Mentalization-Based Treatment with Families

1. Integrating Systemic and Mentalizing Approaches
2. Effective and Ineffective Mentalizing
3. Setting Up Mentalization-Focused Interventions
4. Not Going Around in Circles: Mentalizing Loops
5. Teaching Families to Mentalize without Explicitly Teaching Them
6. Enhancing Effective Mentalizing
7. Mentalizing beyond Diagnoses
8. Mentalizing Social Media
9. Mentalization-Informed Systemic Therapy in Multifamily Groups and in Schools
10. Mentalizing across Cultures and Societies
References
Index

Examining clinical practice with families through a mentalizing lens, this innovative book is filled with practical therapeutic strategies and in-depth case illustrations. The expert authors focus on ways to help parents, children, and adolescents to overcome blocks in how they relate to one another by gaining a deeper understanding of--and openness to--each other's experiences and points of view. The volume draws on the empirically supported mentalization-based treatment (MBT) model and interweaves it with systemic concepts and interventions. It includes guidance for setting up sessions and engaging clients; addressing emotional and behavioral difficulties that frequently lead families to seek treatment; and implementing playful activities, exercises, and games that equip family members to change problematic relationship patterns.

Reviews and Awards

"This is one of the most innovative, engaging, and useful books about family therapy in the last 30 years! Asen and Fonagy enrich the structure of systemic therapy with mentalizing concepts and techniques, thoughtfully integrating not only the two methods of treatment but also individual and family processes. Beautifully written, and drawing on an array of innovative tools that include activities, exercises, and games, this is the book to read now about the state-of-the-art practice of family therapy. The authors are two foremost therapists who draw from wide-ranging clinical experience."--Jay L. Lebow, PhD, ABPP, LMFT, Senior Scholar and Clinical Professor, The Family Institute at Northwestern University

Author Information

Eia Asen, MD, FRCPsych, is a consultant child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families in London, United Kingdom, and is Visiting Professor at University College London. He was previously Clinical Director of the Marlborough Family Service, a systemically oriented service working with marginalized children, adults, and multiproblem families, which is based in central London and is part of the British National Health Service (NHS). Trained as a systemic psychotherapist, Dr. Asen has been instrumental in developing innovative multifamily therapy approaches that have been implemented internationally. He has authored or coauthored 12 books, as well as many scientific papers and book chapters.

Peter Fonagy, OBE, FMedSci, FBA, FAcSS, is Professor of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Developmental Science and Director of the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences at University College London (UCL), and is Chief Executive of the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. Dr. Fonagy is Senior Clinical Advisor on Children's Mental Health at NHS England, Director of the UCLPartners Integrated Mental Health and Behaviour Change Programme, Consultant to the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, and Visiting Professor at Yale and Harvard Medical Schools. His clinical interests center on early attachment relationships, social cognition, borderline personality disorder, and violence. A codeveloper of mentalization-based treatment, Dr. Fonagy has published more than 550 scientific papers, 250 chapters, and 20 books.