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Visualise your goals. Think positive. Cut the word ''impossible'' out of your life. These are the sentiments of a generation, and self-help gurus have made a fortune peddling them. Through seminars, DVDs, CDs and books such as The Secret and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, positive thinking has formed the heart of a multibillion-dollar industry. ''Life coach'' Anthony ''Tony'' Robbins alone takes home about $80 million a year.

But as positive psychology reaches its zenith, now comes the backlash. The cheeriest movement that ever there was is being blamed for everything from teen suicide to the global financial crisis. Social researcher Hugh Mackay, who has become an unlikely fixture on the happiness conference circuit (given his scepticism about the pursuit of happiness), has noticed that even positive psychologists are rebranding themselves.


If we overemphasise self-esteem in kids ... they're going to find it hard to cope with disappointment and failure. 


''One of the leaders of the movement in Australia said to me there's a real movement to drop the word 'positive','' Mackay says.

The outbreak of cynicism started in the US, the spiritual home of evangelical positivity. Barbara Ehrenreich argued in her book Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World that reckless optimism blinded the financial sector to looming catastrophe: ''What was the point in agonising over balance sheets and tedious analyses of risks … when all good things come to those who are optimistic enough to expect it?''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/thinking-negative-20120830-251jn.html#ixzz25OIcdeKI