​     With a national population of around 330 million people, roughly one-third are anxious in some kind of way. Anxiety can be situational. Why can’t I find a parking space near my store? Anxiety can me chronic. What if nobody likes me? What if this job is wrong for me? Mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT) is a means of treating both types of anxiety.
          After giving your patient an ample opportunity to explore his anxiety and share with you how it affects him, using empathy and affective listening, I start my intervention sequence.
          “Okay, Kyle,” I began prepping him for changing his thinking. “Let me give you some tidbits to chew on that will help rid you of your debilitating anxiety.”
          “Sure, Doc,” he replied eagerly. “Go for it.”
          “First, close your eyes, breathe deeply and rhythmically, and focus on my directions.” Kyle took a deep breath as he nodded to me.
          “Take your left hand from your side and extend it out shoulder height.” He did so.
          “Take your right hand from your side and extend it out shoulder height.” He did so.
          “Now, with your arms extended, lower them slowly to rest together down in front of you.” Kyle lowered both arms, and then took another deep, slow breath. He then opened his eyes and smiled.
          “What you’ve just done, Kyle, is limit your experience of both your anxiety and your depression.”
          He looked at his hands clasped together in front of him. “Really, how so?”
          “Our experience of depression typically comes from past events we have internalized. Our experience of anxiety typically comes from the negative anticipation we have for our yet unknown future.”
          “Okay…” Kyle tentatively understood.
          “By physically moving the position of your arms from by your side to in front of you, you symbolically chose to live in the now or the moment. In essence, you said to yourself, ‘I will not let my negative history hold me back, nor do my unforeseen future keep me from moving forward.’ Staying in the now can be very freeing. Your feelings have nowhere to root and nowhere to grow.
          We talked more about how living mindfully can help him overcome his anxiety, until I felt he was beginning to embrace the concept.
          “Now, Kyle, let’s tackle your anxious feelings. What are you telling yourself when you get anxious?”
          “Well, let’s see,” he pondered my challenge. “Uh, what if I’m late for work again? What if I don’t get along with Mandy’s, that’s my girlfriend, parents? What if I can’t pay my bills? How’s that for a start?
          “That’s great,” I reassured. Now, stay with me here, I’m going to turn each of your ‘what if’ questions into ‘I wonder’ curiosities. Ready? Follow me here.”
          Kyle nodded in agreement.
          “I wonder how I will plan to be on time for work tomorrow. I wonder how I will win Mandy’s parents over. I wonder how I can budget my money better. Do you see what I did there?
          “I think so,” Kyle thought it through. “You turned my questions into statements. You changed my ‘what if’s’ into ‘I wonder’s.’ Is that right?”
          “Yep. Curiosity beats anxiety every time. But also, notice I included something else. The curiosity statement generates action to cure the anxiety.”
          “I don’t follow.”
          “Let’s take the first ‘what if.’ What if I’m late for work tomorrow? It becomes, I wonder how I will plan to be on time tomorrow. There’s a positive subliminal message to yourself embedded in there, that is, ‘I will be on time for work tomorrow.’ I then directed Kyle to unpack the subliminal messages in his next to “I wonder” statements.
          “Great! I think you are getting it, Kyle. You see, as you well know, the feeling of anxiety is constricting, limiting, and binding. The feeling of curiosity, however, is expanding, freeing, and generates boundless possibilities.”
          As a behavioral prescription, I asked Kyle to write down at least 5 “what if” questions that he encountered between his sessions with me. Then pair each with an “I wonder” statement with a positive presuppositional phrase embedded in it.
          When treating anxiety with MPT, you can set the stage with mindfulness, channel positive energy into the healing process, and use cognitive behavioral strategies to challenge your patient’s thinking and change his behaviors. When your patient confronts his anxiety, coach him into switching questions from “what if?” to “I wonder.”
Blessings,
Jon

This is a guest commentary by Lily Tamrick. She can be reached at [email protected]
The Parent’s Guide to Cultivating a Thriving Learning Environment. Nurturing a passion for knowledge in our children is essential for their development and success in an ever-evolving world. As parents, our role extends beyond providing basic needs; it involves sparking and maintaining an intrinsic desire to learn. This commitment to fostering an environment rich in educational opportunities and support prepares our children for academic success and a lifetime of curiosity and growth. THEREFORMYKIDS.COM shares more insights.
Create a Learning Oasis at Home. Designating a particular area in your home for reading, studying, and creative endeavors is crucial. This space should be comfortable, quiet, and equipped with the tools your child needs to explore their academic and creative interests. Establishing a dedicated learning environment encourages a structured approach to learning and creativity. A designated space helps children associate this area with knowledge and creativity, seamlessly integrating learning into their daily lives.
Cultivate Curiosity. Encourage a home environment where every question is valued as an opportunity for exploration and learning. By fostering a setting where curiosity is encouraged, you demonstrate that seeking knowledge is a positive and essential part of daily life. This approach helps your child feel safe and supported in their quest to understand the world around them. It's important to answer their questions enthusiastically and, when possible, explore the answers together.
Lead by Example Show your dedication to lifelong learning by actively pursuing your educational goals. If balancing multiple responsibilities has kept you from furthering your education, consider the flexibility of online programs. Getting a degree in psychology, for instance, enables you to delve into how minds operate and how emotions influence behaviors, empowering you to offer better support to those in need. Demonstrating your commitment to education enriches your skills and serves as a powerful lesson to your children about the value and impact of continual learning.
Blend Hobbies and Learning. Integrating your child’s hobbies into their academic learning can make education a more enjoyable and relatable experience. This approach allows them to see the practical application of their studies. It encourages them to engage more deeply with the material, reinforcing that learning can be a personal and enjoyable journey. Connecting academic concepts to their interests makes learning more dynamic and relevant. This method helps solidify abstract concepts by linking them to familiar activities, enhancing retention and understanding.
Learn Through Play. Utilize games and playful activities to introduce and reinforce new concepts. This method makes learning engaging and less intimidating, allowing your child to explore complex ideas in a fun and supportive environment. Games also promote problem-solving skills and creative thinking, which are essential for academic success. Playful learning is particularly effective in keeping young learners eager and attentive. Incorporating educational games provides a hands-on learning experience that is both informative and enjoyable.
Expressive Learning. Allow your child to express what they have learned in various creative forms such as drawing, writing stories, or building models. This flexibility in expression helps them internalize their learning and discover their preferred methods of communication, which can boost confidence and enjoyment in their educational journey. Encouraging diverse forms of expression caters to different learning styles and reinforces understanding through creativity. This variety keeps learning exciting and promotes a deeper connection with the material.
Growth Mindset. Teach your child that intelligence is not fixed but can grow with effort, persistence, and the right strategies. Emphasizing a growth mindset encourages them to embrace challenges, persevere through difficulties, and view setbacks as opportunities to learn and improve. This mindset fosters resilience and a positive attitude towards learning challenges. Instilling this belief early on helps children view learning as a continuous, evolving process rather than a finite achievement.
 Navigating Bumps in the Road. There will be bumps in the road on yours and your child’s life journey. When your child is frustrated, rebellious, or acts out, use your calming voice and active listening to help him calm down. If necessary, encourage him to be still and to breathe deeply, role modeling for him. Help him turn his crisis into a learning opportunity with positive psychology. Help him turn “what ifs” (anxiety) into “I wonders” (curiosity), with expected positive outcome, to promote his learning. For example, “What if I don’t get it right?” becomes “I wonder when I will get it right.” Help him soar with positive expectations in the face of adversity.
Praise Effort Over Results. Finally, focus on praising the effort, strategies, and processes your child employs rather than just the outcomes. This shift in focus helps build resilience and a positive attitude towards continuous learning, which are essential traits for academic and personal success. Celebrating effort over perfection encourages children to persist even when faced with difficulties and to find joy in learning. This approach nurtures a healthy perspective where the value of education is seen in the effort and growth, not merely in the final result.
In fostering a love for learning, parents lay the foundation for their children's future, equipping them with the tools to navigate the complexities of life with confidence and curiosity. We can ensure our children grow into lifelong learners by taking active steps to make learning enjoyable and integral to daily life. Let’s help them see that pursuing knowledge is a joyful and enriching path.
 
If you enjoyed this article, you can find more helpful content at THEREFORMYKIDS.COM!

      So, our brain is the most complex organ in our bodies. We house 14-16 billion neurons in our thinking brain. Each cell carries neurochemical signals from one to another, giving action to our thoughts and feelings. Many signals are automatic, where our bodily functions operate. Many also are targeted by our conscious thought. These are the signals in our brains that we can control…that we can change.
          Actually, changing your brain neural pathways is the positive outcome of counseling and psychotherapy. Mentalligent psychotherapy is a means of getting there.
For example, let me give voice to 10-year-old Brandon’s brain. His 7-year-old brother, Jordan, got home from school first and started gaming on their desktop computer. Brandon saw (prefrontal cortex, vision) what his little brother was doing. “Hey,” he thought, “He’s messing with my stuff (transfer to the hippocampus for memory comparison) just like he always does. Well, (hippocampus sorting) he won’t get away with it this time (hippocampus choosing fight option). I’ll show him (transfer to the amygdala, firing up anger).” Brandon then stomped over to the computer, yanked Jordan out of his chair, and shouted, “My turn, twerp. Get lost (transfer to the prefrontal cortex, analysis, poor executive function, verbal and tactile responses).”
         Now, fast forward 20 years, and Brandon is addressing his anger management issues in outpatient psychotherapy.
“You know,” he begins to recount with his therapist an exchange he had had with a coworker, “this new hire, Davidson, has only been with our marketing firm for a month. We were discussing re-hashing ideas for a new ad campaign at the water cooler yesterday morning. I came up with an original approach, and we joked and laughed about how well it might be received in the staff meeting.”
         “Well,” Brandon continued, “don’t you know that later that very afternoon, during our staff meeting, this jerk pitched my idea without giving me any credit, and the boss loved it (prefrontal cortex, auditory).”
            “Wow! How did you handle that?” I asked.
           “Well, I’ll tell you what I wanted to do (transfer to hippocampus). I wanted to jump across the table, wrap my hands around his neck, and choke the truth out of him, that it was my idea and he was taking credit that was meant for me (hippocampus sorting, 10-year-old memory flashed, fight option, transfer to the amygdala, rage chosen, transfer to the prefrontal cortex, analysis, unhealthy executive functioning, visual, auditory, tactile response).
         “Now, instead, I heard his bootlicking (prefrontal cortex, auditory), took several deep breaths (transfer to hippocampus, freeze option), gave myself a pep talk (transfer to the amygdala, reassurance, calm, commitment to change), and smiled at Davidson across the table (transfer to the prefrontal cortex, analysis, healthy executive functioning, visual, tactile response).”
      This therapeutic outcome, borne out of multiple sessions of mentalligent psychotherapy, sheds light on how concerted therapeutic intervention can generate new neural pathways for specific circumstances, the expression of neurogenesis.
              Over time, and with much concerted practice, the former neural pathways wither for lack of use. The new ones strengthen, generating reinforcement, and then they thrive as the new normal for the patient.
          In my book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I share with you the process of changing your brain to reach your goals.
Blessings,
Jon

​Blessings come in all shapes, sizes and forms. While the reference has a spiritual connotation, generically a blessing is a positive spin on an event that benefits you in some way.
          My patients seek me out in part because they are dealing with extreme and confusing emotions, life-altering trauma, or relational issues and are just out of sorts. I have even had some folks tell me they feel cursed. So, my job is to help them find the blessing in their upside- down life.
          Mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT) is my vehicle as they travel the path of their healing journey. I tell folks that I’m not a “why” doctor. I’m not going to just help them feel better. I’m not going to just help them get over their difficult past.
          Rather than “Why did this happen to me?”, I’m a “what” doctor, not a “what” doctor. “What’s going on here? Over what can I exercise control? What’s the path forward?” Universally, we have no control over events that have happened to us. However, we have every control over how we respond to them. I assure folks that I will act as their guide on their healing journey, helping them make positive, self-affirming, better choices and creating their own good life.
          “So, Robert, I’m glad you made this first appointment with me. How can I help?” I started his first session with me. From the jump I want to be affirming. My subliminal message to him is simply, “I can help.”
          “Well, Doc, I’ve been battling depression, it seems like my whole life,” Robert exhaled deeply slumping his shoulders and casting his gaze downward.
          “You certainly seem to be at rock bottom,” I responded with empathy, and then continued. “Tell me how your depression has impacted you today.”
          “Well, let’s see,” Robert paused to put his thoughts together. “The alarm went off and I slammed it and threw it across the bedroom. I then went back to sleep, ending up being late for work. My boss tapped his wristwatch as he silently passed me in the hall. I thought, oh crap, here we go again.” Robert fell silent.
          “Wow!” I exclaimed. “Rough start for the day.” I paused thoughtfully, “I’m going to ask you something that may be farthest from your mind, so take a moment before you answer me.”
          Robert took a deep breath and, letting it out slowly he replied, “Okay…Let me have it.”
          “For just a moment, and just for me for now, tell me something, however small or remote, that happened today that gave you a small sliver of hope that your life is not completely going to hell in a hand basket.”
          He sighed again, sitting quietly before joking sarcastically, “You don’t ask for much, do you?” I gave him time to think.
          “You know, I didn’t ask nor expect Carol to pop in my office and offer me a cup of coffee later this morning. That was nice.”
          I leaned forward in my chair before acknowledging, “Great! Good for you, Robert. Take that coffee with a heartfelt thank you every time it’s offered.” I then concluded, “Ya know, a wise man once told me that what you pay attention to grows. Pay attention to the bad, it grows. Pay attention to the good, and it grows. Which do you think is going to help you lift your weighty depression?
          In my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I introduce mentalligent psychotherapy to elegantly weave together mindfulness, positive psychology, and cognitive behavioral strategies to help patients change their life course from downward spiraling to upward spiraling. Robert began his first session with me by telling me part of his downward spiraling life story. I asked him to stay in the moment (“tell me something that happened today…”), change his focus to something positive (“that gave you a sliver of hope…), and find the good (grow it) as a cognitive behavioral strategy.
          MPT is an elegant strategy to help your patients find the blessing on their path to the good life.
Blessings,
Jon

​To those who live life on the edge, your world can be exciting, adventurous, exhilarating, but also exhausting, addicting, and overwhelming. Always on the lookout for the next greatest thing. Be careful or it might pass you by. Relaxing, enjoying the moment, chillin’ are not on your mind. On balance, do the positives outweigh the negatives? I don’t think so.
          Many years ago, my father imparted powerful wisdom to me, which he borrowed from Greek philosophers. The golden rule of Greek philosophy was this: Moderation in all things.
          In our newer world of counseling and psychotherapy, this golden rule has become the mantra of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). In my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I introduce mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT). Most adversity that we encounter involves some version of living on the edge. With MPT, we challenge the extremes that are filtering into our client’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Albert Ellis, with his rational emotive therapy first identified the importance of extreme words to our emotional health. Later, Donald Meichenbaum expanded the lexicon with cognitive behavioral therapy.
          So, what extreme words and beliefs put us living life on the edge? Such words include should, could, must, need, only, ever, never, and the like. You can see how these words limit the options to our responses.
          “Doc, you just don’t understand. I have to knock three times at every door I enter. “If I don’t bad things will happen,” my patient concluded after explaining an anxious situation to me.
          “Well, Matt, I see how your conclusions put you in a mental box.”
          Matt wrinkled his brow, not really knowing what I meant. I continued. “What would happen if you only knocked twice each time?”
          “What do you mean?”
          “Well, would your heart stop?”
          “No, that’s silly.”
          “Not to you, Matt,” I countered. “That box is so tight around you that you might suffocate if you don’t knock three times.” I saw Matt begin to hyperventilate and began a calming sequence with him.
          As Matt regained his composure, I concluded, “Now, Matt, I’m not suggesting that you give up your irrational ritual altogether. Start slowly. Every once in a while, why don’t you knock only two times and see what happens. Make it a personal experiment before you decide to moderate your behavior.”
          “Okay, I’ll give it a try,” Matt reluctantly conceded.
          The goal of CBT is moderation. With MPT, I use mindfulness and positive psychology along with cognitive behavioral strategies to reach that goal.
          When you step away from the edge and embrace moderation, you develop the possibility of changing your trajectory from downward spiraling to upward spiraling. You start your healing journey toward overcoming your adversities and finding better stress management and a stronger sense of resilience.
Blessings,
Dr. Jon

​Okay. So, I’m showing my age here, but there was this title song by Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers way back in the big band era of 1944. It topped the music charts that year and has been a cover song more recently for Paul McCartney in 2012, Barry Manilow in 2014, and Van Morrison in 2023. That means “Accentuate the Positive” is a music legacy. The first line is “Accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. That’s what it’s all about.”
          In Positive Psychology, a field heralded by researcher Martin Seligman in 2000, therapy interventions are all about accentuating the positive. In The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I identify positive psychology as one of three primary treatment strategies artfully interwoven to comprise Mentalligent Psychotherapy (MPT).
          Our patients are stuck in the mire of trauma, heavy emotions, and multiple stressors. These are the sources of downward spiraling on their journeys. Clinicians who practice MPT become their guides on a healing journey, helping them get unstuck, and begin an upward spiraling on their path to the good life. We do that, in part, by helping them accentuate the positive in their lives and eliminate the negative.
          Our work is more than simply giving patients happy thoughts. Seligman chose the Greek word, eudaimonia, to capture the therapeutic emphasis of positive psychology. The word translates “human flourishing.” How expansive. How descriptive of focusing on living the good life.
          In my clinical practice, I encourage patients to complete two behavioral assessment instruments. One is from Arnold Lazarus’ work, The Multimodal Life History Questionnaire (MLHQ), while the other is Seligman’s Values-In-Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS). The former helps patients objectify what’s wrong in their lives, while the latter captures what’s right. With these foundations, we can help our patients find their path out of the muck and mire of their lives and equip them with the resources to improve their stress management and strengthen their resilience.
          After giving your patient ample time to go down their rabbit hole of distress and despair, hearing their woe with active listening and empathy, give her an opportunity to settle. She will feel relief simply from getting it all out. However, settling is helpful but not enough. With mentalligent psychotherapy, you then switch to challenging them to flourish even in their despair.
          “So, Sharon. What you’ve shared with me is horrible. I can’t imagine going through it all.”
          “Tell me about it. Yeah. It was rough.”
          “Well, I have both a truth and a challenge for you.”
          “What’s the truth?”
          “It’s good news. You have absolutely no control over all this mess you are having to deal with. You do, however, have every control over how you respond to it all.”
          “Okay,” Sharon thought about the truth. “What’s the challenge?”
          “I wonder how you can find some good in all the bad you’ve had to deal with?”
          Human flourishing, eudaimonia, defines positive psychology and defines your taking control over your responses to adversity. By doing so, you will put yourself on a quest to find the good in the bad things that happen to you. Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative. That’s what positive psychology is all about.
Blessings,
Jon 

​Those British folks. They’re interesting, funny sometimes. They have slogans and ways of referring to things that are unique to them. The car hood is the “boot.” The subway is the “tube.” Just different, maybe quirky to me. But there’s one slogan that I’m adopting, “MIND THE GAP.”
          For the Brits, this slogan is cautionary. Every train and tube station in England has this slogan in bold colored, big font six inch letters painted on the platform next to the edge. When the train is in the station and dispersing passengers, they must “mind the gap” as they get on or off the train. You see, there’s a space between the train doors and the station platforms. When you mind the gap, you are less likely to misstep and injure yourself. So, Brits, mind the gap.
          I’m adopting this slogan, however, as a cautionary tale in the healing process on your journey in mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT). Part of your journey is embracing mindfulness as a context for healing. In my book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I introduce mindfulness to the reader.
          Many patients, especially newbies, at first see mindfulness as either Duh! Or gimmicky. They tend to dismiss it until they see the benefit as a gateway to emerging from a difficult past.
          “Okay, Sandra. Let me try another way to explain mindfulness, “I took a different tack.
          “I know, Doc,” Sandra started being dismissive. “It’s just being here. You, you know, present.”
          “Well, it’s more than that,” I added. “So, let me show you.”
          “Okay.”
          So, outstretch your arms, shoulder height, to each side.”
          “Like this?” Sandra followed my directions.
          “Yep. Now, from midpoint to your left hand represents your past. From midpoint to your right hand represents your future. So, bring both of your hands to meet in the middle, in front of you.” I paused as she did so. “If the movement of your healing journey is represented by your hands, where are you?”
          “Right now, with my hands together in front of me?” Sandra clarified, “I guess I’m right here, the present.”
          “You are more than just present. Your arms have erased your past and not anticipated your future. You are now free to focus your mind on your present. Not just here in body, but also in mind and spirit.”
          I then encourage my patients to use “mind the gap” as a cautionary catch phrase. Depression comes from allowing your past to consume you. Anxiety is generated by anticipating the future. Staying in your present allows you embrace your moment.
          Philosopher Eckhart Tolle puts it succinctly:
If your mind carries a heavy burden of the past, you will experience more of the same. The past perpetuates itself
through lack of presence. The quality of your consciousness at this moment is what shapes your future.
          I picked up a book of mindful sayings called Pausitivity: Take A Moment to Nurture Yourself (Compendium, 2011).
Tension is who you think you should be.
Relaxation is who you are.
          Being mindful releases tension and encourages relaxation. With this context, you healing journey begins.
Blessings, Dr. Jon

How many times have you changed your mind today? This past hour? The last minute? We are constantly changing our minds.
          I just woke up. Do I want to get up now or try to get back to sleep for a while?
          I’m in my closet. I think I’ll wear the red shirt. No, wait. Maybe the green one. I’m going to work in my car. Do I want to listen to music or a news station?
          Constantly changing our minds. For daily decisions, not a big deal. For life-changing decisions, very much a big deal. Beginning and continuing therapy until your goals are met is a very big deal, and your change involves creating new neuropathways and developing a new normal.
          In The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I introduce you to a new path of healing, mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT). This is the practice behind Dr. Kristen Lee’s new psychology of thinking, Mentalligence™. I liken mentalligence to a computer system, where the hardware are the physical attributes of your brain, that is, what you’ve got. The software is the accumulation of all your life experiences, that is, how you use what you’ve got.
          Back in the day, developmental neurobiologists concluded that our brains stop growing after about 25 years. After that, you have all the neurons and connections that you are going to have for the rest of your life. However, in the last 20 years of research, we’ve identified the brain’s neuroplasticity, that is, our ability to change our brains and grow for our lifetime. Our brains are neuroplastic in that regard.
          While we are now more inclined to seek psychotherapy for various reasons than ever before, people tend to do so because they want to change themselves in some way. They’ve tried various avenues for change but to no avail. Your therapist is your guide on your healing journey. MPT is a healing strategy that utilizes mindfulness, positive psychology, and cognitive behavioral treatments intertwined to effect lasting change in your brain’s neurochemistry. By staying in the present, finding the positive outcome in your stressors, and maintaining rationality, MPT offers upward spiraling in your life’s healing journey. As you move from conscious awareness to unconscious awareness in your stages of therapy, your brain lets go of unhealthy neural pathways and creates new, healthy neuropathways (neuroplasticity) to sustain the Good Life over time. With mentalligent psychotherapy you will change your mind day by day with a positive outcome.
 
Blessings,
Dr. Jon

​Deciding to begin therapy is a big deal. Typically, it means that there’s a lot of stress in your life. Stress is taking its toll on you, physically and mentally. You might feel like you are going to burst.
          Oftentimes your loved one asks if you are all right, and you blow her off. You might give her a few tidbits around the edges, but not the main thing that’s bothering you. You feel antsy and can’t get comfortable. Joy and good feelings are fleeting. There’s a part of you that wonders if things will ever feel better, maybe that you are defective.
          Most people, guys in particular, have a hard time allowing others in and being vulnerable. It’s fine for people to have secret parts that nobody knows about, but not if the secret disrupts your life. Beginning therapy can be a process whereby you start letting people in and allowing yourself to be vulnerable. That’s why beginning therapy is such a big deal.
             Typically, there are bothersome things on your mind which won’t go away. You try reaching out to friends and family to help sort out your feelings. Sometimes that’s all you need, and you feel better getting that load off your chest. You’re getting back to your old self. You have a few good night’s sleep. You feel hungry again, for the first time in a while. You’re hanging out with friends and family and enjoying having fun again.
            However, if your moods come and go, you seem to have lost your rhythm, and the funk returns, then you might consider what I call The 6-Week Rule. That is, try shaking things up, sharing with friends and family, getting a check-up with your family physician, and see how your days go. If your funk continues for more than 6 weeks, then think about beginning therapy.
         Because this is (you are) a big deal, do your research to find your therapist. Research indicates that 75% of effective healing therapy comes from the doctor-patient relationship, while only 25% comes from your therapist’s bag of tricks. Get recommendations from your physician, and from friends and coworkers. Even go to the length of interviewing prospective therapists for one session each before committing to the process.
          If you are in an emergency situation or feel suicidal, call the suicide hotline at #811, tell loved ones, and find a therapist quickly. Sudden, unexpected events like an unexpected loss or a traumatic attack or incident require mental health triage. Under these circumstances, the 6-week rule does not apply
          I had a patient back in the day who had been in therapy back in Florida before his company moved him to Virginia. His appointment with me was on a Thursday and he told me I was his fourth therapist appointment that week. He had been in therapy for a year back in Florida and he wanted things “to click” again, since he had moved. After his appointment with me I didn’t see him for two months. He then came back in and started the session with, “Oops, I chose the wrong one.” I saw him weekly for 6 months with symptom relief and a smooth transition to his changing circumstances.
          In my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I make use of extensive counselor-client dialogue to give readers a sneak peek into just how effective therapy is done. I offer the four stages of therapy and share a new treatment strategy, Mentalligent Psychotherapy. Check out my new book on my website, www.authorjonrobinson.com, and buy your copy on www.amazonbooks.com.
Blessings,
Dr. Jon

In the realm of counseling and psychotherapy, clinicians have an extensive alphabet to work with. The latest forms of therapy are often known by their acronyms. These include Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Evidence-Based Therapy (EBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), among others.          Well, now there’s a new kid on the block. Meet MPT, a.k.a., Mentalligent Psychotherapy. MPT takes the essence of mindfulness, positive psychology, and cognitive behavioral interventions and weaves them into an elegant healing journey for your patient. While each strategy has been around for a while, together and collectively they form the art and science of MPT.
          My colleague, Dr. Kristin Lee, at Northeastern University, published her “new psychology of thinking,” which she coined Mentalligence ™. Combining the words “mental” and “intelligence,” Dr. Lee captured the whole brain in the process of behavior change. Our brain’s software, the mental part, identifies our responses to life experiences, while its hardware, the intelligence part, is core functioning abilities.
          Put another way, the intelligence identifies what you’ve got, while the mental identifies what you do with what you’ve got, that is your interpretation of your aggregate life experiences. Together, mentalligence™ “is a new psychology of thinking model that teaches ways to launch upward spirals through a process of unlearning and pivoting away from social conditioning and indoctrination that damage human progress” (Lee, 2017).
          In my book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I use the metaphor of soaring in a glider to introduce the journey of MPT. People come to see us when they are stuck. Their stuckness generates negative affect, principally a sense of hopelessness. It comes in various forms, but it doesn’t go away without concerted effort.
          When soaring in a glider, the goal is to find spiraling thermal air currents. When you do, you can ride that current, spiraling upward, for a long time, a wonderful, five-sensory experience living in the moment.
          Stuckness is like spiraling downward uncontrollably, desperately trying to not crash. With MPT, we are not doctors, trying to diagnose our patients and fix them from their illness. Rather, we are their guide, helping them to find those upward spiraling thermal air currents where they can revel and flourish. The stress of life and adversities we experience don’t magically go away. Rather, with MPT we help our clients use their stuckness as a launching point on their healing journey, focusing not so much on why they are stuck, but rather more on what they can do to get unstuck and continue their upward spiraling.
          Mentalligent Psychotherapy expands the theory of mentalligence into the clinical practice and treatment strategies of MPT. Interested? The general public will want to buy The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life to get a sneak peek into effective therapy, while graduate students in the behavioral health sciences and practicing clinicians will want to add MPT to their toolbox of practical interventions. Available at amazonbooks.com. Search by my name or the book title.
 
Blessings,
Dr. Jon