five paths to your healing journey with mpt

​​             You feel like crap. Stuff has happened both to you and around you which just adds to your burdens. It’s been this way for a while and you’re…just…done. You share some of your stuff with a good friend of yours. He doesn’t have answers. He doesn’t judge. He just listens.
          And so, your healing journey begins. You get a referral to begin psychotherapy, google your prospective therapist, and decide to get just one appointment with him…just to check him out, see if it’s a good fit for you.
          Mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT) is a term I coined some time ago in consultation with my colleague, Dr. Kristin Lee. In this process, your therapist helps you engage both the software of your brain, the mental, and the hardware, the intelligence, to bring all of your resources to bear on your healing journey. In doing so, over time, you create new neural pathways, called neurogenesis, that form new habits and thought structures to maintain your healing journey.
          In my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity to the Path to the Good Life (AmazonBooks, 2024), I identify 5 paths on your healing journey. These are proposed changes in your core beliefs. In each of four subsequent podcasts, we will explore each of these paths.
          First, move away from focusing on what’s wrong and embrace what’s right.
In traditional counseling and psychotherapy, therapists follow a medical model and take time to confirm your diagnosis. This is a delineation of what’s wrong with you. Insurance companies even require this diagnostic code from your therapist in order to be paid by insurance. As a population, we are trained to think about diagnosis, what’s wrong with me.
         With MPT, I gently help patients focus on what’s right with them. This is puzzling to new patients at first. Folks are very skilled at rattling off their list of woes. Rather than rehash old stuff, I encourage patients to find and embrace their strengths and successes.
Barry came to his third session with me. During the first session, he outlined his presenting problem in great detail. He gave me a thorough account of his syptoms, relationships, precipitating events, and sundry maladies.
During his second session, having reviewed with him his returned behavioral questionnaire, I gave him an assignment.
        “Between now and when we get back together, Barry, I want you to journal at the end of each day. Think about the various things that went right for you today and jot your thoughts and feelings about each item in your journal,” I concluded.
When he came for his third session, I began, “So, Barry, ya got something for me?” I noticed he had his journal in hand.
          “Well, kinda. I mean, I don’t understand why you wanted me to document what went right for me this past week. How does that address my problems?” Barry handed me his notes.
            “Fair point. Let me explain. From your first two sessions, it became clear to me that you know fully what your problems are and how they manifest in your daily life. It’s clear to me that you have been  downward-spiraling and are stuck in the mire of your life to date. You seem to start each day with, “okay, here we go again.”
“You got that right.”
            “So,” I concluded, “let’s try a new perspective. As we continue your healing journey, I want you to move away from focusing on what’s wrong and embrace what’s right with your days.”
           Typically, what we pay attention to grows. New habits can be cultivated. Focusing on thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, instead of on symptoms and diagnoses, generates lasting positive change on your healing journey.
   To find more of this excerpt, buy your copy of my new book at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CY9PQXMZ
Blessings,
Jon

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