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Fear of happiness through the prism of the dual continua model of mental health
Author(s) -
BlascoBelled Ana,
Rogoza Radosław,
Alsinet Carles,
TorrellesNadal Cristina
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.23165
Subject(s) - happiness , psychology , affect (linguistics) , mental health , psychological intervention , depression (economics) , clinical psychology , positive psychology , social psychology , developmental psychology , psychiatry , communication , economics , macroeconomics
Objective Two studies were conducted to investigate fear of happiness through the lens of the dual continua model of mental health. Methods In Study 1, we examined whether depression (indicator of mental illness) and happiness (indicator of mental health) predicted fear of happiness through a Structural Equation Model. In Study 2, we ran a quasi‐experimental design to examine differences in affect (positive and negative), happiness and depression when engaging in either fearless or fearful beliefs of happiness. Results Fear of happiness was positively and negatively predicted by depression and happiness, respectively. Fearless individuals reported higher positive affect and happiness, and lower negative affect and depression, than fearful individuals. Conclusions Fearing happiness might act as a maladaptive self‐verifying motive to enhance one's perspective of the world. Given the likelihood of modifying maladaptive cognitive patterns, we highlight different psychological interventions that can address the negative impact of fearful beliefs of happiness.