« This new edition of Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice reflects a vibrant field undergoing development along a number of dimensions important for mental health. As evidenced by the number of experts contributing chapters that focus on specialized approaches to mentalization-based treatment (MBT), the range of mental disorders for which this therapy has proved helpful has substantially increased, and now includes psychosis. Second, the range of contexts within which the approach has been shown to be of value has grown. MBT has been found to be useful in outpatient and community settings, and, more broadly, with children, adolescents, couples, and families, and the social contexts where they are found, such as in schools and even prisons. Finally, the framework has been shown to be generalizable to an understanding of the social context of mental health. The model advanced in this book goes beyond an understanding of the development of mentalizing and aims to provide an understanding of its role in a range of social processes.Key concepts, themes, and approaches clearly articulated throughout the book include the following: Mentalizing is a transdiagnostic concept applicable to a range of mental health conditions, including trauma, personality disorders, eating disorders, depression, substance use disorder, and psychosis. The chapters devoted to these disorders emphasize MBT skills acquisition and techniques for introducing mentalizing into psychotherapy. »--

"The second edition of Gabbard's Textbook of Psychotherapeutic Treatments provides up-to-date information on psychotherapies, including psychodynamic therapies, mentalization-based treatment, transference-focused therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, supportive psychotherapy, and interpersonal psychotherapy. The textbook also reflects social changes that have had profound impacts on how therapists practice, including the advancement of LGBTQ rights, calls for racial and social justice, and the COVID-19 pandemic"--

Mentalizing in Child Therapy focuses on open-ended psychotherapy for children with complex mental health issues and attachment problems. It offers examples of personalized and integrated treatment that is "firm in structure yet flexible in its focus" (Peter Fonagy, foreword to first edition). The book is based on the systematic observation of the treatment of complex problems in children (4-12 years) using a mentalizing therapeutic stance and a range of techniques to enhance mentalizing abilities and trust in other people, incorporating aspects of the more relationship-oriented and competence-oriented treatments. In this updated edition, the authors have elaborated on the topic of attention regulation, having included Siegel’s concept of the ‘window of tolerance’. They’ve also written more on the mentalizing abilities of the therapist, the importance of providing structure at the beginning of the treatment, and the value of communication for developing epistemic trust. Featuring guidelines for clinical practitioners, this book is important for the clinical training of child psychotherapists, as well as for professional child psychiatrists, child psychologists and other therapists working with four to 12-year-old children experiencing significant developmental problems with mentalizing.

Pioneering research has been carried out over the last decade on mentalization and the promotion of mentalizing capacity - the ability to interpret the behavior of oneself and others as based on intentional mental states, such as needs, desires, feelings, and beliefs. This book is a consolidation of current knowledge and clinical applications, bringing together a group of international experts who have been on the ground floor of theory and research to clarify the concept, review pertinent neurobiological and psychosocial research, and explore its diverse clinical applications. Four sections will cover Conceptual Foundations, Developmental Psychopathology, Intervention and Prevention. A biopsychosocial approach will be used, integrating new research in neuroimaging with psychodynamic and cognitive perspectives. Clinical issues covered will include parent–child interactions, personality disorders, traumatic brain injury, bullying and at-risk children.

Mentalization in the Family draws upon the latest research on child development, parenting, and mentalization theory to provide a comprehensive guidebook for parents, teachers, social workers, and any professional working with families today. The book explains the core concepts of mentalization, an idea whereby an appreciation of internal mental states, both those of others and oneself, can lead to an understanding of overt behaviour. It explores key ideas central to this – such as attachment style, internal regulation, emotional compass, and parental navigation – but also offers practical guidance around issues such as play, siblings, boundaries, and sexuality. Accessibly written throughout and featuring pedagogical tools that bring the theory into life, this wide-ranging book will be essential reading for a range of professionals, from those working with foster families to teachers working with troubled or disruptive children. It also offers a way for parents to better understand themselves, their own parenting style, and the dynamics which make up family life.

The new seventh edition reflects advances in the understanding of the etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of psychiatric disorders as well as the positive, transformational change that has taken place in the field of psychiatry.

"This authoritative work comprehensively reviews what is known about personality disorders, including vital information to guide clinical decision making. Leading experts synthesize contemporary thinking about the classification, etiologies, and development of these complex disorders. Diagnostic issues are explored, and available assessment instruments are discussed. The Handbook provides in-depth coverage of all commonly used psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatments, with particular attention to the empirical evidence for each approach. Also addressed are special treatment modalities, such as day programs and group therapy, and forensic issues"--

Mentalizing - the ability to understand oneself and others by inferring mental states that lie behind overt behaviour - develops within the context of attachment relationships. It is crucial to self-regulation and constructive, intimate relationships, both of which are impaired in personality disorders because of sensitivity to losing mentalizing at times of anxiety and attachment stress. Loss of mentalizing leads to interpersonal and social problems, emotional variability, impulsivity, self-destructive behaviours, and violence. This practical guide on mentalization-based treatment (MBT) of personality disorders outlines the mentalizing model of borderline and antisocial personality disorders and how it translates into clinical treatment. The book, divided into four parts - the mentalizing framework, basic mentalizing practice, mentalizing and groups, and mentalizing systems - covers the aims and structure of treatment, outlines how patients are introduced to the mentalizing model so that their personality disorder makes sense to them, explains why certain interventions are recommended and others are discouraged, and systematically describes the process of treatment in both group and individual therapy to support more stable mentalizing. People with personality disorders commonly have comorbid mental health problems, such as depression and eating disorders, which complicate clinical treatment. Therefore, the book advises the clinician on how to manage comorbidity in treatment. In addition, mentalizing problems in families and social systems, for example, schools and mental health services are also covered. A families and carers training and support guide is provided as families and others are often neglected during the treatment of people with personality disorder. The book is a valuable guide for all mental health workers on how to effectively treat personality disorders.

Mentalizing, the fundamental human capacity to understand behavior in relation to mental states such as thoughts and feelings, is the basis of healthy relationships and self-awareness. A growing evidence base supports the effectiveness of mentalizing-focused interventions in the treatment of borderline personality disorder. This volume explores wider applications, construing mentalizing as a core common factor in the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic interventions that cuts across treatment modalities and theoretical approaches ranging from psychodynamic to interpersonal and cognitive therapies. This book distills the burgeoning literature on mentalizing for clinicians of diverse professional backgrounds. The book is divided into two parts: Understanding Mentalizing fully explicates the concept of mentalizing and its foundations in developmental research and social-cognitive neuroscience; Practicing Mentalizing presents the general principles of psychotherapeutic interventions that promote mentalizing as well as a range of current clinical applications. Mentalizing is multifaceted -- for example, pertaining to self and others as well as explicit and implicit processes -- and links to myriad overlapping concepts including empathy, metacognition, theory of mind, mindfulness, and psychological mindedness. Two sides of research on the development of mentalizing in attachment relationships have significant clinical implications: interactions in secure attachment relationships enhance mentalizing and illuminate the conditions of optimal psychotherapeutic relationships; conversely, trauma in attachment relationships undermines the development of mentalizing and eventuates in developmental psychopathology that poses special challenges for psychotherapy. Neuroimaging is illuminating diverse brain regions that contribute to mentalizing capacity, including a "mentalizing region" in the medial prefrontal cortex that is consistently activated in mentalizing tasks; concomitantly, research on autism and psychopathy attests to the neurobiological basis of psychopathologies in which stable impairments of mentalizing are most conspicuous. In development and in psychotherapy, mentalizing begets mentalizing, as exemplified by a mentalizing stance that fosters inquisitiveness and curiosity about mental states in oneself and others; basic principles and clinical examples, including the use of transference, demonstrate the spirit and technique of mentalizing, capped off by a patient's first-hand account of mentalization-based treatment for borderline personality disorder. Attachment trauma is the wellspring of disrupted mentalizing capacity, and a focus on mentalizing provides an integrative framework for psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral treatment of trauma as well as for parenting, family, and social-systems interventions directed toward interrupting the perpetuation of trauma in relationships. Psychoeducational interventions, including patient education and structured exercises, are employed to cultivate a therapeutic alliance around mentalizing; the book includes a straightforward explanation clinicians can use with patients, "What is Mentalizing and Why Do It?" In the chapter on mentalizing interventions, the authors propose to clinicians, "You are already doing it." If the effectiveness of treatment depends on therapists mentalizing and helping their patients do so more consistently and skillfully, clinicians of all persuasions can benefit from the extensive knowledge now available to hone further their attention to this vital therapeutic process.

Socially excluded youth with mental health problems and co-occurring difficulties (e.g. conduct disorder, family breakdown, homelessness, substance use, exploitation, educational failure) attract the involvement of multiple agencies. Poorly coordinated interventions often multiply in the face of such problems, so that a young person or family is approached by multiple workers from different agencies working towards different goals and using different treatment models; these are often overwhelming and may actually be experienced as aversive by the young person or their family. Failure to provide effective help is costly throughout life This is the first book to describe Adaptive Mentalization-Based Integrative Treatment (AMBIT). This is an approach to working with people - particularly young people and young adults - whose lives are often chaotic and risky, and whose problems are not limited to one domain. In addition to mental health problems, they may have problems with care arrangements, education or employment, exploitation, substance misuse, offending behaviours, and gang affiliations; if these problems are all occurring simultaneously, any progress in one area is easily undermined by harms still occurring in another. AMBIT has been designed by and for community teams from Mental Health, Social Care, Youth work, or that may be purposefully multi-disciplinary/multi-agency. It emphasises the need to strengthen integration in the complex networks that tend to gather around such clients, minimising the likelihood of an experience of care that is aversive. AMBIT uses well evidenced 'Mentalization-based' approaches, that are at their core integrative - drawing on recent advances in neuroscience, psycho-analytic, social cognitive, and systemic "treatment models".