Devil's advocate

I read somewhere that some big corporates have a team of people who spend all their time just thinking of ways and conditions that may lead to a drop in revenue and profits, in other words doing nothing but playing the devil's advocate.

Now I think if applied on a personal level, it may be useful too. So one week we may find some time to brainstorm all unwise actions, behaviour and thoughts that can bring misery to ourselves, In another week we may contemplate things that may happen which will depress us and reflect on how we should react and what we can do to lessen the pain if they do happen. This may sound like the opposite of positive psychology and may not be appropriate for people who are already depressed or moody. Yet, just like the corporates do it to ensure relevance and avoid extinction, we may do it to ensure we do not fall into an emotional abyss, act or think unwisely with unfavourable consequences or just having a meaningless living-dead existence.

One may question whether such negative philosophy is healthy for the mind but many have opined that positive psychology has severe shortcomings too. Positive psychology has been found to have short term effect on some people. One opinion has it that people may also feel guilty for not thinking happy thoughts and for bringing it upon themselves when they are having hard times. It is a bit like suppressing one's negative feelings instead of meeting them.

I guess just like in the Pixar movie Inside Out, one has to welcome all emotions to live a balanced life. As for optimism and pessimism we can use both at different times where appropriate. So for instance we can wake up every morning being appreciative and calling to mind 5 things to be thankful of whilst spending some time in a week thinking of what may bring us misery and how to manage the situation when they happen. Its like meeting the Devil to be free of the Devil.