Mentalizing in Clinical Practice
In their new volume Allen, Fonagy and Bateman expands the explanatory power and clinical utility of the mentalizing concept and argue convincingly for the thesis of mentalizing being the foundation of all psychotherapeutic treatments. Adding that to the capacity for uniting evolution, attachment, neurobiology, self development and psychopathology, we are probably witnessing a new paradigm for psychiatry. Superbly written, challenging and immensely integrative. --Sigmund Karterud, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry, University of Oslo, NorwayThis timely and ambitious book helps clarify the meaning and clinical applications of the mentalization construct. The authors audaciously propose that mentalizing is the central corrective process of all effective psychotherapies and persuasively assert that this can be directly linked to failed early parent-child interactions. They could be right! And that makes this book essential reading for the next generation of psychotherapists. --John G. Gunderson, M.D., Director, Borderline Treatment and Research Center, McLean Hospital, Professor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical SchoolHow often in our field is one able to recommend a book written with wit and grace, expounded with clarity and scholarship, deftly structured, illustrated with memorable tables and diagrams, research- and clinically-oriented, and relevant across the range of psychotherapeutic disciplines? Here is a strong authorial voice on a vital psychotherapeutic theme. This exceptional volume helps therapists, from analytic to cognitive and beyond, to open minds and hearts to mentalizing as a meta-concept, underpinning and often spearheading all worthwhile psychotherapeutic enterprise. --Jeremy Holmes, M.D., Professor of Psychological Therapies, University of Exeter UK