In recognition of World Mental Health Day I wanted to share a quick technique I use with clients, which I have called my “Mental Health Checkdown”© (working title). But first I think it’s important to set out the context that it emerged from, specifically how I conceptualize the idea of “mental health” (recognizing that I am by no means alone in this view – but that it does stand in serious tension with the more prevalent “medical model” of mental health).
The ”medical model” is the idea that “mental disorders are believed to be the product of physiological factors.” While many/most therapists might not strictly adhere to this idea, it’s influence is felt throughout the mental health profession. Some of that impact is felt in the language used by therapists – referring to people they work with as “patients,” and discussing “treatment,” and other terminology (some of which is driven by insurance needs). But the more troubling aspect is that when people experience things like depression or anxiety it is treated as if there is something wrong with the person (therapists will even say that the person “has” depression or anxiety, as if these are actual illnesses).
An alternative perspective is that many mental health issues are “reasonable responses to unreasonable circumstances.” From this perspective depression and anxiety are understood as responses to things that the person is (or has or expects to) going through. This brings me to the Mental Health Checkdown.
This is a process that I use with clients, particularly when they can’t quite identify the source of their current depression or anxiety. A simple version of this is that you start at the physical – how is the client feeling physically, understanding that feeling physically “off” can impact how a person is feeling emotionally; then you look at the person’s direct life (their home); then you continue moving out to the workplace, school, social life, etc., and then finally to things happening in the world more broadly – including things like experiences with racism and other forms of discrimination, climate change, etc.
Using this process can sometimes help identify something – or some things – that are adversely impacting the person’s emotions in the moment.
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