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New book explores key to healthy relationships and self-awareness

 Newswise — A new book written by mental health experts with The Menninger Clinic in Houston explores how the concept of mentalizing, the ability to “tune in” to one’s own thoughts and feelings and to put oneself in another’s shoes, forms the basis of healthy relationships and self-awareness.

Mentalizing in Clinic Practice offers mental health professionals a guide to understanding mentalizing and how to use it in their clinical practices, and distills current research findings about mentalizing.

The book is written by Jon G. Allen, PhD, Menninger director of psychology; Peter Fonagy, PhD, director of the Menninger Child and Family Program; and Anthony W. Bateman, MD, clinical and research consultant at Menninger. Drs. Allen and Fonagy also are editors of The Handbook of Mentalization-Based Treatment, published in 2006.

The authors, and Menninger, have been involved in extensive research on how neurobiology and human development affect the human mind and are refining research-based patient care that promotes a person’s capacity to mentalize. The authors have also lectured internationally on mentalizing, responding to growing interest in the subject.

Failing to mentalize properly can contribute to serious problems in relationships.

Psychiatric disorders such as depression, personality disorders and substance abuse also interfere with mentalizing.

“Our book shows how mentalizing unifies diverse therapeutic perspectives, ranging from cognitive-behavioral and interpersonal therapy to psychodynamic perspectives,” Dr. Allen says.

“Our new knowledge about the development of mentalizing in attachment relationships enables us to provide needed developmental help to our patients—whatever their age. In development and in psychotherapy, mentalizing begets mentalizing.”

Peers reviewing the book recognize mentalizing’s potential for shaping mental healthcare:

- “We are probably witnessing a new paradigm for psychiatry,” says Sigmund Karterud, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry, University of Oslo, Norway.

- “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,” says John G. Gunderson, MD, director, Borderline Treatment and Research Center, McLean Hospital, and professor, Harvard University.

- “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,” adds Jeremy Holmes, MD, professor of psychological therapies, University of Exeter, United Kingdom.

 The Menninger Clinic is an international specialty psychiatric center, providing treatment, research and education.

Founded in 1925 in Kansas, Menninger relocated to Houston in 2003 and is affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital. For 17 consecutive years, Menninger has been named among the leading psychiatric hospitals in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of America’s Best Hospitals.