The idea of closed vs. open reminded me of a discussion I had once with a psychologist about how he worked with his clients. He said that the first thing he wor

The idea of closed vs. open reminded me of a discussion I had once with a psychologist about how he worked with his clients. He said that the first thing he worked with them on was a shift from what he called an "inhibitory" mode to an "excitatory" one. He defined these states as being the primary way in which a person filters perception, with the inhibitory mode being "filtering to perceive what is negative and not possible", and excitatory being "filtering to perceive what is positive and possible". The way that he assessed what the client perceived was to simply listen to how they expressed themselves and what aspects they emphasised when talking. This wasn't just another version of, "hey, lighten up, look on the bright side", as I understood it. He'd actively listen for when they would express something as exciting or a positive possibility. Or fish for it by asking them to relate a positive experience, or something like that. Then he'd have them reinforce it by asking questions and putting attention back on the thing that triggered the shift in perception. He'd put a lot of effort into trying to gently get them to spend more time in this mode, if only for a few seconds at a time initially. He considered helping his clients to an excitatory mode of operation to be a prerequisite for him to be able to help improve their mental well-being ("do therapy") with any effectiveness at all.