Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being Through Positive Psychology
A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Psychology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 November 2026
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The call for papers for a special issue on positive psychology, mental health and well-being arises from two specific needs in response to the global escalation of mental health issues. First, a desire to explore and enhance approaches that alleviate suffering to reduce emotional pain and distress, which may be caused by personal, familial, societal, organizational, ecological, and geopolitical conditions. Secondly, a growing passion to understand and deliver interventions for individuals, groups, organizations, etc. that increase positivity and yield sustainable well-being.
Current research and practice suggest that combining downregulation of negative emotions and upregulation of positive emotions has yielded promising results for the future of mental health and well-being. Additionally, the broader categories in positive psychology, such as meaning making, hope, goal setting, relationships, character development, engagement, life satisfaction, fulfillment, etc, are welcome as we intend to publish papers that focus on achieving sustainable transformation from lower to higher life satisfaction, flourishing, and thriving. This issue invites submissions of theory, research, and practice papers.
Work suitable for inclusion might come from, but is not limited to, meditation research and practices, psychedelic-assisted therapies, character strength development, initiatives for underserved populations, avant-garde interventions, or positive organizational approaches. We are seeking research on how and why certain factors contribute to increased positivity and well-being while reducing negativity. Toward this end, research includes theories on why this occurs, studies using RCTs, qualitative research, systematic reviews, or meta-analyses, are welcome, as well as the identification of case studies and pilot research on how positive psychology practices enhance mental health and well-being.
This special issue will review and publish papers that hold the most promise in reversing the global trend in mental health and increasing well-being.
Dr. Daniel J. Tomasulo
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Behavioral Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- mental health
- positive psychology
- resilience
- meditation
- life
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