Corey Keyes
What’s Your Why? Positive Psychology is a Means, So What Is Your End?
Abstract
My ‘why’ has always been mental illness. My talk summarizes my new book, “Languishing,” which describes my own personal and scientific journey to create a scientific body of research to address two serious problems in myself and the world, one that wasn’t being addressed at all – languishing – in order to deal with another problem that was being addressed (mental illness) but continues to this day with little progress (i.e., rising rates and often too brief of recovery from things like depression and anxiety). I have come to see my work and personal journey towards resilience as a gift that has guided my research and purpose in this life. We all are all gifts that should be given by us rather than taken from or controlled by others. Science is most gratifying when it empowers than when it exerts power, and when it creates humble teachers rather than experts.
About Corey Keyes
Corey Keyes is professor emeritus of Sociology at Emory University where he held the Winship Distinguished Research Professorship. He was a member of the prestigious international MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development and Aging. He has participated in several National Academies of Science initiatives – “The Future of Human Healthspan” and improving national statistics to measure recovery from mental illness. He organized and co-hosted the first Summit of Positive Psychology held in 1999 at the Gallup Organization. His research introduced the concepts of social well-being, flourishing, the two continua model of mental health and illness, and his work is being used to prevent mental illness via the promotion of positive (flourishing) mental health. He is represented by the United Talent Agency (Agents: Albert Lee and Pilar Queen) and is currently working on a book entitled “Languishing” for Crown Publishing, an imprint of Penguin RandomHouse Publishing, that is due out in 2024.
