Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice

Mentalization-based therapy is a specific type of psychotherapy designed to help people consider their own thoughts and feelings and differentiate them from the perspectives of others. The editors are the foremost experts on mentalizing, having published two previous books and a multitude of scholarly papers defining it and describing its multiple clinical applications. Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice is by far the most cutting-edge, comprehensive source of information and instruction on this critical therapeutic technique, with everything clinicians need to know to integrate mentalizing into their therapeutic repertoire. The editors maintain that the aim of mentalizing therapy is to enhance a mentalizing process, regardless of the context in which it is being delivered. Thus, while most often employed in individual therapy, it can also be useful in group and family therapy situations. Similarly, it may prove equally effective in inpatient and outpatient contexts, and in standard and brief therapy modes. What is critical is the therapist's focus on the patient's "mind-mindedness" as it applies to his or her subjective experience of reality and to awareness of other people's perspectives. Here are some of the key observations made in this fascinating book: - Evidence suggests that people who have been diagnosed with a personality disorder may have specific deficits in mentalizing in the context of attachment relationships, and that this group transcends the classification of borderline personality disorder (BPD), which the authors had previously identified with such deficits. This has profound implications for treatment of all types of personality disorders.- The authors now see mentalizing as a developmental construct that is extended to the family and throughout an individual's development. This insight suggests that intervention -- and even prevention of deficits -- may be possible.- Because mentalizing is a fundamental psychological process, it interfaces with all major mental disorders. This means that mentalizing techniques may have the potential to improve well-being across a range of disorders, including depression, eating disorders, addiction, and even the less severe forms of antisocial personality disorder.- Adolescence, the phase of development where personality disorder, depression, eating disorders, substance abuse, and other disorders first emerge, is a critical period for identification of mentalizing deficits and the time when intervention can do enormous good. These insights are tremendously useful for any practitioner of psychotherapy, as well as students in the field. Exhaustive in its coverage of the nature, practice, and exciting potential of this relatively new approach, Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice is destined to become a classic in the literature of psychotherapy. Introduction and overview / Peter Fonagy, Anthony W. Bateman, Patrick Luyten Assessment of mentalization / Patrick Luyten ... [et al.] Individual techniques of the basic model / Anthony W. Bateman, Peter Fonagy Group therapy techniques / Sigmund Karterud, Anthony W. Bateman Mentalization-based family therapy / Eia Asen, Peter Fonagy Mentalization-informed child psychoanalytic psychotherapy / Jolien Zevalkink Annelies Verheugt-Pleiter, Peter Fonagy Brief treatment / Jon G. Allen, Flynn Omalley, Catherine Freeman, Anthony W. Bateman Partial hospitalization settings / Dawn Bales, Anthony W. Bateman Outpatient settings / Morten Kjolbe, Anthony W. Bateman Psychodynamically oriented : therapeutic settings / Rudi Vermote ... [et al.] Borderline personality disorder / Anthony Bateman, Peter Fonagy Antisocial personality disorder / Anthony Bateman, Peter Fonagy At-risk mothers of infants and toddlers / Nancy Suchman ... [et al.] Eating disorders, Finn Skrderud, Peter Fonagy Depression / Patrick Luyten ... [et al.] Trauma / Jon G. Allen, Alessandra Lemma, Peter Fonagy Drug addiction / Bjrn Philips, Ulla Kahn, Anthony W. Bateman Adolescent breakdown and emerging borderline personality disorder / Efrain Bleiberg, Trudie Rossouw, Peter Fonagy.

Mentalizing is the fundamental human capacity to "read" one's own and others' mental states such as thoughts and feelings. The editors of Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice have authored two previous books aimed at establishing mentalizing as a developmental and clinical concept. Here they further explore mentalizing as a fundamental psychological process and seek to extend its use across a wide range of disorders, particularly in the treatment of patients with personality disorders and in preventive intervention in childhood. The first part of the book helps the reader understand the impact of a mentalizing perspective on the treatment of patients in different psychotherapy contexts. The second part focuses on the patient, identifying effective techniques for a variety of illnesses, including depression, trauma, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders, and drug addiction. Throughout, the contributors persuasively argue that the promotion of "mind-mindedness" in both patient and clinician is critical to any therapy. Across modalities, Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice is essential reading for mental health clinicians.

American Psychiatric Publishing

Mentalizing is the fundamental human capacity to read one s own and others mental states such as thoughts and feelings. The editors of Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice have authored two previous books aimed at establishing mentalizing as a developmental and clinical concept. Here they further explore mentalizing as a fundamental psychological process and seek to extend its use across a wide range of disorders, particularly in the treatment of patients with personality disorders and in preventive intervention in childhood. The first part of the book helps the reader understand the impact of a mentalizing perspective on the treatment of patients in different psychotherapy contexts. The second part focuses on the patient, identifying effective techniques for a variety of illnesses, including depression, trauma, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders, and drug addiction. Throughout, the contributors persuasively argue that the promotion of mind-mindedness in both patient and clinician is critical to any therapy. Across modalities, Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice is essential reading for mental health clinicians. Mentalizing is the ability to recognize and understand our own and others' thoughts and feelings. This book collects recent work on mentalizing as a psychological process and describes the use of mentalizing in treatment of various psychiatric and psychological disorders, especially personality disorders. The book follows the authors' two previous works in their ongoing attempt to establish mentalizing as a developmental and clinical concept. Bateman, a consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy at St. Ann's Hospital, UK, and Fonagy (psychoanalysis, U. College London) describe the use of mentalization-based treatment (MBT), which sits in the middle of the spectrum between psychodynamic and cognitive therapy, as a support to other treatment approaches. In the first part of the book, the authors explain the mentalizing perspective and show how it can be used in outpatient, hospital, and inpatient facilities. In part 2, specific applications are described in work with borderline and antisocial personality disorder, at-risk mothers, drug addiction, and adolescent breakdown. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)