion Focused Therapy they developed, found much better results. Cloutier et al. (2002) found 62% of couples were improved (less distressed) when they finished six to ten sessions of Emotion Focused Therapy. However, 77% were improved two years later, meaning they were in the “normal and happy with their relationship” range) at the end of six to ten sessions of Emotion Focused Therapy, while 64% were recovered with two years of follow up. Thus, with specific couples therapy treatments shown to work, about three-fourths get better, and two-thirds are “healed” after only six to ten sessions of work.

ADVANTAGES OF FAMILY AND MARITAL THERAPY

The main advantage of Family and Marital therapy is that it involves the entire family during the therapy sessions.  It tries to make each other understand and help one another handle his or her problems. It gives each member an opportunity to share information and be part of the solution. This helps in leading to a greater sense of commitment among the members of the family. In the therapy couple/ partners participation allows the therapist to get more information which can greatly improve the effectiveness of treatment, also help the therapist observe and plan approach to look into the various problems. Family and Marital therapy is also beneficial in terms of dealing with parent child conflicts. It is difficult for parenthood sometimes especially when there is no common ground between the child and the parent, in such situation the therapist becomes a neutral person and offers common ground and help foster peace.

Family and Marital therapy helps individuals and their household handle many issues other than of psychologically based alone. It can be used to understand how each household functions, to identify strengths and weaknesses that exist in each household system and help set goals and develop approaches to tackle challenges. It is beneficial in the improvement of communication skills and strengthening the entire community. Family therapy plays a big role in helping those with struggling with substance abuse, eating disorders and depression, severe mental illness, couple problems and parenting concerns. All in all the advantages is that it teaches family members about how families function in general and, in particular, their own functions. It helps the family focus less on the member who has been identified as ill but focus more on the family as a whole and helps in identifying conflicts and anxieties and develop strategies to resolve them. This therapy works in strengthening all family members so they can work on their problems together and teach ways to handle conflicts.

INCORPARATING INDIVIDAUL THERAPY TO FAMILY AND MARITAL THERAPY

Just like in Individual therapy which focuses on one person, at times in Marital and Family therapy it may require incorporating this individual technique in dealing one members of the family to facilitate change, confront barriers that interfere among the members of the family and increase positive attitude to look into the problem and solve it.  Individuals are equally important in a family so it is necessary to look into their area of concern and conflict and involve them for effective result in the therapy.

Individual therapy allows people to speak without worry of being judged by a partner. This technique can be used in the Family and Marital therapy as well so as  to allow the individual express freely and also in this way help the therapist get information and allow him/her arrange the approach to tackle the challenge/ problems. In Individual therapy, therapist assigns the individuals certain works or exercise to complete by the therapist in the process of counselling as part of therapeutic process. Likewise, in Family and Marital therapy, each member can be assigned tasks, for example, maintaining separate dairies or notes for couples, use of reinforcement for enhancing positive behaviour for children etc.  Similar to Individual therapy, in Family and Marital therapy psychological assessment can be used as well; for example screening test, Self Report Questionnaires and Family Heath Questionnaires.

 References:

Niolon R (November 21, 2010) what’s the difference between couples and individual therapy. Retrieved from http://www.psychpage.com/family/library/couple_therapy_genera.html

Family Therapy (2014). Retrieved on 8.02.14 from http://www.webmd.com/balance/family-therapy-6301

Defining Family Counselling from a systems framework

-Neha and Ramaa

Family is an interconnection of people who rely on each other for emotional, mental, monetary, physical wellbeing and various such purposes. Some families are very strong and seem perfect in terms of mutual understanding or support whereas there are other families who are a little bit weak at their base and need some guidance from somewhere. But as it is mostly seen that people are not very open and do not find it important to take help form outside as it is very commonly thought to keep it within the boundaries of the family. But that scenario is changing and there a major emphasis on family counselling rises.

In a general context, family counselling can be defined as a type of therapy used to resolve the problems within the family and help them get along well with the other members. It does not restrict to only issues concerning fights between the members, but also how to deal with issues such as taking care of someone with any kind of mental health issue also. The purpose of such services is to maintain or improve the functioning of the family. Counselors may work with the entire family or can even work with just one parent or child depending upon the situation. Sometimes it can also include the extended family.

Murray Bowen in one of the pioneers of Family Therapy. 

Bowen’s System Theory

The family systems theory is a theory introduced by Dr. Murray Bowen that suggests that individuals cannot be understood in isolation from one another, but rather as a part of their family, as the family is an emotional unit and all are interconnected and interdependent.

According to Bowen, a family is a system in which each member had a role to play and rules to respect. System is an assembly of objects related to each other, i.e. it is a group interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole. The system looks at both i.e the individual as a separate being and a family as a whole to uderstadn the case.

Each member of the system is expected to respond to each other in a certain way according to their role, which is determined by relationship agreements. They all exhibit a coherent behavior which will bring out a trait of the system. This inter connection between the elements will create the structure of the family.

There is a boundary of the system which helps to develop a pattern of interaction between the members of the family. Patterns develop as certain family member's behavior is caused by and causes other family member's behaviors in predictable ways. Maintaining the same pattern of behaviors within a system may lead to balance in the family system, but also to dysfunction. For example, if one member of the family is experiencing stress then the others in the family needs to take responsibility and make things work. Changes in the role can help but over doing them may cause dysfunction again.

There are eight interlocking concepts in Dr. Bowen's theory:

1) Triangles: The smallest stable relationship system. Triangles usually have one side in conflict and two sides in harmony, contributing to the development of clinical problems.

2) Differentiation of self: The variance in individuals in their susceptibility to depend on others for acceptance and approval.

3) Nuclear family emotional system: The four relationship patterns that define where problems may develop in a family:

• Marital Conflict
• Dysfunction in one spouse
• Impairment of one or more children
• Emotional Distance

4) Family projection process: The transmission of emotional problems from a parent to a child.

5) Multigenerational transmission process: The transmission of small differences in the levels of differentiation between parents and their children. 

6) Emotional cutoff: The act of reducing or cutting off emotional contact with family as a way managing unresolved emotional issues.

7) Sibling position: The impact of sibling position on development and behavior.

8) Societal emotional process: The emotional system governs behavior on a societal level, promoting both progressive and regressive periods in a society.

According to Bowen, family is a system of interconnections where one person influences another and thus leads to dependence among the family members. His model is very straight forward which states that families are bounded by interconnections. But then I would also like to add a few essential points and make my own model which would support his idea that people in the families are influenced by one another but then they are also bound by mutual respect, love, trust, understanding and friendship which will help families share a very healthy relationship with one another. The inclusion of smaller elements helps us define the system better.

Family counselling, according to us based on systems framework is the understanding of the family in terms of its structure and behavior. It is a type of therapy wherein a therapist is understanding the functioning of a family by not only understanding the situation but also by taking into consideration the smaller aspects which affects and individual and thus in return affects the family as a whole. For example, if a child in a family is not happy with the behavior of the parents then the child can start to become emotional numb towards them just to protect himself/herself. We have tried explaining the model in a diagrammatic from where an emphasis is given both to the structure and the dynamics of the family system. If one member of the family is showing any kind of dysfunction then the others should take responsibility otherwise the entire mechanism comes to a standstill. Apart from the structure and the functioning another important aspect of family counselling is the way the members of the family interact. If there is any malfunction in the interaction than higher are the chances for the system to break down. 

A SHORT HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology has a long past, but a short history.  Concern with “psychological issues” extends back into antiquity.  Some of the areas which contributed to the development of Psychology as a separate discipline are philosophy, the natural sciences and medicine.  The history of modern psychology began only about 130 years ago.  Thus, in the history of scientific endeavor, Psychology is a relatively new discipline. 

For a long period, philosophers worked a lot to understand thinking and behaviour.  Many of the basic areas of psychology, such as learning, motivation, personality, perception and physiological influences on behaviour were first discussed by philosophers.  Many departments of Psychology originated in departments of philosophy, which later got an independent status.

As an independent science, Psychology’s history began in 1879 at Leipzig, Germany, when the “father of Experimental Psychology“, Wilhelm Wundt established the first Psychological Laboratory there.  His inquiries circled around the formation of sensations, images and feelings.  Aiming this, Wundt carefully measured stimuli of various kinds (lights, sounds and weights).  He used introspection (looking inward) to probe his reactions to them.  He called his approach as experimental self observation, which combined trained introspection with objective measurement.  He used this method to study vision, hearing, taste, touch, reaction time, memory, feelings, time perception etc.  Edward B. Titchener took the ideas of Wundt to America, where it came to be called as structuralism, as it concentrates on the structure of mental life. 

It soon became clear that introspection was a poor way to answer many questions.  The biggest problem was that structuralists were studying the contents of their own minds.  Outputs of the enquiry will be subjective to the person who experiences it.  However, introspection still has a role in Psychology.  The study of hypnosis, meditation, drug effects, problem solving and many other topics would be incomplete if people did not describe their private experiences. 

William James, an American Psychologist, broadened psychology to include animal behaviour, religious experience, abnormal behaviour and a number of other interesting topics.  His book “Principles of Psychology” made it a serious discipline.  According to James, consciousness was an ever-changing stream or flow of images and sensations.  It is not a set of lifeless building blocks as structuralists claimed.  Mind in an individual functions to adapt to the environment where s/he lives.  His school of thought was called functionalism.  Functionalists were strongly influenced by Darwinian principle of natural selection.  They tried to find out how thought, perception, habits and emotions aid human adaptation.

Functionalists also aided the growth of Educational Psychology and Industrial Psychology.  According to functionalists, learning makes us more adaptable, and they urged psychologists to help improve education.  After functionalists, Psychology is applied to improve industrial aspects, such as personnel selection, human relations and machine design.

When John.B.Watson started to talk about the importance of scientific approaches in Psychology, structuralism and functionalism were challenged.  He found animal behaviour can be studied without asking questions, but simply by observing the relationship between stimuli (events in the environment) and an animal’s responses (any muscular action, glandular activity, or other identifiable behaviour).  Conditioned response concept developed by the Russian Physiologist Ivan Pavlov empirically supported his ideas.  Following Watson, B.F.Skinner commented that human behaviour was a response and it could be understood by taking into account what the environment did to the organism before and after the response.  The school of thought was named as behaviourism. 

Gestalt school of thought emphasized the idea that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.  Gestalt Psychology tried to study experiences as a whole.  The view point was first advanced by the German Psychologist Max Wertheimer.  The school was developed in Germany, with particular interest in perceptual problems and how they could be interpreted.  Gestalists believed that behaviour was a creative process of synthesis that was more than or different from the sum of its constituent parts.  For instance, movie, a series of still pictures, is watched by us as a continuous moving image.

Sigmund Freud, the proponent of Psychoanalytic school of thought, believed that mental life is like an iceberg.  Human behaviour is influenced by vast areas of unconscious thoughts, impulses, and desires which cannot be known directly (as majority of the area of an iceberg is under the ocean, and a tip can only be seen).  Freud theorized that many unconscious thoughts are of a threatening, sexual or aggressive nature.  Hence they are repressed (actively held out of awareness).  However, they may be revealed by dreams, emotions or slips of the tongue.  According to Freud, all thoughts, emotions and actions are determined and nothing is accidental.  Childhood has importance in a person’s later personality development.  Freud introduced a psychotherapeutic method called Psychoanalysis, which is used to explore the unconscious roots of emotional problems. 

Humanistic school of thought is considered as the third force in Psychology, as it influenced the discipline’s development after behaviourism and psychoanalysis.  Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow are the two proponents of the school.  Humanists, as Freud, believed that past experiences affect personality, but stood against the view that unconscious forces had a role in it.  They stressed free will, the human ability to freely make choices.  Humanists stressed that the psychological needs (of love, self esteem, belonging, self-expression, creativity and spirituality) are as important as our physiological needs for food and water.  A unique concept of humanistic approach is Maslow’s description of self actualization.  Self actualization is the need to develop one’s potential fully, to lead a rich and meaningful life, and to become the best person one can become.  Each human being has this potential.

Positive psychology, the most recent school, is the scientific study of optimal human functioning, the goals of which are to better understand and apply those factors that help individuals and communities to thrive and flourish.  It gives importance to the strengths, virtues and well being of the individuals. As a school of thought it came to existence when Martin Seligman, in his 1998 presidential address to members of the American Psychological Association, put a call out to applied psychologists to return to their roots and focus on not only curing mental illness, but also on making the lives of people more productive and fulfilling, and identifying and nurturing talent.   According to positive psychology, humans are self-righting organisms who are constantly working to adapt to their environments. Strengths develop as a result of internal and external forces and as part of the human driving force to meet basic psychological needs.   All people have the capacity for strength development and for growth and change. Strength development is a lifelong process that is influenced by the interaction of individual’s heredity and the cultural, social, economic, and political environments in which they find themselves. All people have a reservoir of strengths, some of which have been tapped and others have been left unexplored and unrecognized. These strengths can be learned or taught.

References

Coon, D. (1992). Introduction to Psychology: Exploration and Application. New York: West Publishing Company.

Magyar-Moe, J. L. (2009). Therapist's Guide to the Positive Psychological Interventions. New York: Elsevier.

Insight Vs Action Therapies in Psychology

Psychotherapy is a social interaction in which a trained professional tries to help another person, the client or patient, behave and feel differently.  The therapist follows procedures that are to a greater or lesser extent prescribed by a certain theory or school of thought.  It is important to note that the people who seek or are sent for professional help have probably tried non professional avenues to feeling better and have failed to obtain relief.  Before most individual go to a psychotherapist, they have confided in friends or in a spouse, perhaps spoken to the family doctor, consulted with a member of clergy and may be tried several of the vast number of self-help books and programmes that are so popular.  For most people in psychological distress, one or more of these options provide enough relief, and they seek no further help.  But for others these attempts fall short, and individuals are left feeling helpless, often hopeless.  These are the people who go to mental health clinics, university counselling centers and the private offices of independent practitioners.

Psychotherapies can be insight therapies or action (behavioural) therapies.  Insight therapies, such as psychoanalysis, Humanistc etc., assume that behaviour, emotions and thoughts become disordered because people do not adequately understand what motivates them, especially when their needs and drives conflict.  Insight therapies try to help people discover the true reasons they behave, feel and think as they do.  However, insight is not exclusive to the insight therapies.  The action therapies too bring insight to the individual, but more importance is given to the overt behaviour and its modification.  The newer cognitive therapies, such as CBT and REBT are a blend of insight and behavioural therapies.  

From Davison, G.C. & Neale, J.M. (2003). Abnormal Psychology. John Viley & Sons, Inc.

SOCIO-CULTURAL PROSPECTS OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Recent findings by Social Psychologists denote that there is enough importance of satisfying social relationships and support from others for our health and happiness.  They also identified that well being and happiness are the two entities that has to be kept optimal, and the normalcy of these two differs socially as well as culturally.  Further inquiries regarding this across diverse cultures revealed that in order to acquire these, people, in general, have a tendency budge through potential dark side of affluence and materialism.  Such materialistic people, those who sacrifice fulfillment of important psychological needs in their pursuit of fame and fortune, would also sacrifice their own happiness and life satisfaction.  The establishment and advancements made by Humanistic Psychology theorists such as Maslow, Rogers etc. resulted in the development of theories and practices involved in human happiness.  Based on these theories, and out of the chemistry occurred during their formation, a new stance in Psychology emerged.  Martin Seligman, in 1998 called this new area as Positive Psychology.

Historically, Psychology has had an inclination to discuss more about the mysterious negatives of the cognitive, conative and affective experiences of the mankind.  The reason behind this may be the human tendency to perceive negative aspects as more authentic and real.  It may also be due to the love of mysteries and a predisposition to be more external in locus that held up “bad is greater than the good” feeling.  However, the call made by Martin Seligman about the new perspective of Positive Psychology resulted in a paradigm shift; that is to offset this negative image of human nature with a more balanced view. It does not deny the negative, nor does it suggest that all of Psychology focuses on the negative. Rather, it gives a chance to enquire empirically the ordinary human strengths and virtues.  Moreover, it studies the optimal human functioning and aims to discover and promote the factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive. It addresses positive aspects of experience to improve the quality of individual and community life.

Positive Psychology is the scientific study of personal qualities life choices, life circumstances and socio-cultural conditions that promote a life well lived, defined by criteria of happiness, physical and mental health, meaningfulness and virtue.  The origin of the term “positive” shall be traced back to Maslow’s Motivation and Personality.  As aforesaid, it is not a new major, but the same old one, with a realistic and balanced view of human nature that includes human strengths and virtues without denying human weakness and capacity for evil.  Positive psychology covers topics such as well-being, happiness, positive emotions, psychological health, personal strengths, positive experiences and states (mindfulness, flow, creativity), positive environments and the positive characteristics of individuals, groups, institutions and communities.

  A major goal of Positive Psychology is to restore balance within the discipline of Psychology.  Seligman and his colleagues have proposed that happiness as a central focus of Positive Psychology.  In his book, Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment, Seligman outlines three ways to increase happiness: get more pleasure out of life, become more engaged in what one do and find ways of making life feel more meaningful.

Pleasure enhancement shall be done, in his opinion, through Savouring (awareness of pleasure and of giving deliberate conscious attention to the experience of pleasure; e.g. Sharing with others, Memory building, Self‐congratulation, Sharpening perception, Absorption), Mindfulness (can be developed through meditation and mindfulness based therapies. Through mindfulness we can focus our perspective and sharpen our experience of the present moment), and avoidance of forming habits (Rapidly repeated indulgence in the same pleasure does not work. Neurons are wired to respond to novel events, and not to fire if the events do not provide new information).

Engagement results from nurturing relationships (strong personal relationships among the friends and family have the greatest impact on satisfaction with life), identification and usage of personal strengths (cultivating and using strengths at work, in familial, social and cultural life and in leisure time) and seeking out ‘flow’ experiences (flow or a state of joy, creativity and total involvement would make the problems disappear leaving with feeling of transcendence).

The third method of finding meaning is achieved by keeping a gratitude diary (to write down each day three things that went well and why), thanking a mentor (writing a letter of thanks to someone, such as a teacher or grandparent), learning to forgive (letting go of anger and resentment by writing a letter of forgiveness to a person who had done a wrong), weighing up one’s life (taking time to think about the major facets of one’s life such as family, work, finances, health and play), performing small acts of kindness (creates a measurable boost to happiness levels and enhances the connection), and finding a connection to a larger purpose (using personal strengths in a voluntary capacity.  Religion, philosophy or spirituality are a source of meaning for many people)

PRE-NATAL DEVELOPMENT

Two kinds of sex cells or gametes are involved in human reproduction: the male gamete or the Sperm cell and the female gamete or the Ovum. When semen is deposited in the vagina the spermatozoa travels through the cervix and body of uterus, into the fallopian tube.  Fertilization of ovum usually takes place in the fallopian tube. The first sperm that penetrates fully into the egg, donates its genetic material (DNA).  The egg then polarizes and therefore repels any additional sperm.  The resulting combination is called zygote.
THE INITIAL STAGES OF HUMAN EMBRYO-GENESIS
The embryonic period in human beings at fertilization (penetration of the egg by the sperm) and continues until the end of 10th week of gestation (8th week by embryonic age).  The embryo spends next few days traveling down the fallopian tube. It starts out as a single cell zygote and then divide several times to form a ball of cell called a Morula.  Further cellular division is accompanied by the formation of small cavity between the cells. This stage is called a Blastocyst.  Up to this point there is no growth in the overall size of the embryo, as it is confined within a cyclo-protein shell, known as Zona pellucida.
The Blastocyst reaches the uterus at roughly the fifth day after fertilization. It is here that lysis of pellucida occurs. This allows the trophectoderm cells of Blastocyst to come into contact with, and here to, the endometrial cells of uterus. The trophectoderm will eventually give rise to extra-embryonic structures, such as placenta. Placenta and membranes are collectively referred to as conceptus or “product of conception”.
PRE-NATAL DEVELOPMENT
Prenatal development takes place during three periods: Germinal, Embryonic and Fetal periods.
Germinal Period
It is a period between conception and implantation (attachment to uterine wall – about 14 days).  The period occurs in the initial period of human embryogenesis
Embryonic Period
The period extends from 2 weeks to 8 weeks after conception.  Fourteen days after conception, the Blastocyst implants itself in the uterine wall. The embryonic period begins at the end of 2nd week. The embryo develops from a round layer of cells across the centre of Blastocyst. At 18 days embryo is about 0.0625 (1/16)thof an inch long. During its early weeks, human embryo closely resembles those of other vertebrate animals. The embryo has a tail and traces of gills, both of which will soon disappear. The head develops before the rest of the body. Eyes, nose and ears are not yet visible at one month, but a backbone and vertebral canal have formed. Small buds that will develop into arms and legs appear. The heart form and start beating: other body systems begin to take shape.
The Fetal Period
The period extends from 8 weeks through remainder of pregnancy.  By the end of the embryonic period (2 months), the fetus has developed the first bone structure and distinct limbs and digits that take in human form. Major blood vessels form and internal organs continue to develop. By the end of the first trimester (1/3rd length of pregnancy or 12.7 weeks).The fetus is about 3 inches long: most major organs are present, a large head and face are well developed, and heart beat can be detected with a stethoscope.
By the end of 4th or 5th period (month) can usually feel that movement. The skin of fetus is covered with fine hair, usually shed before birth. At the end of 5th month, fetus weighs about 1 pound and is about 12 inches long. It sleeps, wakes, sucks and moves its position. At the end of 6th month eyes, eyelids and eyelashes form. The fetus eyes are light sensitive and he/she can hear uterine sounds and respond to vibrations and acoustical stimulation.The head and body of the fetus become more proportionate during  3rd   trimester .Fat layers form under the skin. By the end of 8th month, the fetus weighs about 5 pounds and is about 18 inches long.
By the end of the 9th month, the nails have grown to the end of fingers and toes. The skin becomes smoother and is covered with a protective waxy substance called Vernix Caseosa.The baby is ready for delivery.