Title: The Closed Mind | Psychology Today
Headings: The Closed Mind
Andrea Mathews LPC, NCC
The Closed Mind
Why does it close, and how does it open?

Content: Original thinking generates ideas that hold water, not because they are right so much as because they are real. Original thinking allows us to fly free from the constraints of our own bias, see through it to creative, problem-solving beliefs
On the other hand, it is fear that generally keeps the mind closed. Often the fear is based on the idea that one must be right in order to be OK. It is not safe to be wrong. Therefore, once an idea is grasped, one must hold on to it, for fear that to question it might prove one wrong and thus unsafe. Unfortunately, closed-minded people can take positions of power over others—thus training others to likewise have closed minds. Parents who have closed minds often train their children to believe as they believe—and will even go so far as to outright reject a child who does not agree with their beliefs. There are many LGBTQ adolescents who are homeless right now, because they challenged the beliefs of closed-minded parents. What was hoped, in these cases, by the parents, was that their closed-mindedness would create an equal set of closed minds in their children. When it doesn’t work that way, the parents are outraged and simply get rid of the whole problem by kicking their children out of their homes.