Dr. Paul Conti

Now we're in a place where we can solve problems.

I think that's true.

Yes.

I think if we don't have a method of understanding, then we will not understand.

Right.

So just as if you go to see a doctor for a physical medicine complaint, there's a method of understanding like, okay, you have a human body.

It has organs in it.

Right.

We have an idea of how those organs function.

Right.

There's a basic premise.

The same is true for mental health because you have a human brain and a human mind.

so there is now a process to go through that that that starts with an unconscious mind we all have an unconscious mind and the vast majority of what goes on inside of us goes on in the unconscious mind and that sets the climate inside of us then what sits on top of that is the conscious mind what i'm actually thinking about now which is a very small subset of everything that's going on inside of me and that climate inside of me has a big effect on what is in my conscious mind how am i thinking about it how am i feeling

about it then we have an array of defense mechanisms that we use to protect ourselves in the world and that also comes from the unconscious mind and it grows up around the conscious mind to protect it then we have a character structure based on that a set of characteristics of us as we interface with the world and then there's a sense of self that this is an eye

Then I am an I, and just as I can conceive of the I physically, how my body is doing, how my organs are doing, how my health is doing, the same is true for our mental health.

So the idea is we can understand physical health problems because we have a route of approach.

Right.

So we need that route of approach for mental health, saying just as we can examine, you get labs done, get studies done.

We can do the same.

You have a structure of self and a function of self, just like you have a structure of your body and a function of your body.