Out of My Mind(set): The Complexities of Mental Illness, Life, and Mindsets
A person’s attitudes and beliefs drive their actions. Actions have consequences that affect the world around them. It follows, then, that if the person’s attitudes and beliefs are altered, then so is their reality. But is it possible for someone to purposefully change their mindset? Should mindsets even be changed? Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., claims that it is completely possible as well as necessary. In her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, she presents a model of two different mindsets. The fixed mindset holds the belief that one’s qualities are set, while the growth mindset holds the belief that one’s qualities can be developed. Dweck urges the reader to adopt a growth mindset, stating that the growth mindset is the one that leads to greater success and satisfaction.
While the growth mindset does sound ideal to me, I have seen from my own experience that mindsets can only be changed if the individual is able to take the necessary steps and the conditions are conducive to change. Issues with mental health are particularly disruptive to a person’s ability to change. This is different from Dweck’s claim that anyone can consciously change their mindset. Additionally, she leads the reader to believe that the growth mindset is the solution to every problem, but things are more complex in reality. Everyone is going through something different, so whether mindsets must change or not depends on the individual and their situation. I agree that the growth mindset is healthier in many cases, but Dweck’s picture of it being better than the fixed mindset in almost every way is debatable.
According to Dweck, those with the growth mindset believe that ability can be changed, so they do all that they can to learn and improve their own abilities. They put in the effort required to achieve what they want, and they accept challenges as opportunities for improvement. If they fail, they see the failure as something to learn from and can recover from it, ready to do better on the next challenge. This positive attitude is what drives people with the growth mindset to work toward their goals and succeed. The growth mindset by itself is not unrealistic. At its core is the belief “that a person’s true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it’s impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training.” I think that this is a reasonable statement, so I agree that the growth mindset is a good mindset to have. It is when Dweck contrasts the fixed mindset as the path to failure and unhappiness that I start to question her argument.
When asked about keeping the fixed mindset, Dweck says, “It’s just important to be aware of the drawbacks of this mindset.” Her book gives the impression that the fixed mindset only has drawbacks. Those with the fixed mindset believe that traits cannot be changed, so they must constantly prove that they have abilities. Success boosts their self-esteem and makes them feel superior, because it means that they have an ability that others lack. Failing at a test means that they do not have the ability and never will, so their self-esteem plummets. To avoid failure, people with the fixed mindset avoid anything that could be a test of their abilities. They also avoid effort, because they do not want to say that they tried their best and still failed. This makes sense so far, but Dweck’s general picture of the fixed mindset does not include people who work hard because they have something to prove. Her response regarding “high-powered people who think their traits are fixed and are looking for constant validation” is that “they have the other parts of the fixed mindset” and that they work hard for other, fixed-mindset reasons. I think that these people show how either mindset can lead to similar results in terms of success. Yet, Dweck does not address the point further and goes back to her simplified idea that people with the growth mindset are more successful, leaving a weakness in her argument.
There is another, more critical weakness in Dweck’s overall argument that mindsets can and must be changed, and it is in the way mental illness interacts with the mindsets. A study with college students showed a correlation between the fixed mindset and high levels of depression. Dweck explains the correlation, saying “this was because [students with the fixed mindset] ruminated over their problems and setbacks, essentially tormenting themselves with the idea that the setbacks meant they were incompetent or unworthy.” She then talks about how these students fall behind in school and chores, and how “the more depressed they felt, the more they let things go; the less they took action to solve their problems.” Depressed students with the growth mindset were different because “they kept up with their lives”, and “The worse they felt, the more determined they became!” In other words, Dweck is saying that students with the fixed mindset were giving themselves worse depression by staying in that mindset and choosing to lose control of their lives. She applies this conclusion to depression in general, stating that the fixed mindset “seems to rob [people] of their coping resources.”
I disagree with Dweck’s conclusion because it misrepresents mental illness. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), “A mental illness is a condition that affects a person’s thinking, feeling or mood. Such conditions may affect someone’s ability to relate to others and function each day.” If a mental illness affects thinking and function, then the depressed students’ ruminations and inability to keep up with school may be caused by their illness, not just the fixed mindset. Furthermore, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) includes “Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt” as a symptom of depression, but this symptom is not present in everyone with depression. It is a symptom that looks very much like what Dweck describes is a sign of the fixed mindset. Because depression itself can produce symptoms that appear like the fixed mindset, it is hard to say if a mentally ill person’s mindset worsens their depression or if severe depression puts them into that mindset. Is the fixed mindset really to blame for someone’s condition? I think that there is no clear answer, given the complexities of mental illness. But, even if the fixed mindset does play a role, it is not the mentally ill person’s choice to stay in that mindset and have their life fall apart. Depression is a serious, debilitating illness, and Dweck takes it too lightly when trying to fit it with her argument that mindsets must be changed.
Although Dweck takes depression and mental illness too lightly, she does not do so for the equally serious topic of bullying, bringing some strength back into her argument. She describes bullies and victims as they are while relating them to the mindsets. As she says, “There’s a big dose of fixed-mindset thinking in the bullies: Some people are superior and some are inferior. And the bullies are the judges.” This statement creates a sense of urgency to change mindsets and stop bullying. In addition, changing mindsets can stop violent victim retaliation as well, because victims with a fixed mindset “have been cruelly reduced and they wish to reduce in return.” Dweck does not fault victims for being in the fixed mindset, either, saying “Even if a victim doesn’t have a fixed mindset to begin with, prolonged bullying can instill it.” Victims have no control. Although this acknowledgment slightly contradicts her claim that anyone can consciously change their mindset, it adds more reason that mindsets must be changed. If bullies’ mindsets are changed, and Dweck does explain how it can be done, then they would stop bullying and there would be no victims. This is the type of situation where I agree that mindsets can and must be changed, even though I disagree in other cases.
When I disagree, I do not mean to say that the growth mindset is not good, or that Dweck’s mindsets model is entirely wrong. I am saying that reality is far too complex to determine whether the growth mindset is the best or only solution for all situations. Things often turn out in unexpected ways, and many factors are involved in each situation. These factors interact and affect each other, as seen with mental illness, bullying, and mindsets. Still, my analysis so far is based only on readings. I am interested to see how well Dweck’s argument holds when mindsets are applied to my own, real experience with mental illness and bullying.
I was mentally ill throughout high school, and the worst was my severe clinical depression. It changed my energy levels. I was falling asleep in class, during appointments, and even in the pool during swim practice. I could not take care of my basic needs, let alone the high demands of a tough school. I was letting everything go, just like the fixed-minded students in Dweck’s study. Was it because of the fixed mindset? At the time, I blamed myself for being lazy, but now I realize that it was most likely a physical problem, if I was so tired that I was falling asleep in the pool. A different mindset would not have changed the fact that I had to fight to stay awake and alert.
However, mindsets still have a role in my story. I cannot remember if I had a growth or fixed mindset before my first depressive episode, as I hardly remember anything from that time, but depression certainly pushed me deep into the fixed mindset. The key characteristic of depression is a persisting, profound “depressed mood”, and because my mental anguish persisted from day to day, I developed a very fixed mindset that told me it would never end. To make things worse, my depression was indeed resisting treatment at the time, and I was not able to be mentally present during therapy. Looking back, I do not see how I could have changed my mindset when I was so unresponsive and trapped in my own mind. This was not by choice, either. Something was wrong with me on a physical, biological level. As the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) states, “Many factors may play a role in depression, including genetics, brain biology and chemistry.” These factors affect the brain, the complex organ that controls everything that a person thinks, feels, and does. Thus, whatever happens to the brain also changes the person’s mindset, and the change may be from a growth mindset to a fixed one. In my case, something brought the onset of depression, which came with the characteristic depressed mood joined with an extreme form of the fixed mindset.
Somehow, my depression lifted slightly on its own towards the end of high school. My mood and energy levels fluctuated, so I was able to take classes for a short time before another intense depressive episode caused me to let everything go again. My fixed mindset was back and this time, I cared more about my achievements, or lack of achievement. I was painfully aware of how I had failed my classes, how I had never graduated high school, and how I did not go to school or work like others my age. In my fixed mindset, I believed that I was useless, and that I was trash. Dweck would say that I was “being measured by a failure,” that is, “failure has been transformed from an action (I failed) to an identity (I am a failure).” A former friend, who shall remain unnamed, started to take advantage of my vulnerable mental state. She relentlessly bullied me by telling me what I had already believed, labelling me as “pathetic” and pointing out everything that went wrong in my life as evidence that I was the worst. Like other bullies, she had the fixed-mindset mentality that said, “The lower you are, the better I feel,” as Dweck puts it. She brought out the ugly side of the fixed mindset, but what happened later showed another side of the fixed mindset.
It was only a few months after the bully’s worst verbal abuse when I was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. The hospital workers suggested that I go back to school, and I decided to follow their advice out of a fixed-mindset bitterness toward the bully to prove her wrong. What Dweck says about victims of bullying is true, that “When people feel deeply judged by a rejection, their impulse is to feel bad about themselves and to lash out in bitterness.” The difference is I did not lash out in a violent way. Instead, I was determined to achieve something and show everyone that I could be something more. I still had a fixed mindset, but the results looked as if I was “coping the way people in the growth mindset tend to cope — with determination.”
The fixed mindset helped me start over at community college. In my determination to not fail again, I put in so much planning and effort that I not only passed my first classes, but earned A’s and A+’s. This is in contrast with what Dweck says, that “From the point of view of the fixed mindset, effort is only for people with deficiencies” and thus, “Effort can reduce you.” Maybe I thought that I had deficiencies, so that I “had to try very hard”, but the high grades gave me confidence in my abilities to continue taking classes. Of course, I was able to stay in school because I also started to receive multiple forms of intensive treatment for my mental illnesses. The treatments must have been working because I was slowly showing improvement in mood and daily functioning. I did not consciously change my fixed mindset to a growth one before this happened. Rather, an improved mental state combined with the community college environment changed my mindset gradually. I saw how my life had changed direction, how I had gained better skills, and how I did not need to compete over grades. At some point after being back in school, I was taking classes and doing activities to learn, not because I was expected to or because I wanted a higher status. My goals also seemed more achievable. This was the growth mindset taking hold, but it only happened after receiving proper treatment and having the fixed mindset’s brand of determination put me back in school.
My mindset was changed, but multiple factors contributed to the change. Dramatic events, a different environment, and treatment for mental illness all played a role. I cannot say if I would have adopted a growth mindset if not for these factors. According to my experience, then, I think that it is possible for mindsets to be changed, but only conditionally. Anything affecting the mind, such as mental illness or being bullied, complicates the process of changing mindsets. For example, depression distorted my perception, so I was simply not able to even consider the possibilities and potentials that people with the growth mindset believe in. No one else could have put me in the growth mindset either, since depression made me unresponsive. Depression needed to be treated first, and that is exactly what happened before my mindset was changed. The mental influence that was preventing change had to be reduced.
Reducing these influences may not be enough in other cases, though. Some people may be stubborn because of their ego, or maybe they just do not want to change. There is truth to the old psychology joke, “How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but the light bulb has to want to change.” To put it succinctly, people cannot be forced against their will, and it is up to the individual to recognize that they have a problem and commit to changing. This especially applies to something as personal and internal as someone’s mindset, which Dweck defines as “the view you adopt for yourself.”
Does this mean that the fixed mindset is a problem? Dweck argues that it is, saying, “The fixed mindset limits achievement. It fills people’s minds with interfering thoughts, it makes effort disagreeable, and it leads to inferior learning strategies. What’s more, it makes other people into judges instead of allies.” I only agree to an extent. The fixed mindset did make me feel stressed, feel bad about myself and my situation, and it made me more susceptible to the bully’s abuse. On the other hand, it also made me determined to go back to school and succeed, which helped turn my life around for the better. It actually made me put in more effort than before. I think that while an extreme fixed mindset is harmful, a smaller amount of fixed-mindset thinking does not always need to be changed. In terms of success, it can lead to the same results as the growth mindset, depending on the person and their situation. The growth mindset may be a healthy mindset to have and I do enjoy it now, but the fixed mindset is not always the one-way path to a sad life that Dweck makes it seem. Life is complicated, and so are the ways in which mindsets interact with it.
The concept of mindsets holds a lot of promise because mindsets do affect people’s lives, and Dweck’s book makes changing mindsets to improve one’s life sound easy. I both agree and disagree with Dweck. She says, “You have a choice. Mindsets are just beliefs. They’re powerful beliefs, but they’re just something in your mind, and you can change your mind.” I agree that mindsets are powerful, and I am not discounting the possibility that all minds can be changed when given the right conditions. However, the individual must be prepared and able to go through with changing. Also, when something outside of the person’s control is involved, such as mental illness, change becomes even more difficult even if that person truly wants to change. Therefore, I do not agree that anyone can easily change their mind just by choosing to do so.
What about the people who are able to easily change their mindset? Must they change to a growth mindset, as Dweck advises? While I agree that sometimes mindsets need to change, to prevent bullying, for instance, I do not think that all fixed mindsets absolutely must change. Granted, the growth mindset has value, as it is an ideal mindset to have that lets people “use and develop their minds fully” and it can be a solution to certain problems. This does not mean that it is the only, correct mindset for everyone no matter their circumstances, though. It depends on what one is trying to accomplish, along with other factors that contribute to the outcome.
The idea of being able to change one’s world for the better is very appealing, but the world is complex and requires complex strategies to navigate. One book cannot provide these strategies for everyone, especially when it presents a heavily simplified view of how things work. That said, Dweck’s book introduces an idea that may be worth trying for some. At the very least, it brings some much-needed positivity to the world.
