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The concept of mentalization, the awareness of mental states in self and others, has triggered a broad range of writing in theoretical, clinical, and sociological realms. In his latest book, Dr. Jon Allen (2013) describes the significance of mentalization in understanding attachment trauma and trauma-related psychiatric disorders, and in identifying psychotherapeutic approaches to these disorders, which he refers to as “plain old therapy” (p. 3). His survey extends across a wide range of human experience, from child-caregiver interactions to the concept of evil and the individual's relationship with God. He provides excellent diagrams and clinical material to illustrate his ideas. Dr. Allen's therapeutic approach is straightforward, honest, and open, acknowledging the limitations and errors of the individual therapist. I found Dr. Allen a thoughtful traveling companion, with whom I formed a secure attachment and felt mentalized. His courage, persistence, and humility in dealing with severely traumatized individuals provide encouragement to therapists in addressing these problems. If, as Dr. Allen says, a key to healing of trauma is to feel less alone in dealing with it, he helps therapists feel less alone in some of the most difficult aspects of our work.
At the same time, as Dr. Allen provides this invaluable information, the concept of mentalization is sometimes employed in an overly broad fashion. Problematic aspects or uses of mentalization are not well defined. Although he does an excellent job of demonstrating how mentalization is part of many psychotherapies, his own approaches are the primary basis for plain old therapy, whereas plain old therapy has different meanings for different practitioners. For example, psychodynamic concepts, such as repression of traumatic experiences and unconscious conflicts involving anger, dependency, and sexuality, which could help to further our understanding of trauma, are minimized, as is attention to transference and counter