In order to live, thrive and survive, we need to build and preserve our capital. Capital is not only about money and assets, we also need social and psychological capital. Psychological capital (PsyCap) includes a group of positive psychological resources necessary for enhancing mental health and wellbeing. PsyCap includes positive state-like resources such as resilience, self-efficacy, hope and optimism. People are not born with these resources, we develop and improve them over the lifetime.
Building PsyCap depends on several cognitive and emotional mechanisms including:
- Agency: determination, control, mastery.
- Cognitive appraisals: that enable reframing and reinterpretation of situations.
- Positive emotions that help extend the range of options, enhance creativity and problem-solving.
- Social support: necessary for building PsyCap when individual resources are depleted.
MindArbor supports building PsyCap proactively as a positive preventative approach to maintaining positive mental health to enhance functioning and wellbeing.