Mentalization-based treatment (MBT) is an innovative form of psychodynamic psychotherapy, developed and manualised by Peter Fonagy and Anthony Bateman. MBT has been designed for individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD), who suffer from disorganised attachment and allegedly failed to develop a mentalization capacity within the context of an attachment relationship. Fonagy and Bateman claim mentalization is the process by which we implicitly and explicitly interpret the actions of oneself and others as meaningful on the basis of intentional mental states. The object of treatment is that BPD patients increase mentalization capacity which should improve affect regulation and interpersonal relationships.
The treatment should be distinguished from and has no connection with the more common Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) therapy developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
More recently, a range of Mentalization-Based treatments, using the "mentalizing stance" defined in MBT but directed at children (MBT-C), families (MBT-F) and adolescents (MBT-A, and for chaotic multi-problem youth, AMBIT (Adolescent Mentalization-Based Integrative Treatment)) has been under development by groups mainly gravitating around the Anna Freud Centre.
Read more about Mentalization-based Treatment: Goals, Focus of Treatment, Treatment Procedure, Mechanisms of Change, Efficacy
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