3 - (SYM 94) Cultivating Change: Implications of Growth Mindset Research for CBT Clinicians

The potential impact of growth mindsets—the belief that human traits are malleable—has been studied in educational contexts for decades, leading to large-scale interventions (e.g., Yeager et al., 2019). The application of growth mindsets to mental health is perhaps even more promising. Across 72 samples and 17,692 participants, we found that growth mindsets are associated with less psychological distress (r = −0.22), perceiving greater value in mental health treatment (r = 0.14), and more active coping responses (r = 0.21; Burnette, Knouse, et al., 2020). Single-session growth mindset interventions have shown promise in improving anxiety and depression (e.g., Schleider & Weisz, 2018). Yet, application of the growth mindset perspective to the typical practice of CBT has received less attention. In this presentation, we draw on emerging research to provide guidance for clinicians on how to (and how not to) integrate a growth mindset perspective into their work.

Our recent comprehensive meta-analysis (Burnette, Billingsley et al., 2022) and systematic review (Burnette, Knouse et al., 2022) highlight important growth mindset implementation factors. First, growth mindset messaging seems to be most effective for people who are “at-risk” in the targeted mindset domain, suggesting that clients considering or entering CBT might particularly benefit. Second, for growth mindsets to have maximum impact, the environment must provide contextual affordances such as access to strategies that actually support change (Yeager et al., 2022); CBT offers just such affordances. Finally, effective growth mindset messages involve specific attitude change strategies that could be easily integrated into CBT and our own work suggests that fostering growth mindsets of emotion is a particularly promising direction (Burnette et al., 2020).

However, caution is also warranted when attempting to bolster growth mindsets in a clinical setting due to the often stigmatized nature of mental health diagnoses. The double-edged sword model describes costs and benefits of growth messaging for stigmatized conditions and introduces compensatory growth mindset messages designed to positively impact belief in the potential for change without inducing self-blame (Hoyt & Burnette, 2020). It is also crucial for clinicians to recognize that client growth is often limited by unjust systemic factors and to work to tear down such barriers. The presentation will also connect the growth mindset perspective with other CBT-relevant models and practices (e.g., ACT, MI).