Psychological therapies and five ways to wellbeing

When we published the research paper that we discussed last week, several people asked if there were practical steps that they could take to improve their own emotional health and wellbeing. Academics often avoid giving advice (they are often understandably nervous about making mistakes), but there are some things (well supported by research) that could help.

In this brief video, I introduce some key messages, many of which are taken from the ‘five ways to well-being’ collated by the new economics foundation in a report for the UK Government. I added some basic advice on physical health and an introduction to CBT – cognitive behavioural therapy.

A recent UK Government report into well-being commissioned a team at the new economics foundation to find evidence for things individuals could do themselves to achieve greater wellbeing. They concluded that we would be well-advised to follow a wellbeing equivalent of the ‘five fruit and vegetables a day’ rule.

This report forms a large part of my advice about how to maintain and protect our psychological health, and the full report is available to download.

Below, I have included a few links to slightly different versions of the same material. There’s a short extract from my recent book, and I have also included a document entitled ‘Psychological therapies and five ways to wellbeing’. There’s also a link to the University of Liverpool website, which hosts a version of the same material.

Remember

There is good research evidence for these pieces of advice. But there are many different perspectives on mental health issues. So you do need to consider this advice carefully.