Growth vs Fixed Mindset: How Our Beliefs Shape Our Potential and Mental Health

Melanie Rivera | Integrative Therapist & Wellbeing Coach

Does the key to personal growth, resilience, and wellbeing lie not in talent or intelligence, but in the mindset we hold about these traits?

This question lies at the heart of the Growth vs Fixed Mindset debate—an area of psychology that has significant implications for mental health, education, therapy, and entrepreneurship alike.

Coined by psychologist Carol Dweck in her landmark work Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2006), the growth mindset refers to the belief that abilities, intelligence, and talents are not static traits, but can be cultivated through effort, learning, and perseverance. In contrast, a fixed mindset assumes that these characteristics are innate, unchangeable, and predetermined at birth.

While it may sound like a simple distinction, the mindset we adopt can have profound effects on how we approach challenges, process feedback, relate to others, and even how we view ourselves.

Fixed Mindset: The Psychological Trap

People with a fixed mindset often interpret challenges, failures, or setbacks as evidence of personal deficiency. Effort is equated with inadequacy—if one were truly capable, why would they need to try so hard? Feedback, especially if critical, is often taken as a personal affront rather than an opportunity to grow.

This way of thinking can have a tangible impact on mental health.

Research suggests that individuals with a fixed mindset are more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and stress when facing difficulties because they interpret failure as a reflection of their inherent worth (Schroder et al., 2017). The perception of limitations can lead to avoidance behaviours, stagnation, and a heightened fear of failure—ironically increasing the very risks of underperformance that one seeks to avoid.

Growth Mindset: Pathway to Resilience and Learning

In contrast, a growth mindset reframes failure and effort as natural and necessary parts of learning. Challenges are seen as opportunities to stretch and adapt, not as threats to one's self-concept. Individuals with a growth mindset are more likely to:

• Persist through obstacles

• Seek constructive feedback

• Celebrate others' success as inspiration rather than competition

• Embrace lifelong learning

  
  

Neuroscience even backs this up. Studies using brain imaging show that individuals with a growth mindset exhibit greater neural activity in response to mistakes, reflecting heightened engagement and learning (Moser et al., 2011). In other words, the brain becomes more responsive and adaptable when we believe we can change.

For clients in therapy, fostering a growth mindset can be transformative. It helps to build psychological flexibility—a concept central to approaches like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)—enabling individuals to pivot in the face of emotional discomfort rather than becoming stuck (Hayes et al., 2006).

Beyond the Hype: Limitations and Criticisms

However, it is important not to romanticise the growth mindset as a cure-all. Some critiques argue that in educational and workplace settings, an overemphasis on growth mindset can inadvertently place the burden of success solely on the individual, ignoring systemic inequalities or environmental constraints (Kohn, 2015).

Additionally, for those grappling with significant trauma, mental health challenges, or neurodiversity, the notion of "just keep trying" may feel invalidating or dismissive of very real limitations. In therapeutic settings, it is therefore vital to balance the encouragement of a growth mindset with compassion, pacing, and acknowledgement of contextual barriers.

Practical Applications: Cultivating a Growth Mindset

Whether you’re a therapist, client, or curious reader, here are some ways to nurture a growth mindset in daily life:

1. Reframe Setbacks: Instead of "I can't do this," try "I can't do this yet."

   
   

2. Emphasise Effort Over Outcome: Celebrate persistence and process, not just the end result.

   
   

3. Seek Feedback Actively: View feedback as a tool for development rather than criticism.

   
   

4. Model Curiosity: Approach learning as a continuous, evolving process.

   
   

5. Practice Self-Compassion: Growth is not linear—acknowledge both progress and struggles with kindness.

Implications for Therapy and Beyond

Therapists can integrate mindset work into interventions by helping clients identify internalised fixed beliefs about themselves, and collaboratively exploring more flexible, growth-oriented narratives. Techniques from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), and narrative approaches can all be utilised to challenge and rewrite these internal scripts.

Equally, for entrepreneurs, educators, and leaders, adopting a growth mindset fosters innovation, resilience, and adaptability in the face of an ever-changing world. In fact, research on entrepreneurship highlights that a growth mindset directly correlates with entrepreneurial success because it encourages experimentation, iteration, and learning from failure (Huang & Pearce, 2015).

Conclusion

The mindset we hold shapes not only how we learn but how we live. While a fixed mindset can tether us to self-imposed limitations, a growth mindset opens pathways to resilience, adaptability, and emotional wellbeing. In therapy, education, business, or personal life, cultivating a growth mindset is less about blind optimism and more about developing a realistic, compassionate belief in the power of ongoing growth.

References

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Random House.

Hayes, S. C., Luoma, J. B., Bond, F. W., Masuda, A., & Lillis, J. (2006). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Model, processes and outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(1), 1-25.

Huang, L., & Pearce, J. L. (2015). Managing the unknowable: The effectiveness of early-stage investor gut feel in entrepreneurial investment decisions. Administrative Science Quarterly, 60(4), 634-670.

Kohn, A. (2015). The Perils of “Growth Mindset” Education. The Washington Post. [Available online].

Moser, J. S., Schroder, H. S., Heeter, C., Moran, T. P., & Lee, Y. H. (2011). Mind your errors: Evidence for a neural mechanism linking growth mindset to adaptive post-error adjustments. Psychological Science, 22(12), 1484-1489.

Schroder, H. S., Dawood, S., Yalch, M. M., Donnellan, M. B., & Moser, J. S. (2017). The role of implicit theories in mental health symptoms, emotion regulation, and hypothetical treatment choices in college students. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 41(6), 929-940.