Accessing and stimulating intact aspects of one's functioning to promote wellbeing

What is it about?

Mind Stimulation Therapy (MST) provides concrete examples of the use of varied strategies that can be easily incorporated into one's clinical practice, and these strategies are specifically relevant for working with patients with persistent mental illness. Some of the strategies of MST model outlined are: 1) Body-Movement-Relaxation Exercise: to promote mental alertness, goal attainment experience, relaxation, and its use as positive redirection strategy to ward off preoccupation with negative feelings and thoughts; 2) use of multimodal techniques in therapeutic interactions rather than solely relying on auditory-based conversation mode in therapy and counseling that may be compromised in psychiatric patients; 3) use of cognitive stimulating paper-and-pencil exercises as well as discussion of general knowledge topics to stimulate logical associations and memory functions and generalized cognitive functioning promote adaptive thinking as well as to prime patients to respond more positively to therapy interventions. Mental illness and personal wellbeing issues are discussed within a frame of psycho-education teaching involving use of visual aids. In addition to promoting personal wellbeing and improved behavior functioning for psychiatric patients, MST model is intended to promote a sense of greater degree of competency for mental health clinicians in working with 'challenging mental health clients.

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Why is it important?

Psychiatric patients with a history of persistent mental illness present challenge to mental health community, as many such people continue to present some form of psychiatric illness in spite of being involved in psychiatric treatment. Mind Stimulation Therapy provides some innovative approaches to work with this challenging mental health patients that mental health clinicians can find easy to incorporate into their ongoing clinical practice.

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