The Science of Happiness: Practical Strategies for Primary Care Clinicians

Overview

Dr. Santos will provide an overview of scientifically validated strategies that primary care clinicians can use to achieve more happiness, improved well-being and optimize their professional performance and ability to deliver patient care. Using the overall framework of the cognitive-behavior triad, we'll specifically explore happiness-promoting strategies that involve changing one's behavior, changing one's thought patterns, and regulating one's emotions. Learners will leave with specific strategies they can use to improve habits, better navigate and challenge their unhelpful thought patterns, generate more positive emotions, and non-judgmentally allow their negative emotions. The lecture will also discuss how to put these strategies into effect during the challenges faced in primary care settings in order to help clinicians better carry out professional responsibilities.

Learning Objectives

• Identify some of the most common misconceptions about what makes us happy, particularly as they relate to the experiences of primary care clinicians and their ability to deliver patient care
• Identify the psychological biases that make it hard for us to see what makes us happy and cause us to seek out the wrong sorts of things for achieving well-being in a clinical setting
• Discuss and practice five behaviors and mindset strategies that can help clinicians feel better and better carry out their professional responsibilities