Why Everyone Is Telling You to Be Grateful

Morning

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As a clinical psychologist, I am a big believer in the power of gratitude. This blogpost cites a number of studies that help to validate the positive impact of having a gratitude practice. The studies are not the reason I am writing this blog post, however.

I am writing it for people like my patient Mr. Wilson (not his real name). This patient has been mild to moderately depressed for much of his life. I have treated him for three of those years, with little change. Partly in desperation, I recommended that he begin a gratitude journal. Six months later, he reports, “It has changed my life.” Now, he still gets depressed from time to time, so it is not a cure-all, but it has enabled him to see the world in a different way. He is still working hard in therapy and on other lifestyle changes, but he attributes much of his stabilization to the gratitude practice.

I am also writing this blog post for people like myself. I try to utilize all the strategies that I recommend to others in therapy so that I can speak with more authenticity and from a position of experience. I finally began keeping a gratitude journal last year. While I do find it helpful for mood, an added benefit is that I enjoy looking back to special days, mostly with my children. I find it is a way to preserve priceless memories since we know that children grow up quickly.

At this point in my career, I recommend that nearly all of my patients maintain a gratitude journal. It has benefited patients as diverse as professional athletes, middle school students, and physicians. There are a number of good articles and blog posts on gratitude already available on Psychology Today, and I recommend that you check them out as well, but I believe in the practice so much that I wanted to add to the available literature on the topic, share my own experience with it, and keep it top of mind in an effort to benefit readers.

Two decades ago, Dr. Robert A. Emmons and Dr. Michael McCullough demonstrated that the simple act of consistently listing things for which we are grateful has emotional and interpersonal benefits. Gratitude is now a key concept in the positive psychology movement. Positive psychology, pioneered by Martin Seligman, is basically just what it sounds like: the study and practice of anything that helps improve quality of life and human functioning.

Since the original studies, the power of gratitude has been measured and demonstrated many different ways. Some studies show improved psychological health and even physical health. Specifically, a consistent practice of gratitude promotes better sleep and less fatigue, greater life satisfaction, more positive affect, more subjective happiness, and more resilience after trauma.

I also teach gratitude practice to all of my medical students and psychiatry residents because it can have a protective effect against burnout. There is even new evidence that gratitude may have a positive impact on biological measures of cardiovascular disease risk. No wonder Marcus Tullius Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues but the parent of all others.”

What a gratitude practice looks like can vary depending on your preferences. Most studies ask participants to write down things they are grateful for consistently. I recommend that my patients keep a gratitude journal and list three “good things” from the day. I also ask them to write how they contributed to the good things, since a study of intensive-care unit (ICU) healthcare professionals found it to be additive. An example would be, “I am grateful it was a sunny day and I made sure to get outside to enjoy it.”

For children and adolescents, the practice of gratitude is a gift that can benefit them their entire lives. There are setbacks and disappointments in every day of our lives. There are also personal victories, joy, and laughter in every day. Which we choose to focus on is the key. If we model for our children the act of gratitude, they will get in the healthy habit of identifying and dwelling on the good things that occurred that day instead of the negative things.

As with any skill, gratitude as an attribute must be developed. I cannot stress enough that this endeavor is worthy of your time as a parent, teacher, and human being in general.