Positive Psychotherapy

08/01/2026

We are happy to begin introducing the keynote speakers of the 8th World Congress of Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy, which will take place on 11–16 October 2026 in Montenegro.

It is an honor and pleasure to welcome César A. Alfonso, M.D.
Prof. Alfonso is internationally known for his contribution to psychodynamic psychotherapy, clinical psychiatry, and psychotherapy education, and is a psychoanalyst in private practice. His presentations consistently bring depth, clarity, and clinically grounded perspectives that resonate with professionals from different cultural and professional backgrounds.

Dr. Alfonso currently serves as President of the World Federation for Psychotherapy and holds academic appointments at leading universities across the United States and Asia. He is also the Editor of the Scopus Journal “Psychodynamic Psychiatry” and Chief Psychiatrist at Lighthouse Guild Behavioral Health.

We look forward to welcoming him to the Congress and to sharing more about his keynote contribution very soon.

✨ Early Bird registration is now open: https://wapp2026.org/

Visit our website, register, and stay tuned as we continue introducing our keynote speakers.

07/01/2026

We are very happy to share an important milestone with our community, especially with our members from Ukraine.

After more than five years of continuous work and extensive documentation procedures, we have officially received confirmation of the registration of the trademark in Ukraine 🇺🇦🎊

Positive Psychotherapy (PPT after Peseschkian, since 1977)™️

Позитивна психотерапія (ППТ за Пезешкіаном, з 1977 р.)™️

This was a long and technically demanding process that required consistency, careful legal work, and patience. The registration concerns the trademark itself and provides a clear legal framework for the use of the name Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) in Ukraine.

We are genuinely glad to finally share this news and to mark this moment together with our colleagues, practitioners, and trainers who have been contributing to the development of in Ukraine for many years.

06/01/2026

🌍 WAPP is growing together with YOU!
Over the past few years, our community has shown incredible quantitative and qualitative growth. Thanks to the commitment and collaboration of our members, we’ve expanded not only in numbers, but also in global reach and engagement.

📊 2,046 → 3,100 members
🌍 39 → 65 countries
✅ Good standing: 48% → 71%

Thank you for being part of this journey. Together, we keep growing stronger, and continue contributing to mental health!

05/01/2026

Thirty years ago, a small but clear idea was set in motion.

It was an idea about people, about cultures, about listening before interpreting, and about psychotherapy as a space where differences are not erased, but held with respect. That idea became what we now know as the the World Association for Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy.

Thirty years later, the world looks very different.
And yet, many of the questions remain familiar:
- How do we understand one another across cultures?
- How do we work with suffering without losing hope?
- How do we stay human in complex times?

In 2026, WAPP turns 30.

We see this year not as a single celebration, but as a living continuation, shaped by practitioners, trainers, researchers, and students across countries and generations. Throughout the year, we will be sharing parts of this story: where we come from, how the method has grown, how it is practiced today, and how it continues to evolve.

A natural moment to gather and mark these 30 years together will be our World Congress of Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy in October 2026, a space for meeting, dialogue, and shared reflection within our global professional community.

This year is an invitation to remember, to reflect, and to stay present.
To honor continuity without standing still.
To hold unity and diversity as a shared ground.

Thank you for being part of this ongoing story.
We look forward to continuing it together.

30/12/2025

WAPP Highlights – December 2025

This is the last update we’re sharing with you in 2025: a short look back before the year gently comes to a close.

From January to December, we shared Monthly Highlights to keep you close to what was happening inside WAPP - the ideas, meetings, books, events, and people shaping our community.

Even though December is usually a shorter working month, we still managed to create meaningful moments together:
- a Soul Evening with Gabriela Hum on “Reflections of the Year: How to Use Self-Reflection as Psychotherapists”
- an online lecture and discussion with Dr. Farhad Dalal on “The Cognitive Behavioral Tsunami: How CBT Became the Dominant Psychotherapy”
- We also welcomed 45 new WAPP members - thank you for joining us!

🌍 And we officially opened registration and abstract submission for the 8th World Congress on Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy on 11-16 October 2026 in Budva (Montenegro). Details are available on the Congress website.
Register now: https://wapp2026.org/

Places are limited, and we’re expecting a truly international gathering. See you in Montenegro ☀️❤️

24/12/2025

Dear members, colleagues, and friends 🤍

As the year comes to a close, we would like to thank you for being part of our global community.

This year, WAPP reached 3,000 members from 65 countries worldwide.
We adopted the WAPP Ethical Principles and Guidelines, welcomed a new Board member, held major conferences, participated in global events, and initiated 40+ publications, including the new Springer 📘 “Positive Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychology.” We continued offering webinars, lectures, and professional exchanges across the world.

In 2026, we will launch new training programs, expand online education and publications, and take part in major international events.
A key highlight ahead is the 8th World Congress of (11–16 October 2026, Montenegro). Registration and the call for abstracts are already open.

We would also like to acknowledge that it is together with you that WAPP takes shape and continues to grow. Through many different forms of contribution – in your everyday clinical practice, in each session where PPT is applied, in professional dialogues with colleagues, in the hundreds of trainings of young professionals, in working groups and national committees shaping psychotherapy legislation in your countries, in conducting research and publishing articles, in WAPP committees and working groups, through membership contributions, participation in our events, and through supporting our publications and books – you actively sustain and strengthen our shared mission. If this year has taught us anything, it is the importance of focusing on our core mission: bringing mental health to people and thereby contributing to inner and outer peace.

Thank you for your commitment, your presence, and your trust.

We extend our warm wishes to all members of our community, wherever you are in the world and whatever traditions or rhythms shape this time of year for you. May the year ahead bring moments of stability, professional inspiration, meaningful collaboration, and care for yourselves and those you work with.

WAPP Board of Directors & Head Office

22/12/2025

A few atmospheric moments from this year’s 26th International Training Seminar on .
Thank you to trainers and candidate-trainers who made the time to come, learn together, reconnect, and share these days with colleagues.
Wiesbaden is always happy to welcome you 🤍

19/12/2025

How to register for the WAPP Congress 2026 and stay in the Congress hotel together

If you want to stay in the same hotel room with another delegate, please follow these simple steps 👇

STEP 1. Congress registration
👉 Each delegate registers separately for the Congress.
⚠️ Please note that the Congress registration portal and the WAPP Member Portal are two separate platforms. Kindly make sure not to confuse them.

STEP 2. Decide how you want to stay
Together, choose:
• Double Room (2 people)
• Triple Room (3 people)
⚠️ Only ONE delegate will book and pay for the room.

STEP 3. Person 1 – books and pays for the room
One delegate (Person 1):
• Selects the hotel
• Chooses Double Room or Triple Room
• Selects the dates
• Pays the full room price
• In “Sharing room with”, enters the name of the other delegate

STEP 4. Add all extra options (if needed)
👉 All additional options are selected by the same delegate who books the room, during registration:
• Sea View
• Connecting rooms
• Children staying in the room
• Any other available supplements
✔️ All these options are visible and selectable during the hotel booking step.

STEP 5. Person 2 – no hotel booking
The second delegate:
Completes only the Congress registration
❌ Does not book a hotel room
❌ Does not pay for accommodation
✔️ The room is already booked and paid by Person 1.

Important to remember
• Prices are per room, not per person
• All-Inclusive applies to everyone in the room
• Do not book the same room twice
• Each delegate still needs their own registration
• Friends, partners and family members (18+) can be added to one registration of the main Congress delegate as Accompanying Persons
A quick reminder about the costs:
• The full package (Congress (registration & translation) + accommodation + all-inclusive meals and drinks at the hotel) from 11 to 16 October, in a shared double room, is 1,300 EUR per delegate.
All other amounts may vary depending on:
• whether you stay alone, or triple room
• whether you choose additional options (sea view, extra nights, etc.)
• whether you register an Accompanying Person

🧑‍💻Registration: http://wapp2026.org
📧Questions: wapp2026@artion.com.gr

17/12/2025

Dear colleagues,

We would like to thank everyone who joined us live during the lecture and discussion by Dr. Farhad Dalal, “The Cognitive Behavioral Tsunami: How CBT Became the Dominant Psychotherapy,” which took place on 11th of December 🤍

It was very interesting and insightful lecture and discussion.

Certificates of participation and CPD credits have already been issued to participants who attended the event 🎓

If you were unable to join the lecture online, or if you would like to revisit the content, a shortened English version of the lecture is now available on our YouTube channel Positive Psychotherapy

▶️ https://youtu.be/yvUXgBeYnrk

You can also turn on automatic captions and dubbing generated by YouTube in multiple languages.

The full recordings, including the discussion, are available on WAPP Member Portal in the multiple languages.

Thank you for being with us and for your interest in critical dialogue within psychotherapy 🌱

We look forward to meeting you again in the new year ✨

Warm regards,
WAPP Head Office

An eye-opening lection by Dr. Farhad Dalal (UK) — psychotherapist, group analyst, and author of the acclaimed “CBT: The Cognitive Behavioral Tsunami”.In this...

15/12/2025

🌍 Today is the day we have been waiting for.

We are happy to announce that official registration for the 8th World Congress of Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy is now open 🎉
The Congress will take place on 11-16th of October 2026 in Montenegro.

All details & registration:
👉 https://wapp2026.org/

We are carefully preparing this Congress and truly look forward to welcoming you. Inspiring speakers, a rich scientific program, and many thoughtful surprises are already on the way.

📝 Today also marks the opening of the Call for Abstracts.
We warmly invite you to share your research, clinical experience, and ideas, and to become an active part of the Congress program.

💼 All-inclusive Congress package — €1300 per person includes:
• Full access to the scientific program & all materials, translation
• 5 nights accommodation in the 5***** hotel (shared double room)
• All-inclusive catering: breakfasts, lunches, dinners, coffee breaks & welcome drink
⏳Earlybird rate is available till 30th of April.

⚙️ During registration, you can easily add optional services, including: single room accommodation; excursion; sea view; additional nights; accompanying persons and other extras.

🌿 All practical details are available on the Congress website. Take your time, explore the options, and register when it feels right.

We very much look forward to meeting you in Montenegro 🤍 🌊

✨ Registration and abstract submission are now open

12/12/2025

✨ Next Monday, the 15th of December, registration for the 8th World Congress of Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy officially opens.

From 11–16 October 2026, our global community will meet in the Splendid Conference & Spa Resort 5* Hotel in Budva, Montenegro.

Imagine arriving in a town where the mountains meet the Adriatic Sea, where mornings begin with soft light over the water, and where the rhythm of a professional congress blends gently with the calm of early autumn. Splendid is a place with a story — one that has welcomed world leaders, such as Bill Clinton, artists (Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie), and filmmakers; even scenes of Casino Royale were filmed here. But for us, it will become the setting for a week of learning, ideas, and shared experiences.

The hotel offers everything needed for a meaningful Congress week:
• a large, modern conference center where our full program will unfold,
• bright, spacious 45m² rooms,
• direct access to a wide sandy beach and the Adriatic coast,
• indoor and outdoor pools, a spa, and quiet spaces to relax,
• a Family-Friendly Kids World Center for colleagues traveling with children,
• convenient parking for cars and buses.

October in Budva is usually warm and bright ☀️🌊

A practical note before we all get carried away by the view:
📌 Rooms with seaview are limited, so early registration is highly recommended.
📌 During the first months, you can benefit from the lowest registration price .

On 15th of December, please keep an eye on your email inbox and our social media channels, where we will publish the Congress website link so you can register.

We hope this location will feel just as welcoming, inspiring, and spacious for you as it did for us when choosing it.

See you in Montenegro. ✨