Chapter 5.The Art of Mentalizing
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We assume that, having diligently reviewed the theory and research on mentalizing in the first part of this book, readers are eager to find out how to translate theory into practice, and the second part of this book aspires to do just that. Yet, banking on readers’ frustration tolerance, we begin discussing practice in this chapter by spelling out the limits as to how prescriptive we can be. These exist because the activity of mentalizing—doing it at any given moment—is an art, not a science. Within these limits, we will be discussing mentalizing interventions in the next chapter. But first we are giving thorough consideration to the spirit of our approach, because the essence of mentalizing-focused therapy is reflected in the clinician’s attitude toward the process—what we have been calling the mentalizing stance—rather than in technique. Moreover, in addition to giving our science-weary readers a non-technical -interlude, this chapter continues our effort to humanize “mentalizing” in light of its technical and intellectual connotations.
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