“Futures Thinking”: How to Think About the Future, Part 1

Psychiatric Times November 14, 2025
Janet Lewis, MD, Elizabeth Haase, MD

Key Takeaways

Futures thinking involves exploring multiple potential futures, offering a framework for mental health professionals to engage with these possibilities amidst global crises.
The five modes of futures thinking include quantitative models, practicing with futures, experiential interventions, critical deconstruction, and psychological containment.
Futures thinking balances rational data analysis with imaginative visioning, fostering creativity, agency, and adaptability in addressing complex challenges.
This approach integrates cognitive and emotional processes, aiding mental health and public health professionals in managing the complexity of current global issues.

Explore the transformative potential of futures thinking in mental health, offering innovative frameworks to navigate uncertainty and enhance agency.

Mental health professions have typically promoted understanding that the future is not determined, but contains multiple...

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