The concept of Positive Health Care of Bannink and Jansen differentiates, like the philosophy of science, two complementary ways to make the world and life comprehensible: The way of analysis and the way of synthesis. One paradigm goes inwards and towards the past, the other goes outwards and towards the future.
The conventional medical model follows the pathway of analysis. Examination, diagnosis and treatment take center stage. Less attention is usually paid to synthesis, or implementation. How to be useful for our patients is often less or not elaborated at all.
The solution-focused model is all about implementation. What does the preferred future of the patient look like? It focuses on designing and realizing an outcome that was not there before, and finding what works for this patient, in this context, at this moment. The two solution-focused assumptions are:
- if something works, do more of it;
- if something does not work, stop and do something else.
Examination and diagnosis can be included, but are not necessary.
Positive health care adds the solution-focused model to the medical model. Much attention is paid to everything that works in patients’ lives and how they can make progress.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
Søren Kierkegaard
This website offers the latest information about Positive Health Care. We invite everyone to respond and to think along with how this can be further developed.
Analysis | Synthesis |
| Cause and effect | Unpredictability; emergence |
| Medical model | Solution-focused model |
| Reductionistic thinking Convergent thinking | Systems thinking Divergent thinking Creativity, design |
| Focus on the past Static | Focus on the future Dynamic |
| Biomedical research: RCTs | Information theory |
| Standards, guidelines, protocols (fixed) | Navigation by entropy |
| Objective reality | Reality depends on observation (Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle) (Sociology: social constructivism) |
Analysis | Synthesis |
| Cause and effect | Unpredictability; emergence |
| Medical model | Solution-focused model |
| Reductionistic thinking Convergent thinking | Systems thinking Divergent thinking Creativity, design |
| Focus on the past Static | Focus on the future Dynamic |
| Biomedical research: RCTs | Information theory |
| Standards, guidelines, protocols (fixed) | Navigation by entropy |
| Objective reality | Reality depends on observation (Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle) (Sociology: social constructivism) |
Media
A growing collection of videos and podcasts about the concept ‘Positive Health Care’.
Videos
Podcasts
There are no podcasts available at the moment.
Links
A collection of relevant links about Positive Health Care.
Book
Positive Health Care is the first book about how positive health care is implemented in a solution-focused way, of course in combination with the regular medical model.
Articles and books
A collection of articles about ‘Positive Health Care’.
Articles
- Positivity Pays Off. American Psychological Association 2020
- Positive cognitive behavior therapy in the treatment of depression: A randomized order within-subject comparison with traditional cognitive behavior therapy. Behavior Research and Therapy, 116, 2019
Books
Articles that have not (yet) been published
- Practicing Positive Psychiatry & Positive CBT
- Complex is not (the same as) difficult (1)
- Complex is not (the same as) difficult (2)
- Complex is not (the same as) difficult (3)
- Complex is not (the same as) difficult (4)
- Complex is not (the same as) difficult (5)
- Complex is not (the same as) difficult (6)
- Complex is not (the same as) difficult (7)
- Complex is not (the same as) difficult (8)
- Complex is not (the same as) difficult (9)
- Debate
- Video Positive Healthcare
Interviews
Authors
Fredrike Bannink is a clinical psychologist, child and youth psychologist specialist, and a lawyer. She has a practice for therapy, training, coaching and mediation in Amsterdam. She is a lecturer and supervisor of, among others, the Association for Behavioral Therapy and Cognitive Therapy (VGCt) and a teacher in postgraduate education.
She is an international keynote speaker, trainer and author of around fifty books in the field of solution-focused conversation, positive psychology, positive cognitive behavioral therapy and positive supervision.
Pieter Jansen is a general practitioner at the health center Gezondheidscentrum Veldhuizen in Ede (The Netherlands). Together with this health center and other partners, he has set up Gezondhuizen, a project for positive and solution-focused health promotion.
Training courses
Training courses Positieve Gezondheidszorg. Oplossingsgericht werken in de huisartsenpraktijk will also be available this year.
We offer our three-day training courses through Mura Zorgadvies.
All training sessions are in Dutch.
Participants in the past training courses are enthusiastic. Here are some quotes from their evaluations:
‘A must for every doctor’
‘Top training’
‘Will definitely recommend the training to colleagues’
‘Once again I had a course day that was given with great inspiration and passion and which will positively change my work as a healthcare professional’
The dates for the training of Mura Zorgadvies can be found at mura.nl/bijeenkomsten
Interested in an in-company training course at your own location and with your own practice? Contact Susan Adam van Mura Zorgadvies via susanadam@mura.nl.
Trainers
Eva Kuiper, forensic child psychologist.
Teaching Child Psychology at the University of Amsterdam.
Solution-focused trainer and author.
Fredrike Bannink, clinical psychologist and lawyer.
International speaker, trainer and author of more than 40 books.
Pieter Jansen, general practitioner.
Together with health center Veldhuizen in Ede and other partners, he has set up Gezondhuizen, a project for positive and solution-oriented health promotion.
Superentropy
The Discovery of Coherence
Pieter Jansen
Fredrike Bannink
Jelle Simons: editor & translator
Read part 1
Read part 2
