You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
, edited by Nick Midgley and Ioanna Vrouva, Hove, Routledge, 2012, 240 pp., £80 (hardback), ISBN: 978-0-41560523-6, £22.99 (paperback), ISBN: 978-0-415-60525-0
In this interesting publication, Midgley and Vrouva begin by describing the aim of the book which is to provide an introduction to the theoretical concept of mentalization and to make a case for its relevance in clinical work with children, young people and their families.
Midgley and Vrouva explain that ‘the concept of mentalization is both a relatively new one and an extremely old one’. Mentalization is defined as a form of ‘imaginative mental activity’ involving the capacity to perceive and interpret human behaviour with regard to intentional mental states. The editors suggest that mentalizing involves the accurate perception of mental states that includes such elements as desires, needs, beliefs, feelings, reasons and goals. That mentalization is a fundamental aspect of what it is to be a human being has been put forward by a number of clinicians who also believe that mentalization plays a central role in the ability to regulate emotional states, in developing the capacity to reflect upon mental states of self and others and is a crucial factor in lending coherence to a sense of self. Midgley and Vrouva emphasise that mentalization is very much an applied science with roots not only in the theoretical domain but also developing from various aspects of clinical practice.
The book clearly demonstrates that mentalization-based treatment has become an evidence-based practice, primarily with regard to work with borderline personality disorder. However, the book promulgates that the application of mentalization-based approaches has increased to include different types of work with children, young people and families. Indeed its popularity has become such that community-based projects that have adopted mentalization-based thinking have developed to inform practice and thinking about children, young people and their