Being told to “count your blessings” or “show some gratitude” is rarely helpful (and, frankly, often obnoxious), especially when you’re already having a hard time. That’s a lot of us right now. So let’s start by talking about what gratitude is not: a turning away from or minimizing of the immense suffering and loss happening right now.
“Sometimes life is really hard, and right now things look really bleak,” social psychologist Judy Moskowitz, Ph.D., M.P.H., professor of medical social sciences at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Northwestern, and president of the International Positive Psychology Association, tells SELF. “Gratitude is not about diminishing how difficult and unprecedented this all is, or being all Pollyanna about it, or pretending you’re not anxious and that everything’s fine. Because things are not fine, for anybody.”
As we’ll look at in depth, gratitude is something that can exist “alongside the very real and understandable negative emotions that most of us are experiencing right now,” not in place of them, Moskowitz says. In fact, gratitude may help us better weather and recover from these hard times.
“Sometimes it’s hard in the midst of tremendous uncertainty and grief, anxiety and anger about what’s happening, to feel grateful,” Robin Stern, Ph.D., the cofounder and associate director for the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and an associate research scientist at the Child Study Center at Yale, tells SELF. “But gratitude can be healing. “
The three ways we experience gratitude
We all have a basic understanding of what gratitude is, of course: the state of being grateful or thankful. But it’s revealing to consider how the people who study gratitude define it. Researchers generally look at gratitude in three different but intersecting ways, Emiliana Simon-Thomas, Ph.D., cognitive psychologist and science director of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, tells SELF.
1. An emotion
This meaning may be the one we’re most familiar with. “Gratitude is often studied as a momentary emotional experience—a specific temporary state that happens when we realize that something good has happened, and often as a consequence of somebody else’s efforts or actions,” says Simon-Thomas, who helps run the Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude initiative at the Greater Good Science Center.
2. A trait
Gratitude is also studied as a trait or dispositional characteristic—how grateful of a person you are. As Simon-Thomas puts it, “Do you tend to notice what’s good in your own life? Do you savor the goodnesses that are available to you? Do you recognize the extent to which things that are outside of yourself, whether it’s people or some kind of existential privilege or resource, are the origin of the positive things that you enjoy in life?”
3. A practice
This framing of gratitude is connected to the first two—as something you can do to both evoke the emotion of gratitude and potentially strengthen it as a trait over time. “It’s an activity or exercise of deliberately reflecting on what’s going well or what kind of positive attributes one’s life might be providing at the time,” Simon-Thomas explains. “It’s a way of making the emotion of gratitude more readily available and more likely to occur in general.”
The science behind gratitude boosting your well-being
There is not an overwhelming amount of research on the psychological benefits of gratitude. “I think one of the reasons why gratitude maybe isn’t the most popular research topic of all time is that it’s not a very hard sell,” Simon-Thomas explains. The idea that gratitude is a good thing worth valuing and embodying is not exactly novel—it’s intuitive, well regarded, and deeply embedded in our culture. “Most philosophical and spiritual traditions espouse gratitude as a core virtue,” Simon-Thomas points out, as does society at large. (Survey data showing that the vast majority of people in the U.S. place a high value on gratitude supports this.)
That said, we do have a good amount of compelling evidence suggesting gratitude may have some very real implications for people’s psychological well-being in a variety of ways. Much of this data is correlational, where researchers study gratitude as a trait in relation to various indicators of well-being. (Researchers have developed a number of surveys and scales to measure trait gratitude in people, such as the Gratitude Questionnaire, where you rate how much you agree with statements like “I have so much in life to be thankful for.”) “It seems that people who see the world through that lens, who are typically grateful, tend to suffer less stress and be happier in general,” Stern says.
A 2010 meta-review published in Clinical Psychology Review looked at dozens of studies to assess the impacts of gratitude on a wide variety of outcomes across many different domains, including: adaptive personality traits, mental illness, subjective well-being, social relationships, and physical health. Researchers found that people with higher trait gratitude were more likely to be more extroverted, agreeable, open, and conscientious and less neurotic. They were likely to experience less depression and greater subjective well-being, which includes high positive affect (mood), low negative affect, and high satisfaction with life. High trait gratitude is also associated with more positive social relationships and better physical health, especially in regards to stress and sleep. At least some of these relationships are thought to be unique: Gratitude can account for variations in the outcomes after controlling for 50 of the most studied traits in psychology.
We also have some interventional research that studies the impact of gratitude as a practice, measuring change over time in various outcomes as a result of gratitude exercises that participants are assigned to perform (such as keeping a daily/weekly gratitude diary or writing a gratitude letter to someone). The results here are still good but more mixed. A series of meta-analyses published in Basic and Applied Social Psychology in 2017 looked at 38 gratitude intervention studies to review the effects of gratitude on a variety of outcomes, immediately after the intervention and at follow-up points (ranging from one week to six months after the intervention ended). Compared to participants who had no intervention or a neutral one (like listing daily activities or interesting things), participants assigned to gratitude interventions fared better on a number of outcomes. They saw “evident differences” for well-being, happiness, life satisfaction, grateful mood, grateful disposition, positive affect, depression, optimism, and quality of relationships.
The role of gratitude in dealing with stress and trauma
There is a mounting body of particularly compelling evidence on the potential role of gratitude in coping with and recovering from trauma. “When we look at these kinds of studies, we see that even people who are going through or have gone through major traumatic experiences, something as simple as gratitude…can be helpful,” Moskowitz says. “The idea is that it might be helpful for us too to practice it.”
The majority of the data here is correlational, Simon-Thomas says. Generally, researchers study populations that have experienced serious trauma, such as combat, natural disaster, or a cancer diagnosis, and assess how trait gratitude is connected to psychological outcomes, including one or two common outcomes of trauma: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and post-traumatic growth (PTG).
You’re probably familiar with PTSD, a condition that can occur in people who have been exposed to a traumatic event, causing a number of serious symptoms, which can include flashbacks and intrusive thoughts about the event; negative beliefs about oneself; avoidant behaviors; trouble sleeping; feelings of numbness, guilt, or depression; hypervigilance and reactivity; and trouble sleeping, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Researchers assess PTSD using clinically validated measurement tools such as interviews, self-reports, and symptom checklists.
PTG is just what it sounds like: the experience of personal psychological growth or transformation that can follow trauma and post-trauma challenges (including PTSD), the American Psychological Association (APA) explains. PTG is measured by researchers with self-report scales like the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), per the APA, which assesses for positive growth in five key areas: (1) appreciation of life, (2) relationships with others, (3) new possibilities in life, (4) personal strength, (5) spiritual change. Some researchers see gratitude as a factor associated with or leading to PTG.
A number of research studies conceptualize gratitude as a “protective factor” against PTSD. A protective factor is basically the opposite of a risk factor—it is correlated with decreased likelihood of being diagnosed with a certain condition, fewer negative effects from stress, and better mental health, per the APA. Other studies frame gratitude as a potential factor associated with or leading to PTG.
One of the first studies to spark the idea that gratitude may play a role in post-trauma outcomes, Moskowitz says, was published in Behaviour Research and Therapy in 2006. It investigated the relationship between gratitude (both trait and daily-reported) and well-being in Vietnam War veterans with and without PTSD. They measured trait gratitude and trait affect (generally positive or negative disposition) once at the beginning of the study, then they had participants complete daily self-reports on their feelings of gratitude and their mood daily, along with other well-being measures, like rewarding social activity.
They found that in veterans both with and without PTSD, variations in trait gratitude corresponded with variations in their daily well-being—even more so than the relationship between well-being and things like mood, distress, and trauma-related stress. They also found that for veterans with PTSD, trait gratitude was a “significant, unique predictor of well-being” over and above someone’s general positive disposition.
Researchers also looked into the role of gratitude in survivors of an earthquake that took place in the Ya’an region of Southwestern China in 2013. In one study, gratitude (along with social support) was a positive and stable predictor of PTG a year and a half after the earthquake. In another study, gratitude was associated with a decreased likelihood of PTSD and increased likelihood of PTG among the survivors, even three and a half years after the earthquake.
A 2017 study published in the journal Psychological Trauma investigated the role of resilience and gratitude in PTS and PTG among 359 survivors of a college campus shooting. They found that among people who scored high in gratitude, there was a much stronger relationship between PTS and PTG—the suggestion being that people high in gratitude are able to transform their stress into growth in the aftermath of trauma.
There’s also research on the role of gratitude for people experiencing serious illness, like cancer. A 2013 study in the Journal of Happiness Studies found a strong positive correlation between gratitude and all dimensions of PTG in 67 people with breast cancer. And in a 2019 study in Frontiers in Psychology of 42 breast cancer patients, those who had a daily gratitude practice also reported higher self-esteem, optimism, acceptance of illness, and perceived social support compared to those who just had a daily journal practice.
There is also some evidence that gratitude is associated with better outcomes in people who have experienced more common traumas or stressors. Take, for instance, a 2009 study published in the journal Anxiety, Stress & Coping that looked at 182 college students who identified as female and had a history of trauma, with the most common traumas reported being a car accident and life-threatening illness/injury. On average, their traumas happened a little over four years earlier, and only 12.6% of them met the criteria for PTSD. Still, those who reported higher gratitude also reported fewer and less severe PTSD symptoms—even when taking into account other factors like their coping styles or how severe the trauma was.
A similar protective effect of gratitude was seen in college students in two joint longitudinal studies published in the Journal of Research in Personality in 2008. Researchers followed college undergraduates during their first semester at school (which, we can probably all agree, is a pretty stressful time). They gave students questionnaires at the beginning and end of the semester that measured a few different variables: trait gratitude, perceived social support, stress, and depression. Then they analyzed the data with some sophisticated statistical footwork (structural equation modeling) to tease out the directions of these relationships: Did trait gratitude actually impact any of the other variables, or was it the other way around? Or were they all just related? They concluded that having a higher baseline gratitude actually directly led to higher levels of social support and lower levels of stress and depression. On the flip side, it didn’t seem that any of the variables directly led to greater gratitude. So maybe having higher gratitude does lead to better well-being, even during really stressful times.
How exactly does gratitude help people cope better?
So how do researchers explain the salutary effects of gratitude, especially as they pertain to trauma and coping? It’s not entirely clear yet. “We have a lot of behavioral and correlational data,” Simon-Thomas says, “but there’s still a lot left to be learned at a biological or mechanistic level.” For instance, we don’t know much about what precisely is occurring in our brains when we practice gratitude. While we have a handful of good studies pointing to a couple of brain circuits, “there’s not a huge amount of neuroimaging research on gratitude specifically,” neuroscientist, writer, and coach Alex Korb, Ph.D., tells SELF.
Most of our understanding of what’s going on is theoretical. Many of these theoretical frameworks are rooted in a particular area of study called positive psychology. If most of traditional psychology is focused on treating mental illness and reducing suffering, positive psychology is focused on cultivating well-being and human flourishing. The Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania describes it as “the scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive.” The American Psychological Association (APA) defines it as the study of the emotional states, individual traits, and social supports that “enhance people’s subjective well-being and make life most worth living.”
One influential theory here is the “broaden-and-build” model of positive emotions, pioneered by positive psychologist Barbara Fredrickson. We tend to view positive emotions—like joy, compassion, optimism, and gratitude—as merely evidence that someone is happy. But the broaden-and-build theory argues that the experience and cultivation of positive emotions, including gratitude, can actually produce benefits that lead to greater well-being in the long term—broadening our perspectives and building our psychological resources in ways that help us cope, bounce back, and thrive.
“Positive emotions aren’t just the inverse of negative emotions,” explains Moskowitz, whose own research is rooted in this model. “They actually have unique functions…and can actually help us build our resilience and help us cope.”
Here are a few ideas about how that might work:
Positive emotions, like those produced by gratitude practices, are believed to expand the lens through which you see the world. “Negative emotions like fear or anxiety can really narrow your focus on the problem (which can be very adaptive),” Moskowitz explains, whereas “positive emotions help you broaden your perspective and allow you to see more possibilities.”
Looking outward, positive feelings like gratitude can widen the scope of our attention to take more notice of the goodness (and good people) around us. “It sounds trite, but it’s really true that taking the time to practice gratitude can open your eyes to how extraordinary so many things in our everyday life are,” Stern says.
“Many of the benefits of gratitude are simply about directing your attention in certain ways—what parts of your life, what parts of reality you pay attention to,” Korb says. “Your brain at the moment might not automatically pay attention to all the wonderful things in your life. But if you intentionally practice gratitude, you become more aware of these positive parts of your life that were always there and start to change that filter,” Korb explains. “We are, for lack of a better word, training our minds to notice more of what is outside of the self—who’s around us, what else we could be paying attention to, what’s happening beyond our own immediate needs and self interest...[and] the potential threats and worries we tend to ruminate on,” Simon-Thomas explains.
The broadening effect of positive emotions is thought to apply looking inward too, to the way we think (and, in turn, act). “Positive emotions and practices like gratitude can help you cope better by building your individual resources,” Moskowitz says. The idea is that by doing practices that consistently induce positive emotions, we can widen and deepen the psychological resources available to us in times of stress, Mostkowitz explains. This cognitive broadening includes greater creativity, flexibility, novelty, and openness in the ways we think and behave—allowing us to see and engage in more possibilities.
“Right now we are all steeped in the stress of COVID and having to isolate in our homes, and the worry we have for our loved ones and the country in general. It’s hard to get away from it,” Moskowitz says. “It’s not an option to check out and not deal with [stress and trauma].” On top of that, “our reservoir of coping ability is really depleted because we’re constantly engaged in this negative stuff going on,” Moskowitz says.
The theory here is pretty intuitive: Positive emotions like gratitude are thought to help us cope in the midst of stress and difficulty by providing a little respite. “We think of it as a strategy to help you shift from unpleasant emotions to more pleasant emotion,” Stern says.
“What practices like gratitude that help you even momentarily increase your positive emotions do is give you a break from that [stress]. It’s like a breather,” Moskowitz says. When you’re practicing gratitude, you’re not practicing anxious or envious thoughts. In turn, “those moments of positive emotion can help sustain you, can help you stay engaged through the coping process…[and] bolster that inner reserve you have for continuing to cope with it,” Moskowitz says.
According to the broaden-and-build model, positive emotions also promote another crucial kind of resource for well-being and coping: social support. “People who show more positive emotions tend to draw more social support when they’re stressed,” Moskowitz says
There is also reason to believe gratitude is a unique prosocial behavior. “We develop a more prosocial and benevolent orientation toward others as we practice gratitude,” Simon-Thomas explains. “We’re practicing connecting the positive aspects of our life, the benefits that we enjoy, to the actions of other people.”
Studies suggest that gratitude fosters prosocial behavior, strengthening social bonds, and forging new ones. This includes the 2006 Vietnam veterans study, which found that daily gratitude impacted the degree of daily rewarding social activity vets reported, as well as that pair of 2008 longitudinal studies of college freshmen we looked at earlier that concluded that gratitude seemed to “directly foster” social support. A 2017 Psychological Bulletin meta-analysis of 91 studies, including 18,342 participants, found “statistically significant, and moderate positive correlation between gratitude and prosociality.”
This social support may in turn promote PTG. A 2008 meta-review of 103 studies looking at the role of optimism, social support, and coping strategies in contributing to PTG found that social support and social-support-seeking behavior were moderately related to PTG. In this way, Simon-Thomas says, “gratitude can ultimately provide us with more support and safety in the world.”
There’s much we have yet to learn about how exactly the benefits of gratitude work under the surface (and, perhaps, benefits we have yet to discover), but experts agree that the body research thus far tells us, loud and clear, that gratitude is something we can practice and get better at over time—and that it is worth doing so. “We can deliberately invoke this state of appreciation or recognition of the positive things we experience in life,” Simon-Thomas says. “And that can become more habitual with practice.”
How do you actually cultivate this state and trait in your own life? There are a few simple, effective, evidence-based ways to begin to foster gratitude on a daily basis, and you can read about them right here. As Stern puts it, “Why not try it, and see if it makes a difference?”
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