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Relationships between three measures of mentalization (reflective function, mental states, and verbal elaboration of affect), attachment status, and the severity of axis I and axis II pathology were examined. Seventy-three adults, both ex-psychiatric patients and nonclinical volunteers were administered the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Comparisons between the three measures indicate that they share some aspect of a core mentalization process and that each illuminates a specific component. Reflective function was the only predictor of attachment status. The number of axis I diagnoses is partly explained by attachment insecurity, but the capacity to generate high-level defensive mental
The authors would like to acknowledge support for the collection of data at two sites: The London set of AAIs was part of a larger study funded by the Gatsby Foundation and the American Psychoanalytic Association. The Menninger Clinic AAI sample was gathered with support from the endowment of the Child and Family Center in Topeka, Kansas.
states as well as increments in verbal affect elaboration further contribute to the model. Finally, increments in affect elaboration, as well as augmentations in high-level defensive activity and reflective function are all associated with decreases in the number of axis II diagnoses, over and above the contribution of attachment status and axis I pathology.