At Auburn Psychological Wellness Center, we believe that psychological wellness is developed through living a meaningful life that fits with your personal values and goals. Our counselors, psychologists, and psychiatry providers work with clients to improve their psychological wellness.
Six Aspects of Psychological Wellness
Psychology professor Dr. Carol Ryff has found six aspects to be necessary for psychological well-being. We summarize her ideas below.
1. Autonomy
If you are high in autonomy, you:
- Are able to live your life according to your personal convictions.
- Can resist pressures to think or act in certain ways that are contrary to your personal values.
- Are independent in ways that fit within your cultural values.
- Are able to make choices and evaluate yourself based on personal standards rather than the judgements of others.
2. Environmental Mastery
When you are high in environmental mastery, you:
- Feel capable of managing the contexts around you.
- Use resources and opportunities available to you.
- Choose or create environments that fit your needs and values.
3. Personal Growth
When you are high in personal growth, you:
- Strive for continued development and improvement.
- Seek more knowledge about yourself.
- Work to improve your effectiveness in various life areas.
- Are open to new experiences, utilize your talents, and strive to realize your potential.
4. Positive Relations with Others
To have positive relations with others mean you:
- Have trusting relationships with other people that are caring, intimate, and satisfying.
- Empathize with others and act in ways that promote the welfare of others.
- Are able to compromise, and you do so in ways that also protect your own worth in relationships.
- Understand that relationships involve both giving and receiving.
5. Purpose in Life
With a high purpose in life, you:
- Have goals and a sense of direction for your life.
- Find or create meaning in events from your past and in your current life.
- Hold beliefs—whether spiritual, secular, or both—that guide your behavior and give your life meaning.
6. Self-Acceptance
To be high in self-acceptance means you:
- Hold an encouraging attitude toward yourself.
- Feel confident about your strengths.
- Are aware of personal limitations and you understand that you are an imperfect person.
- Feel positive about or can make peace with your past actions in life.
Increase Your Psychological Wellness
Most people come to counseling when they are overwhelmed with distress and other symptoms. We work with clients to decrease those symptoms in order to improve their functioning. We also encourage clients to explore who they are and what is important to them. This helps clients live a life that fits with their personal values and goals. Our goal is that clients will experience increases in each of the six areas above, in culturally-congruent ways, in order to improve psychological wellness.
If this approach sounds like a good fit for you, please reach out to get started. You can read more about our APWC mental health providers and contact us to schedule an appointment. We serve clients in Auburn-Opelika and surrounding Alabama communities.