Alan Sugarman on ‘Mentalization, Insightfulness, and Therapeutic Action: The Importance of Mental Organization’ (IJP, 2006)

Alan Sugarman discusses his concept of insightfulness, a mutative process that unites both relational and interpretative aspects of psychoanalysis. He illustrates how supporting the patient’s awareness of their own mental functioning is fundamental to the understanding of unconscious content, the traditional focus of insight. He describes some of the technical strategies and challenges of working along a developmental line of insightfulness, which may necessitate the analyst’s use of action interpretation and self-disclosure. He reflects on the obstacles analysts have long faced in elaborating prevailing conceptualisations and how this might be mitigated in the future.