Mentalized Affectivity as a Mediator Between Two Forms of Narcissism and Self-Compassion

Mentalization, or the process used to make sense of both other people and us, implicitly and explicitly, through the context of subjective states and mental processes (Bateman & Fonagy, 2010) is not being used more often in therapeutic settings and research. One specific type of mentalization that considers the regulatory processes of emotions is mentalized affectivity (MA). MA examines the identifying, processing, and expressing aspects of emotion. In prior research, the relationship between MA and narcissism has been examined using mentalization-based treatment techniques to increase attachment relationships (Drozek & Unruh, 2020), and there is no extensive research on the relationship between MA and vulnerable and grandiose narcissism. Furthermore, the relationship between MA and self-compassion, something that people with narcissism struggle with, has not been extensively examined. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between narcissism (grandiose and vulnerable) and self-compassion and if MA acts as a pathway to becoming a more self-compassionate individual. A total of 161 participants completed questionnaires measuring components of both forms of narcissism, self-compassion, and MA. The parallel and simple mediation analyses found that the processing component of MA significantly influenced the relationship between both forms of narcissism and self-compassion. Future research should examine the use of mentalization in clinical populations who have been diagnosed with grandiose or vulnerable narcissism, placing an emphasis on the processing component of the model.