Month: February 2018

Mentalization and how it can you make you a better writer.

/ Jame A. Agapoff, MD, MS (she/they) / Leave a comment

In its simplest form, mentalization refers to our ability to perceive another’s way of thinking. Being able to put ourselves in another person’s shoes (as the saying goes), is often more difficult than it sounds. Our ability to understand the internal states of others through their thoughts and feelings can help us better form internal representations of our fictional characters’ minds.

According to psychiatrist Glen O Gabbard, M.D., mentalizing is often referred to as having a Theory of Mind. Having a Theory of Mind starts with understanding one’s own mind. As alluded to above, our thinking and behavior are representational. They are a product of our unique experiences, thoughts, and emotions.

The first step to becoming a better mentalizer is to accept that people think differently and that if we interpret other’s actions through our own “lens” of experience, we may misinterpret their motivations and intentions. This framework gives us the opportunity to see things from another person’s perspective.

Like people we meet, fictional characters also have internal representations of the world. As writers, the better we understand what guides our character’s actions and behaviors, the more believable they will become to our readers. One way to help you learn to mentalize with your characters is to base them on a person in your life. Think about how that person views the world, how they react to various stressors and circumstances, and then apply that to your character. As you become more adept at this process, writing from your character’s perspective will be as easy as changing your shoes. Whether or not your character has the capacity to mentalize is for you to decide :-).

 

Scientists and Writers. A Lesson from the Engineer Psychiatrist.

/ Jame A. Agapoff, MD, MS (she/they) / Leave a comment

“I see you were an engineering consultant before medical school. Psychiatry seems like an odd choice for someone with your background. I would think you might be interested in a more technical medical discipline.”

The applicant shifted slightly in his seat and smiled. “You’re not the first person to ask me that. People don’t realize it, but engineering is less exact than you think. Sometimes things look great on paper, but when you try them out, they don’t work. It takes a lot of imagination.”

“It sounds like it,” I smiled, making a small note in the applicant’s file.

As a Chief Resident in a psychiatry training program, I interview many prospective medical school graduates for residency positions. Psychiatry being an eclectic field, I rarely meet an applicant who does not inspire me in some way.

After the applicant left my office, I thought about the writer and scientist Stephen Jay Gould who famously said, “Science is not a heartless pursuit of objective information. It is a creative human activity, its geniuses acting more as artists than as information processors.”

Writing is an essential component of a scientist’s daily life. In fact, most scientists spend more time writing than conducting experiments. To receive funding, they write grants. To justify their grants, they write research papers. This requires creative tact, as the scientist must translate their findings into something readily digestible for other scientists, and in many cases, non-scientists.

What the scientist and the writer share in common are curiosity and creativity. Most writers spend a significant amount of time doing research. This curiosity allows them to create realistic characters, settings, and plots.  In some cases, the writer’s curiosity can lead him to create ideas that will become realities. Think of visionary scientific writers like Isaac Asimov who predicted many of our modern technological advances.

Requoting the engineer psychiatrist, “Sometimes things look great on paper, but when you try them out, they don’t work. It takes a lot of imagination.” Out of context, this does sound a lot like creative writing, doesn’t it? I guess the writer and the scientist have a lot in common after all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writing and the Power of Positive Thinking

/ Jame A. Agapoff, MD, MS (she/they) / Leave a comment

Contrary to Popular Culture, Positive Psychology is not about the “The Secret,” or the Law of Attraction.  Martin Seligman defined Positive Psychology as “The scientific study of optimal human functioning that aims to discover and promote the factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive.” Of the scientific research done in this field, the work of Barbara Fredrickson stands out as particularly poignant in showing how positive emotions can facilitate creativity.

In her Broaden-and-Build Theory, Dr. Fredrickson hypothesizes that positive emotions have a way of expanding our thinking, moving our minds from automatic responses to more creative ways of thinking and acting. Some positive emotions that appear particularly important for creativity include joy, interest, contentment, pride, and love.

According to Dr. Fredrickson, joy broadens our creative and intellectual behavior through the urge to play and push the limits. Interest creates in us the urge to explore, assimilate new information and experiences, and expand the self. Contentment, on the other hand, broadens us by creating the urge to savor current life circumstances and integrate them into new views of self and of the world (very helpful in writing). Pride, as seen through the lens of personal achievement, broadens our urge to share with others and expand our vision of future achievements.  Taken together, or apart, these positive emotions help broaden habitual modes of thinking or acting (Fredrickson 2001).

One important observation of Fredrickson’s work is the reciprocal nature of positive emotions and thoughts. Each promotes the other. So, how might we increase our positive emotions and thoughts? Short answer: writing.

Dr. Robert Emmons has written extensively on the power of gratitude in improving contentment and joy. One way to improve gratitude is to journal daily on those things that are positive in our lives or which we are thankful for. This simple practice can have transformative effects and has been shown to improve health and wellness (Emmons & Stern, 2013).

Writing about life goals also seems to cultivate positive thoughts and emotions. In a study by Dr. Laura King, it was found that writing about life goals for four consecutive days was associated with feeling “less upset, more happy, and getting sick less often.” These effects continued to persist five months after the study was completed.

Journaling or reflective writing also appears to have myriad benefits. In studies performed by Dr. Pennebaker, writing freely about past traumas can improve physical and emotional wellness (Pennebaker, 2017). These results appear to be enduring and replicated by other researchers. It is important to note that Dr. King’s research on writing about life goals shows that the content of journaling does not necessarily have to be “traumatic” to elicit positive benefits.

Meditation, specifically Loving Kindness Meditation (LKM), has also been shown to cultivate positive emotions and consequently creative thinking. In a well-designed randomized controlled trial developed by Dr. Fredrickson, participants who engaged in LKM for six weeks, demonstrated enhanced positive emotions in relation to controls. Other benefits of this practice included increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased depressive symptoms (Fredrickson et al., 2008). Follow this link for a daily practice of LKM. Here is an example of a guided LKM.

Fredrickson BL. The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology: The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions. Am Psychol . 2001 March; 56(3): 218–226.

Emmons RA, Stern R. Gratitude as a psychotherapeutic intervention. J Clin Psychol. 2013 Aug;69(8):846-55. doi: 10.1002/jclp.22020. Epub 2013 Jun 17.

King, LA. The Health Benefits of Writing about Life Goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2001; 27, 798-807.

Pennebaker, JW. Expressive Writing in Psychological Science. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2017 Sep 1:1745691617707315. doi: 10.1177/1745691617707315. [Epub ahead of print]

Fredrickson BL, Cohn MA, Coffey KA, et al. Open Hearts Build Lives: Positive Emotions, Induced Through Loving-Kindness Meditation, Build Consequential Personal Resources. J Pers Soc Psychol . 2008 November ; 95(5): 1045–1062.