I’m glad you can understand my black sheep view of mental health and psychology. And I think that your personal experience breaking away from the Witnesses helps give you the depth to see it so clearly. The problem is that when people live at the surface level of their emotions, it’s harder for them to understand why going deeper is so worth it. I do think things will move with more as researchers ask smarter questions about the brain, emotion, and experience.

Boy, blogging has sort of changed my view of publishing. I have a big writing project that needs to be completed before I can start the next one planned, and in the meantime I’m working on getting a newsletter started. New stuff will be announced here on the blog. :)

Thanks again Heidi and let me know if there’s any way I can provide feedback on choosing a mental health resource in your local area.

From my work and experiences in mental health and psychology, I think you’re exactly right. I was just hopeful that things had moved more into the kind of thing you’re doing here.

I hope you’re intending to publish. Let me know if you ever need any academic support, references or anything like that. I’m truly impressed.

I’m pursuing graduate study to one day become a licensed therapist, and as much as I’ve looked into the therapeutic approaches out there, in some ways I feel like a black sheep, as I’m so gung-ho about emotions. :)

At the moment my framework is an undergraduate degree in cognitive science, and my training is a blend of several modalities, including very New Agey ones, and my unique life experiences. Cognitive science is pivotal in how I see things, because it’s essentially the study of human nature, or how the brain constructs reality. I think you need that solid groundwork to look at the world in a more objective, deconstructed way. Whereby even the act of therapy is deconstructed so that the relationship can be entered by therapist and client in a mindful, open, and consenting way. And then the New Age/Spiritual background is a bit much to get into, but it’s where I draw much of my personal faith and optimism.

As far as current therapeutic approaches go, Mindful Construct is basically an exploration of Personal Construct Psychology with a strong basis in the appraisal theory of emotion. Acceptance & Commitment Therapy seems to be similar to the theme here in a few important ways. But — I’ve not researched ACT to my level of satisfaction yet. And I think one pitfall is anytime emotions are to be defused with mindfulness-based approaches *prematurely*, which I touch on in this article series, and just today, this comment discussion. Then there’s William Glasser’s Choice Theory, which I very much align with, but haven’t yet looked into enough either. Limited time keeps my reading list long. :)

The bottom line is, I’ve noticed that mental health in general is still wary of doing real, actual, intimate, emotional work. Most modalities like to keep the emotional experience segregated from the rational talk therapy or the good-sounding counseling.

And I intend to do graduate work exploring this in depth, to really analyze how and why that’s so characteristic of therapy. I’m sure there are therapists out there who do understand it is far, far more valuable, conscientious, and productive to get *into* the emotions and learn from them, rather than than try get things all figured out without that crucial link to your personal constructs. I just haven’t met any yet. :)

I wish I could be of more assistance. If you ever want to run by a paper about a certain therapeutic approach, some other description, or even a particular therapist’s webpage, feel free to send it my way and I can look for any pitfalls that contrast with the principles here.