Mentalization-Based Psychotherapy with Children, Adolescents, and Families

This chapters describes the shift in psychodynamic psychotherapies from an exclusive focus on the transference relationship, to attention directed toward the functioning of the mind, of the patient and the therapist. We describe the concept of theory of the mind, reflective functioning and “mentalization abilities”. Different types of mentalization are described, from teleological thinking, psychological equivalence, pretend mode of mentalization. The goals of the psychotherapy are to achieve a balance between the poles of emotion and thinking, with the development of epistemic trust between the patient and the therapist. The applications of mentalization based psychotherapy with children and adolescents are described, as well as systemic family therapy and early childhood interventions based on attachment theory and mentalization principles.