Research digest: reflective function

Introduction

This Research Digest is focused on the current and potential use of Reflective Function (RF) as a research method. RF is intended to be a method of measuring the capacity for mentalizing, both in the moment and across a longer time period. It is generally applied to semi-structured research interviews, such as the well-known Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and the Parent Development Interview (PDI), and there is increasing interest in applying it to researching clinical sessions (for example, Goodman, 2013). The first abstract in this Digest is from 2005 (Fonagy and Target) and we have included it because it sets the scene with the idea that the transmission of attachment status from parent to child is, in part at least, carried out through parental mentalizing and RF. The second abstract (Katznelson, 2014) presents a review of the research that has taken place in this field since, including the association between RF and other measures, and covers both parental mentalizing and mentalizing in psychiatric populations. Readers of this journal with a particular interest in infancy and parent–infant attachment may note Stacks et al. (2014), Ensink et al. (2014) and Berthelot et al. (2015). RF in fathers is explored in Benbassat and Priel (2015) and Smith Stover and Kiselica (2014). Clinicians with an interest in adolescence may note Ha et al. (2013), Borelli et al. (2015) and Möller et al. (2015). Developments in RF research tools for diverse populations are described in, for example, Ensink et al. (2014 – pregnant women with a history of trauma) and Pajulo et al. (2015 – prenatal parents). The original hypothesis from 2005 is followed up in, for example, Chiesa and Fonagy (2014).

Bridging the transmission gap: an end to an important mystery of attachment research?

Peter Fonagy and Mary Target

Attachment & Human Development, Informa, 2005, Volume 7 (3): 333–43

The authors provide a context for this special section by arguing that the attachment relationships of