What Is Positive Psychology?

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Happiness needs enjoyment and purpose. Fun tasks tied to helping others promote this.

Eliminating failure creates a low-stress space to practice breaking big goals into small and easy steps.

FOMO-free gaming builds positive habits and neural pathways translating to real-world change.

There was a moment during my first playthrough of Pokémon Pokopia that surprised me. I had just completed the rain dance task in Withered Wasteland, and I was working on improving my relationships with the few Pokémon I had lured back into the post-apocalyptic Pokémon world. I looked at the clock and noticed I had been playing for over two hours. I was so absorbed by the game that I hadn't noticed how much time had passed.

Pokémon Pokopia is Nintendo's recent life-simulation game. The premise is that you play as the Pokémon Ditto, who has arrived in an abandoned world and is tasked with restoring the land and coaxing a community of Pokémon back into it.

As a gamer, I've never been drawn to this style of game. The low stakes and repetitive tasks always felt like a grind. However, this title is different, and as a practicing psychiatrist, I see psychological value in this game in particular.

The Concept of Happiness

My favorite framework for how to achieve happiness is outlined by Tal Ben-Shahar in his book Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment. In his book, Ben-Shahar argues that lasting happiness is not achieved by eliminating adversity or by selectively indulging in only pleasurable activities. Happiness comes from the........

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