POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: WHEN DID THE SHIFT OCCUR?

It is in 1998, Martin Seligman reminded the Psychologists about the two major objectives Psychology had in its origin, among which one is celeberated and the other is forgotten.
1. Focus on curing mental illness
2. Making the lives of the people more productive and fulfilling, and identifying and nurturing talent.
After the world war II, the second objective was ignored.  One of the main reasons for this ignorance may be our general tendency to concentrate on the problem.  Secondly, research fundings are more affiliated to those who concentrated on the problem.  As a result therapists adopted a disease model.
Taking this reminder granted, a large group of psychologists and researchers started focusing on the second point.
The time is right for the study of positive mental health since psychologists' understanding of mental illness and of human survival under conditions of adversity is thorough, where as our knowledge of what makes life meaningful and how people flourish under more benign conditions laking (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000)
In 2008, first issue of Journal of Positive Psychology was published.