Heroes are made, not born

I’m feeling cautiously optimistic about the return of NBC’s Heroes (now rebooted and re-titled Heroes: Reborn). It’s got me thinking about one of my favorite therapeutic questions: “if you could have any superpower, what would it be?” This question can be used to help clients set concrete goals, as the obvious follow-up for the therapist is “how would you use that power to solve your problem?”

It’s only fair that I answer this question myself. I think the most useful power (or “ability” in the world of Heroes: Reborn) for myself, as a therapist, would be the ability to read people’s minds**. One of the most important skills for a therapist is to see events from their client’s perspective, and what could be more helpful than being able to read minds to do it?

A client’s answer to the “ability” question can provide a wealth of helpful information for a therapist. The chosen ability can give insight into how the client perceives him or herself, or possibly help identify an area of perceived weakness. For example, does a woman who wants to be the strongest person in the world currently perceive herself to be in a position of weakness? Does the person who wants to fly see goals as higher than currently attainable, and is she held down by being earthbound? How can I collaborate with the client to expand the scope of their unique story and help them reach their goals?

But more than that, it can help a client with goal setting and help them express what their world might look like if they could use their ability to help themselves. “If I was the strongest person in the world, I would feel like I could take on a bully,” a child might tell me. “And if he stopped bothering me, I would be able to eat my lunch in peace.” This gives me a concrete idea about what the child might be struggling with and some insight into where the bullying might be occurring. Though I am (currently) unable to bestow abilities, I can collaborate with the client to figure out which skills from their actual skillset can be applied to the problem.
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What about you? What “ability” would you like to have and how would you use it?

​**Full disclosure: the real reason I want to be able to read minds is so I can find out what in the world the creators of Heroes were thinking during seasons 3 and 4 of the old series. No, seriously.