ABSTRACT
A few years ago one of us (AQ) was listening to a podcast about positive psychology on Shrinkrap Radio in which Stewart Donaldson (2013), who was being interviewed, mentioned that the Third World Congress on Positive Psychology would be taking place later that year in Los Angeles. As a psychologist working in the area of transcultural psychiatry, I was impressed to discover that positive psychology was sufficiently present in the developing world that there was a conference dedicated to the topic. I was, however, confused to hear that the conference was taking place in Los Angeles, which, jokes aside, is hardly a logical place for such an event. I quickly realized, as well, that “Third World” is an outdated and even inappropriate term, and, indeed, I had misunderstood. This began an interest in this very topic: the broad issue of what could be called a culturally competent approach to positive psychology.
