Course Registration

Mentalizing refers to our ability to attend to—and understand our own actions and those of others on the basis of—mental states. This is the focus of MBT, initially developed by Drs. Anthony Bateman and Peter Fonagy for the treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD) but now used on a wide range of disorders. MBT is based on studies of early childhood development and attachment.

MBT requires therapists to focus on their understanding of interactions with the patient and on the patient’s mental state. The therapist takes a ‘not knowing’ stance and yet explicitly develops with the patient or family alternative perspectives about what is happening.