What Is Mental Space Psychology?

Mental Space Psychology (MSP) is a cognitive framework that explores how people unconsciously organize thoughts, emotions, and relationships in spatial terms. Developed by Dr. Lucas Derks, MSP builds on the idea that our minds use a kind of internal “mental map” to represent experiences, beliefs, and social connections.

“Space is the primary organising principle of the mind . This implies that everything going on in the psyche form perception , ,emory to emtion and all cognition is projected in the sphere and around the person . This includes all healthy psychological processes as well as all forms of psychopathology “- Dr Lucas Derks

🔍 Key Concepts:

Spatial Cognition: Emotions, memories, and relationships are mentally “placed” in space — near, far, above, below.
Relation = Location: The emotional quality of a relationship is governed by where someone is mentally located.
Sensory Mapping: What we see, hear, and feel is connected to specific areas in mental space.

“Most of our problems have to do with how we mentally organize our social world.” — Lucas Derks

Shift of understanding of “Unconscious Mind – From a Black Box to to a logical , explorable , comprehensive 3 D space , is a major one that has changed Psychotherapy from a “wod game “ to a “ space game” .

How MSP Helps in Therapy/Coaching

Mental Space Psychology offers therapists and coaches a powerful lens to understand and shift clients’ internal representations of trauma, relationships, and self-concept.

How MSP Supports Coaching

In coaching, MSP helps clients gain clarity, motivation, and alignment by visualizing goals, values, and relationships in spatial terms.

👥 Ideal For:

Executive coaching
Adolescent development
Relationship and life coaching
Conflict resolution and team dynamics

🌐 What Is Social Panorama?

Social Panorama is a model created by Lucas Derks in 1993 that focuses specifically on how people mentally represent their social world. It is now a core component of Mental Space Psychology.

🔍 Core Principles:

Mental Mapping of Relationships: People are mentally “placed” in space, and their location affects how we feel about them.
Unconscious Landscape: The social world is represented as a 3D unconscious map.
Transformative Potential: Changing these spatial representations can resolve conflicts and improve self-image.

🧠 Social Panorama in Therapy

Social Panorama offers therapists a unique way to work with clients’ relational dynamics by accessing and adjusting their internal spatial representations.

🎯 Social Panorama in Coaching

Social Panorama helps coaches and clients visualize and adjust interpersonal dynamics for better communication and leadership.

Courses

Foundations in Mental Space Psychology – 12 hours – Hybrid mode

Day 1 – 27th and 28th December (Full day)

Introduction to MSP
Hypothesis
Brain in Mental Space
Phenomena In Mental Space
Neurobiology Of Space
Fears and Beliefs in Mental Space

Day 2

Working with Self
Social Panorama – Relations (Personal, Professional)
Working with difficult relationship
Awareness of Self in SP, Relationship with Groups, Authority
Trainers Panorama

Mental Space Psychology Consulting Practitioner – 5 Days

Level 1 – 2 Days – 12 hours – Hybrid

Dates – 14th & 15th March 2026

Level 2 – 2 Days – 12 hours – Hybrid

Dates – 21st & 22nd March 2026

Time and Space

Neurological Effects in Mental Space

Understanding Fears – Different types – Working with Fears , PTSD & Trauma

Dealing with Depression

Metaphors with Client

Achieving Outcomes with Mental Space

Belief Change with Mental Space …

Spiritual Panorama

Family Panorama

Faculty:

Partha Roy

Sustainable Shift Specialist | NLP Master Trainer|Trainer -Metaphors of Movement and Integral Eye Movement Therapy| Ambassador of India -Society of Mental Space Psychology|Social Panorama Training Trainer

IQCBS

Think Better