mentalization

n. the ability to understand one’s own and others’ mental states, thereby comprehending one’s own and others’ intentions and affects. It has been theorized that this ability is a component of healthy personality development and is achieved through a child’s secure attachment to the parent. The concept has had particular application in the understanding and treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD), characterized in this context as a disorder marked in part by an inability to mentalize due to poor attachment in early life. Mentalization-based treatment (MBT) is a psychodynamically oriented psychotherapy that was developed specifically to address mentalization deficits in patients with BPD; by mitigating these deficits, MBT aims to decrease the problems with impulse control and affect regulation that are common to such patients and to improve their interpersonal functioning. Also called reflective functioning. [proposed in 1996 by Hungarian-born British psychoanalyst Peter Fonagy (1952– )] —mentalize vb.

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Psychology term of the day

January 19th 2025

imageless thought

thinking that occurs without the aid of images or sensory content. The Würzburg school upheld the existence of imageless thought on the basis of introspective reports, such as experimental participants’ stated ability to name a piece of fruit without picturing it. Edward Bradford Titchener and others in the structural school opposed this view (see structuralism). See Bewusstseinslage.