
Passion Struck with John R. Miles How to Rebuild Mental Health and Heal Emotional Wounds | Dr. Paul Conti - EP 766
May 12, 2026
Dr. Paul Conti, psychiatrist and trauma expert who wrote What's Going Right, guides a shift from labels to understanding inner experience. He discusses how adversity reshapes identity and emotional life. Short, practical ideas cover rebuilding mental health from the inside, the generative drive versus cynicism, and compassionate curiosity as a path to emotional repair.
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Reframe Mental Health As Wellness
- Mental health is framed wrongly as a binary defect instead of a spectrum you intentionally build.
- Paul Conti argues we should treat mental health like physical wellness, focusing on strengthening what's going right rather than labeling defects.
Brother's Death Exposed Mental Health Blindspot
- Paul Conti recounts his youngest brother's suicide after an abrupt medical illness revealed unaddressed mental-health changes.
- The loss convinced Conti that society ignores psychological injuries even when physical illness receives attention, motivating his career shift.
DSM Numbers Can Obscure The Person
- The DSM is a taxonomy that ballooned into a numbers-driven system that distances clinicians from understanding people.
- Conti says the book's diagnostic proliferation prioritizes billing and labels over narrative understanding and root causes.





