The DOI matches its Crossref record; 59 of the 59 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Mentalization: Ontogeny, Assessment, and Application in the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder
Abstract
This article aims to review the development of the concept of mentalization, its applications in the understanding and treatment of borderline personality disorder, and the issue of its assessment. While conceptually derivative of theory of mind, Fonagy's concept of mentalization concerns more affectively and interpersonally complex understandings of oneself and others, reflecting abilities that enable an individual not only to navigate the social world effectively but also to develop an enriched, stable sense of self. The components of mentalization can be organized around self-/other-oriented, implicit/explicit, and cognitive/affective dimensions. Concepts of mindfulness, psychological mindedness, empathy, and affect consciousness are shown to partially overlap with mentalization within these three dimensions. Mentalization is assessed by the measure of reflective function, a scale to be used adjunctively on semistructured narrative interviews such as the Adult Attachment Interview. Its validity has not been fully tested, and its usage has been hampered by the time and expense it requires. Although the concept of mentalization is a useful heuristic that enables clinicians to adopt a coherent treatment approach, it may be too broad and multifaceted to be operationalized as a marker for specific forms of psychopathology such as borderline personality disorder. Research elucidating the relationship between reflective function, overlapping concepts, and features of borderline psychopathology is needed.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Whilst mentalising impairments or differences have not been previously linked to self-injury as such, they are a feature of borderline personality disorder [27–30], which is itself strongly linked with self-injury [31–33].”
From A 'choice', an 'addiction', a way 'out of the lost': Exploring self-injury in autistic people without intellectual disability (2019) · cites this paper as [29]
Citations
Cites
The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud
Freud, S. (1953) · Cited by 17,730
The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being
Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.4.822 · Cited by 13,448
Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?
Premack, D., & Woodruff, G. (1978) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00076512 · Cited by 8,743
Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind” ?
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8 · Cited by 8,599 · cited 1×
“’s conception of the interpersonal functioning difficulties in autism as theory of mind deficits (28) influenced Fonagy to apply the theory of mind concept to borderline personality disorder.”
Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition.
Bishop, S. R., Lau, M., Shapiro, S., Carlson, L., Anderson, N. D., Carmody, J., Segal, Z. V., Abbey, S., Speca, M., Velting, D., et al. (2004) · Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice · doi:10.1093/clipsy.bph077 · Cited by 7,234
Wimmer, H. (1983) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(83)90004-5 · Cited by 6,305
Bagby, R. M., Parker, J. D. A., & Taylor, G. J. (1994) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/0022-3999(94)90005-1 · Cited by 5,293
Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: a conceptual and empirical review
Baer, R. A. (2003) · Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice · doi:10.1093/clipsy.bpg015 · Cited by 4,577
Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review.
Baer, R. A. (2003) · Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice · doi:10.1093/clipsy/bpg015 · Cited by 4,576
Affect Regulation, Mentalization, and the Development of the Self
Fonagy, P., Gergely, G., Jurist, E. L., & Target, M. (2018) · doi:10.4324/9780429471643 · Cited by 3,886
Research works printed but not linked: 10
- Fonagy P, 1991, Int J Psychoanal, 72, 639
- Clarkin JF, 1999, Yeomans F
- Allen JG, 2008, Fonagy P
- Zetzel ER, 1968, Int J Psychoanal, 49, 256
- Lecours S, 1997, Int J Psychoanal, 78, 855
- Segal H, 1957, Int J Psychoanal, 38, 391
- Kohut H, 1971, The Analysis of the Self
- Hahn TN, 1976, Miracle of Mindfulness
- Appelbaum SA, 1973, Concept and Essence. Int J Psychoanal, 54, 35
- Monsen JT, 1999, Progress in Self Psychol, 15, 287
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 101–200 of 563
Goodman, G. (2013) · Journal of Psychotherapy Integration · doi:10.1037/a0032354 · Cited by 57
Personality Disorders and Mindreading
Semerari, A., Colle, L., Pellecchia, G., Carcione, A., Conti, L., Fiore, D., Moroni, F., Nicolò, G., Procacci, M., & Pedone, R. (2015) · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/nmd.0000000000000339 · Cited by 52
Attachment and Borderline Personality Disorder
Buchheim, A., & Diamond, D. (2018) · Psychiatric Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/j.psc.2018.07.010 · Cited by 54
Chapter 70. Borderline Personality Disorder
Gunderson, J. G., Weinberg, I., & Choi-Kain, L. W. (2014) · American Psychiatric Association Publishing eBooks · doi:10.1176/appi.books.9781585625048.gg70 · Cited by 55
Self-citation“Identifying and Describing Emotions”
Byrne, G., Bogue, J., Egan, R., & Lonergan, E. (2014) · Sexual Abuse · doi:10.1177/1079063214558940 · Cited by 51
“Both also emphasize the integration of cognitive and affective aspects of mental states in encouraging simultaneous recognition and participation in internal experiences (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008).”
BackgroundInfluentialPerroud, N. A., Badoud, D., Weibel, S., Nicastro, R., Hasler, R., Küng, A., Luyten, P., Fonagy, P., Dayer, A. G., Aubry, J., et al. (2017) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2017.06.087 · Cited by 57
“RF is a multidimensional construct that partially overlaps with more narrowly defined social cognitive constructs, such as empathy (targeting the affective and cognitive understanding others’ emotions), theory of mind (targeting the cognitive understanding of others’ beliefs), and mindfulness (targeting emotional self…”
BackgroundAival‐Naveh, E., Rothschild‐Yakar, L., & Kurman, J. (2019) · Clinical Psychology Science and Practice · doi:10.1111/cpsp.12300 · Cited by 100
Sex differences moderate the relationship between adolescent language and mentalization.
Rutherford, H. J. V., Wareham, J. D., Vrouva, I., Mayes, L. C., Fonagy, P., & Potenza, M. N. (2012) · Personality Disorders Theory Research and Treatment · doi:10.1037/a0028938 · Cited by 61
“…is conceptually similar to mentalization, theory of mind emerges from more cognitive domains of understanding false beliefs in external agents, whereas mentalization brings an affective element to this understanding, in respect of both external agents and the self (Choi-Kain & Gunderson 2008).”
BackgroundVerbal elaboration of distinct affect categories and BPD symptoms
Lecours, S., & Bouchard, M. (2011) · Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8341.2010.02006.x · Cited by 47
On the role of oxytocin in borderline personality disorder
Brüne, M. (2015) · British Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjc.12100 · Cited by 55
Learning to mentalize: A mediational approach for caregivers and therapists.
Sharp, C., Shohet, C., Givon, D., Penner, F., Marais, L., & Fonagy, P. (2020) · Clinical Psychology Science and Practice · doi:10.1111/cpsp.12334 · Cited by 52
“The mentalizing construct has been described as “obscure” (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008).”
MethodHayden, M. C., Müllauer, P. K., Gaugeler, R., Senft, B., & Andreas, S. (2018) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.22673 · Cited by 56
A concise guide to personality disorders.
Paris, J. (2015) · American Psychological Association eBooks · doi:10.1037/14642-000 · Cited by 42
Sappok, T., Budczies, J., Bölte, S., Dziobek, I., Došen, A., & Diefenbacher, A. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074036 · Cited by 46
“Third, ED is closely connected to social interaction processes: Caretakers mirroring the child’s internal emotional states in a setting of a secure early attachment relationship trigger and support further development of ED [31,42,43].”
BackgroundChild-focused maternal mentalization: A systematic review of measurement tools from birth to three
Schiborr, J., Lotzin, A., Romer, G., Schulte‐Markwort, M., & Ramsauer, B. S. (2013) · Measurement · doi:10.1016/j.measurement.2013.05.007 · Cited by 42
Ballespí, S., Vives, J., Debbané, M., Sharp, C., & Neus Barrantes-vidal, A. (2018) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2018.10.048 · Cited by 52
“MZ is a multidimensional capacity conceptually close to concepts such as social cognition, theory of mind, insight, or meta-cognition (Choi-Kain and Gunderson, 2008; Freeman, 2016; Kim, 2015).”
Cucchi, A., Hampton, J. A., & Moulton‐Perkins, A. (2018) · PeerJ · doi:10.7717/peerj.5756 · Cited by 61
How Personality Disorders Change in Psychotherapy: a Concise Review of Process
Kramer, U., Beuchat, H., Grandjean, L., & Pascual‐Leone, A. (2020) · Current Psychiatry Reports · doi:10.1007/s11920-020-01162-3 · Cited by 44
The relationship between global distress, mentalizing and well-being in a German teacher sample
Schwarzer, N.-H., Nolte, T., Fonagy, P., Griem, J., Kieschke, U., & Gingelmaier, S. (2021) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-021-01467-3 · Cited by 51
Metacognition as a Predictor of Improvements in Personality Disorders
Carcione, A., Riccardi, I., Bilotta, E., Leone, L., Pedone, R., Conti, L., Colle, L., Fiore, D., Nicolò, G., Pellecchia, G., et al. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00170 · Cited by 43
“The ability of understanding mental states has different denominations, but in the field of PDs it is often termed “mentalization” (Bateman and Fonagy, 2004; Bouchard et al., 2008; Choi-Kain and Gunderson, 2008) or “metacognition” (Semerari et al.”
BackgroundSchwarzer, N.-H., Nolte, T., Fonagy, P., & Gingelmaier, S. (2021) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105018 · Cited by 43
Functions of personal and vicarious life stories: identity and empathy
Lind, M., & Thomsen, D. K. (2017) · Memory · doi:10.1080/09658211.2017.1395054 · Cited by 44
Psychometric Properties of the Theory of Mind Assessment Scale in a Sample of Adolescents and Adults
Bosco, F. M., Gabbatore, I., Tirassa, M., & Testa, S. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00566 · Cited by 47
“Still another limitation of the RF is that it yields a unique total score, thus underestimating the complexity of mentalizing activities (Choi-Kain and Gunderson, 2008; Gullestad and Wilberg, 2011).”
BackgroundMindreading Dysfunction in Avoidant Personality Disorder Compared With Other Personality Disorders
Moroni, F., Procacci, M., Pellecchia, G., Semerari, A., Nicolò, G., Carcione, A., Pedone, R., & Colle, L. (2016) · Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/nmd.0000000000000536 · Cited by 41
“…to integrate changingmental states into a coherent narrative, the ability to recognize other people's emotions, the ability to understand viewpoints and perspectives of other people, and so on (Antonsen et al., 2016; Choi-Kain and Gunderson, 2008; Gullestad et al., 2013; Semerari et al., 2007).”
BackgroundLadegaard, N., Lysaker, P. H., Larsen, E. R., & Videbech, P. (2014) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2014.10.005 · Cited by 48
“This level is often referred to as mentalization (Choi-Kain and Gunderson, 2008) or metacognition (Dimaggio et al., 2009), which compared to lower-order abilities is a more controlled, creative and imaginative process rendering it more sensitive to contextual influences.”
BackgroundHow mentalisation changes the mind
Fonagy, P., & Adshead, G. M. J. (2012) · Advances in Psychiatric Treatment · doi:10.1192/apt.bp.108.005876 · Cited by 42
Finding words for feelings: The relationship between personality disorders and alexithymia
Panfilis, C. D., Ossola, P., Tonna, M., Catania, L., & Marchesi, C. (2014) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2014.10.050 · Cited by 42
“…from understanding and representing the affects and mental states of both the self and the other, thereby interfering with successful mentalization (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008; Di Maggio et al., 2013; Grynberg, Luminet, Corneille, Grèzes, & Berthoz, 2010; Moriguchi et al., 2007; Taylor et al.,…”
BackgroundPromising Psychotherapies for Personality Disorders
Hadjipavlou, G., & Ogrodniczuk, J. S. (2010) · Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · doi:10.1177/070674371005500403 · Cited by 39
Change in reflective functioning during psychotherapy—A single-case study
Gullestad, F. S., & Wilberg, T. (2011) · Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1080/10503307.2010.525759 · Cited by 40
“With regard to the third dimension, Choi-Kain and Gunderson (2008) make a distinction between content and process.”
BackgroundInfluentialSocial Cognition and Borderline Personality Disorder
Fertuck, E. A., Fischer, S., & Beeney, J. E. (2018) · Psychiatric Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/j.psc.2018.07.003 · Cited by 45
Borelli, J. L., Stern, J. A., Marvin, M. J., Smiley, P. A., Pettit, C., & Samudio, M. (2020) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/emo0000747 · Cited by 44
Weder, B. (2022) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2022.928522 · Cited by 52
Pattern of social cognition deficits in individuals with borderline personality disorder
Anupama, V. V., Bhola, P., Thirthalli, J., & Mehta, U. M. (2018) · Asian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2018.03.010 · Cited by 45
Velotti, P., Garofalo, C., Dimaggio, G., & Fonagy, P. (2018) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-018-1048-3 · Cited by 44
“From this perspective, mentalizing is clearly a multifaceted ability (Fonagy and Luyten 2009; Semerari et al. 2007) that may be better assessed focusing on its subcomponents (Choi-Kain and Gunderson 2008).”
BackgroundMentalization as Mediator between Adult Attachment and Interpersonal Distress
Hayden, M. C., Müllauer, P. K., Gaugeler, R., Senft, B., & Andreas, S. (2019) · Psychopathology · doi:10.1159/000496499 · Cited by 39
Hypermentalizing in Social Anxiety: Evidence for a Context-Dependent Relationship
Ballespí, S., Vives, J., Sharp, C., Tobar, A., & Neus Barrantes-vidal, A. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01501 · Cited by 50
Personality, personality disorders, and the process of change
Kramer, U. (2017) · Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1080/10503307.2017.1377358 · Cited by 38
“Core Interpersonal Information Change in the patient’s social cognitive capacities is central in treatments for PDs (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008; Fonagy, Luyten, & Bateman, 2015).”
BackgroundSpitzer, C., Zimmermann, J., Brähler, E., Euler, S., Wendt, L. P., & Müller, S. (2020) · PPmP - Psychotherapie · Psychosomatik · Medizinische Psychologie · doi:10.1055/a-1234-6317 · Cited by 39
“Die angemessene Durchführung und Auswertung der Reflective Functioning Scale erfordern eine große Expertise sowie hohen Zeitaufwand, sodass dieses Verfahren weder im klinischen Alltag noch bei der Untersuchung größerer Stichproben gut einsetzbar ist [4, 21].”
BackgroundThe role of mentalising in the management of violence
Adshead, G. M. J., Moore, E., Humphrey, M., Wilson, C., & Tapp, J. (2013) · Advances in Psychiatric Treatment · doi:10.1192/apt.bp.110.008243 · Cited by 41
Boldrini, T., Pontillo, M., Tanzilli, A., Giovanardi, G., Cicilia, G. D., Salcuni, S., Vicari, S., & Lingiardi, V. (2020) · Schizophrenia Research · doi:10.1016/j.schres.2020.05.052 · Cited by 45
Mentalizing Mediates the Relationship Between Psychopathy and Type of Aggression in Schizophrenia
Bo, S., Abu-Akel, A. M., Kongerslev, M., Haahr, U., & BATEMAN, A. W. (2013) · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/nmd.0000000000000067 · Cited by 42
“…as a reference to a set of abilities that include assigning agency to cognitive and affective mental states that are modulated by distinct yet overlapping neurobiological underpinnings (Abu-Akel and Shamay-Tsoory, 2011; Choi-Kain and Gunderson, 2008; Semerari et al., 2003, 2007; Saxe et al., 2004).”
BackgroundAttachment and Developmental Psychopathology
Fearon, P. R. M., Groh, A. M., Bakermans‐Kranenburg, M. J., van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Roisman, G. I. (2016) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119125556.devpsy108 · Cited by 41
Pos, K., Bartels‐Velthuis, A. A., Simons, C. J. P., Korver‐Nieberg, N., Meijer, C. J., de Haan, L., for GROUP, Bruggeman, R., Cahn, W., de Haan, L., et al. (2014) · Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/0004867414546386 · Cited by 36
Havsteen-Franklin, D., & Altamirano, J. C. (2015) · International Journal of Art Therapy · doi:10.1080/17454832.2015.1023322 · Cited by 37
“Choi-Kain and Gunderson (2008) refer to the psychoanalytic dimension of mentalizing giving shape to inchoate mental forms, a concept also formulated by Bion.”
BackgroundLadegaard, N., Videbech, P., Lysaker, P. H., & Larsen, E. R. (2015) · British Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjc.12097 · Cited by 38
Are Impairments in Theory of Mind Specific to Borderline Personality Disorder?
Normann‐Eide, E., Antonsen, B. T., Kvarstein, E. H., Pedersen, G., Vaskinn, A., & Wilberg, T. (2019) · Journal of Personality Disorders · doi:10.1521/pedi_2019_33_417 · Cited by 40
Narrative Coherence in Adolescence: Relations With Attachment, Mentalization, and Psychopathology
Lind, M., Vanwoerden, S., Penner, F., & Sharp, C. (2019) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1080/00223891.2019.1574805 · Cited by 48
“Mentalization researchers emphasize that the ability to mentalize is important for self-understanding and self-organization (Bateman & Fonagy, 2016; Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008).”
BackgroundChildhood maltreatment and mentalizing capacity: A meta-analysis
Yang, L., & Huang, M. (2024) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106623 · Cited by 39
Taubner, S., & Kotte, S. C. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-49483-7_41 · Cited by 34
Changes in Reflective Functioning during Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies
Hörz‐Sagstetter, S., Mertens, W., Isphording, S., Buchheim, A., & Taubner, S. (2015) · Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association · doi:10.1177/0003065115591977 · Cited by 34
Assessment of Affect Integration: Validation of the Affect Consciousness Construct
Solbakken, O. A., Hansen, R. S., Havik, O. E., & Monsen, J. T. (2011) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1080/00223891.2011.558874 · Cited by 34
Mentalization within close relationships: The role of specific attachment style
Bączkowski, B. M., & Cierpiałkowska, L. (2015) · Polish Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1515/ppb-2015-0035 · Cited by 37
“Yet, recently these diverse research traditions and their research foci more broadly have been conceptualized as the capacity to mentalize (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008; Fonagy, Gergely, Jurist, & Target, 2002).”
BackgroundGeorg, A. K., Meyerhöfer, S., Taubner, S., & Volkert, J. (2023) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2023.102322 · Cited by 35
Deficits of Affect Mentalization in Patients with Drug Addiction: Theoretical and Clinical Aspects
Savov, S., & Atanassov, N. (2012) · ISRN Addiction · doi:10.1155/2013/250751 · Cited by 33
The Experience of Mentalization-Based Treatment: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study
Dyson, H., & Brown, D. (2016) · Issues in Mental Health Nursing · doi:10.3109/01612840.2016.1155246 · Cited by 48
“Even supporters of the concept refer to it as “ungainly” (Holmes, 2006, cited in Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008, p. 1128) and “all-encompassing. . .potentially beyond manageable bounds” (Allen, 2006, cited in Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008, p. 1128).”
BackgroundLöf, J., Clinton, D., Kaldo, V., & Rydén, G. (2018) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-018-1699-6 · Cited by 29
“A promising future direction of research is studying systematic treatment selection, which has been shown to be able to improve treatment results over randomisation for PDT [13].”
BackgroundInfluentialDesatnik, A., Bird, A., Shmueli, A., Venger, I., & Fonagy, P. (2023) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0286500 · Cited by 40
“These include mindblindness [40], emotional intelligence [41], mindfulness, empathy, and psychological mindedness [42] amongst others.”
BackgroundReflective functioning, affect consciousness, and mindfulness: Are these different functions?
Falkenström, F., Solbakken, O. A., Möller, C. M., Lech, B., Sandell, R., & Holmqvist, R. (2014) · Psychoanalytic Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0034049 · Cited by 34
“The Choi-Kain and Gunderson (2008) dimension cognitive/affective can be further subdivided into the process and contents of observation (see also Gullestad & Wilberg, 2011).”
BackgroundClinical psychopharmacology of borderline personality disorder
Ripoll, L. H. (2011) · Current Opinion in Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/yco.0b013e32834c3f19 · Cited by 33
Jain, F. A., & Fonagy, P. (2018) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-018-0969-1 · Cited by 36
“Refers to the explicit, conscious and deliberate aspects of mentalizing (Choi-Kain and Gunderson 2008).”
BackgroundJańczak, M. O., & Jańczak, A. (2017) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-017-9573-0 · Cited by 33
“The measurement of mentalization by AAI has been criticized for unidimensionality (Choi-Kain and Gunderson 2008; Katznelson 2014).”
Schnell, K., & Herpertz, S. C. (2018) · Journal of Personality Disorders · doi:10.1521/pedi.2018.32.supp.12 · Cited by 29
Robinson, P., Barrett, B., Bateman, A., Hakeem, A., Hellier, J., Lemonsky, F., Rutterford, C., Schmidt, U., & Fonagy, P. (2014) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/1471-244x-14-51 · Cited by 32
“Borderline Personality Disorder has been shown to respond to Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT) [2] which targets vulnerability to loss of self-reflectiveness (mentalizing) which is thought to occur in both BPD [3,4] and Eating Disorders [5,6].”
BackgroundSöderström, K., & Skårderud, F. (2009) · Nordic Psychology · doi:10.1027/1901-2276.61.3.47 · Cited by 32
“For an 50 Kerstin Söderström & Finn Skårderud Nordic Psychology 2009, Vol. 61(3), 47-65 © 2009 The authors & Nordic Psychology updated overview of the concept of mentalization, with emphasis on the Fonagytradition, we refer to Choi-Kain & Gunderson (2008).”
BackgroundGórska, D., & Marszał, M. (2014) · PubMed · Cited by 31
Maillard, P., Dimaggio, G., de Roten, Y., Berthoud, L., Despland, J., & Kramer, U. (2017) · Journal of Psychotherapy Integration · doi:10.1037/int0000090 · Cited by 30
“This set of abilities has been defined with different, often overlapping terms (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008; Dimaggio & Brüne, 2016) such as “social cognition” (Fiske & Haslam, 1996), “theory of mind” (Brüne, 2005), “mentalization” (Bateman & Fonagy, 2004), or “metacognition” (Semerari et al.,…”
Seeking proxies for internal states (SPIS): Towards a novel model of obsessive-compulsive disorder
Dar, R., Lazarov, A., & Liberman, N. (2021) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2021.103987 · Cited by 31
Mitchell, L. J., Gumley, A. I., Reilly, E. S., MacBeth, A. M., Lysaker, P. H., Carcione, A., & Dimaggio, G. (2011) · Psychosis · doi:10.1080/17522439.2011.630098 · Cited by 30
“This is consistent with the developmental underpinnings of mentalisation (Bateman & Fonagy, 2004 ) which assert that a secure early attachment relationship will allow an infant to develop an awareness of their own internal states, from which more complex and organised representations can then be produced (Choi-Kain &…”
ResultUnterrainer, ., Chen, M. J., & Gruzelier, J. H. (2013) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2013.03.011 · Cited by 30
Symptom severity and mindreading in narcissistic personality disorder.
Bilotta, E., Carcione, A., Fera, T., Moroni, F., Nicolò, G., Pedone, R., Pellecchia, G., Semerari, A., & Colle, L. (2018) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0201216 · Cited by 29
“Moreover, mindreading is a complex process which calls for the use of a variety of implicit and explicit abilities, with different domains and different levels of complexity [34, 46, 47].”
BackgroundFossati, A., Somma, A., Krueger, R. F., Markon, K. E., & Borroni, S. (2017) · Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy · doi:10.1002/cpp.2091 · Cited by 35
Development and criterion validity of a computerized text analysis measure of reflective functioning
Fertuck, E. A., Mergenthaler, E., Target, M., Levy, K. N., & Clarkin, J. F. (2012) · Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1080/10503307.2011.650654 · Cited by 30
“Additionally, the concordance between RF and other indices of mentalization has been elaborated at both theoretical (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008 ; Jurist, 2005 , 2010 ; Semerari et al, 2007 ) and empirical levels (Bouchard et al, 2008 ; Gullestad & Wilberg, 2011 ; Lecours & Bouchard, 2011 ; Vermote et al, 2009 ).”
BackgroundLittle, H., Tickle, A., & das Nair, R. (2018) · Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1111/papt.12156 · Cited by 28
“Key challenges are risk management, with suicide attempts and/or self-harm common in 69–80% of those diagnosed (Frances, Fyer, & Clarkin, 1986; Zanarini et al., 2008), frequent hospitalization (Moran, 2002), and high rates of treatment failure (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008).”
BackgroundMentalization-based treatment for patients with borderline personality disorder: an overview
Eizirik, M., & Fonagy, P. (2009) · Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1590/s1516-44462009000100016 · Cited by 28
Johnstone, O. K., Marshall, J. J., & McIntosh, L. G. (2021) · Adolescent Research Review · doi:10.1007/s40894-020-00147-w · Cited by 28
Validity of a Brief Interview for Assessing Reflective Function
Rutimann, D. D., & Meehan, K. B. (2012) · Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association · doi:10.1177/0003065112445616 · Cited by 28
“RF has also become important as a clinical concept for understanding personality pathology (Choi-Kain and Gunderson 2008; Fonagy et al. 2002; Holmes 2001; Levy et al. 2006).”
BackgroundSolbakken, O. A., Hansen, R. S., Havik, O., & Monsen, J. (2012) · Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1080/10503307.2012.700871 · Cited by 32
“Studies of the related concept of alexithymia, ie, the relative absence of affect integration in awareness, imagination and verbal expressive capacity (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008 ), have found moderate to small negative relationships with treatment response and outcome (Leweke, Bausch, Leichsenring, Walter, & Stingl,…”
BackgroundGrasping the process of implicit mentalization
Davidsen, A. S., & Fosgerau, C. F. (2015) · Theory & Psychology · doi:10.1177/0959354315580605 · Cited by 27
“Although arguing that implicit mentalization is taking place during turn-taking, the sequential perspective is only vaguely implied in the definition of implicit mentalization (Allen et al., 2008; Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008).”
BackgroundSelf-Rated Mentalizing Mediates the Relationship Between Stress and Coping in a Non-Clinical Sample
Schwarzer, N.-H., Nolte, T., Fonagy, P., & Gingelmaier, S. (2021) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.1177/0033294121994846 · Cited by 34
“Mentalizing is described as a multifaceted umbrella concept (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008) covering a wide range of intrapsychic processes, encompassing second-order processes such as self-monitoring (cognitive awareness of the self), mindfulness (emotional awareness of the self), empathy (awareness…”
BackgroundFossati, A., Feeney, J. A., Maffei, C., & Borroni, S. (2011) · Attachment & Human Development · doi:10.1080/14616734.2011.608993 · Cited by 29
“…and on the degree of overlap of the mentalization construct with other constructs (particularly mindfulness), it has recently been proposed to use self-report measures of mindfulness (and related constructs) as indirect but easy-to-use measures of mentalization (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008).”
BackgroundInfluentialOgrodniczuk, J. S., Kealy, D., Hadjipavlou, G. A., & Cameron, K. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108241595.014 · Cited by 27
Relationship between Alexithymia, Parenting Style, and Parental Control
Cuzzocrea, F., Barberis, N., Costa, S., & Larcan, R. (2015) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.2466/21.10.pr0.117c22z7 · Cited by 28
“Alexithymia has also been associated with problems in aff ect-related mentali-zation and metacognition ( Fonagy, Gergely, Jurist, & Target, 2002 ; Dimaggio, Semerari, Carcione, Nicolo, & Procacci, 2007; Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008 ).”
Wu, H., Fung, B. J., & Mobbs, D. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.791835 · Cited by 30
“, 2003; Del Gaizo and Falkenbach, 2008), or literature demonstrating a negative association between psychopathy and mentalization (Choi-Kain and Gunderson, 2008; Bateman et al., 2013).”
BackgroundDiamond, D., Keefe, J. R., Hörz‐Sagstetter, S., Fischer‐Kern, M., Doering, S., & Buchheim, A. (2023) · American Journal of Psychotherapy · doi:10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.20220018 · Cited by 27
Assessing mentalization in psychotherapy: first validation of the Mentalization Imbalances Scale
Gagliardini, G., Gullo, S., Caverzasi, E., Boldrini, A., Blasi, S., & Colli, A. (2018) · Research in Psychotherapy Psychopathology Process and Outcome · doi:10.4081/ripppo.2018.339 · Cited by 27
“A further development of the definition of this construct was introduced through the conceptualization of mentalization as the result of six different dimensions (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008): self, other, cognitive, affective, explicit, and implicit.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialDavidsen, A. S., & Fosgerau, C. F. (2014) · Patient Education and Counseling · doi:10.1016/j.pec.2013.12.018 · Cited by 25
“Mentalization describes the understanding of others in terms of intentional mental states [65,83].”
BackgroundRothschild‐Yakar, L., Waniel, A., & Stein, D. J. (2013) · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/nmd.0b013e3182948316 · Cited by 25
Salaminios, G., Morosan, L., Sprüngli‐Toffel, E., Tanzer, M., Eliez, S., Badoud, D., Armando, M., & Debbané, M. (2020) · Early Intervention in Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/eip.13011 · Cited by 30
“…such as theory of mind (ToM: inferring beliefs from others' behaviours), empathy (understanding the emotional states of others), mindfulness (emotional self-awareness) and self-monitoring (cognitive self-awareness) (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008; Debbané et al., 2016; Fonagy & Luyten, 2009).”
BackgroundPsychopathic traits and theory of mind task performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Song, Z., Jones, A., Corcoran, R., Daly, N., Abu-Akel, A. M., & Gillespie, S. M. (2023) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105231 · Cited by 30
“, mindfulness, psychological mindedness, empathy, and affect consciousness) in addition to ToM (Choi-Kain and Gunderson, 2008), MBT nonetheless has been shown to enhance people’s ability to identify and understand others’ emotions and intentions, and as such could improve their social functioning and reduce the likeli…”
Building resilience in Looked After young people: a moral values approach
Woodier, D. (2011) · British Journal of Guidance and Counselling · doi:10.1080/03069885.2011.562638 · Cited by 27
“…secure attachments are better able to mentalise, enabling them to solidify an understanding of an internal experience but also enabling them to realise that their perceptions are fallible and only one of a range of possible perceptions (Auerbach, 2005; Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008; Gabbard, 2005).”
BackgroundInfluentialMentalizing capacities of mental health nurses: A systematic PRISMA review
Free, G., Swildens, W. E., Knapen, S., Beekman, A. T. F., & van Meijel, B. (2023) · Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing · doi:10.1111/jpm.12963 · Cited by 25
Change in Emotional and Theory of Mind Processing in Borderline Personality Disorder: A Pilot Study
Kramer, U., Kolly, S., Maillard, P., Pascual-Leone, A., Samson, A., Schmitt, R., Bernini, A., Allenbach, G., Charbon, P., de Roten, Y., et al. (2018) · Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/nmd.0000000000000905 · Cited by 17
Increasing Mentalization to Reduce Maladaptive Defense in Patients With Mental Disorders
Hayden, M. C., Müllauer, P. K., Beyer, K. J. P., Gaugeler, R., Senft, B., Dehoust, M. C., & Andreas, S. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.637915 · Cited by 23
“In particular, mental disorders that involve a pathology of the self, such as borderline personality disorder, are characterized by a distinct pattern of impairments in the ability to mentalize (3, 8).”
BackgroundInfluentialMousavi, P. S. S., Vahidi, E., Ghanbari, S., Khoshroo, S., & Sakkaki, S. Z. (2021) · Journal of Infant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy · doi:10.1080/15289168.2021.1945721 · Cited by 28
“Empathy, for example, refers to the understanding of mental states in others, but RF refers to understanding mental states in self as well as others (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008).”
BackgroundColl, K. M., Powell, S., Thobro, P., & Haas, R. (2010) · The Family Journal · doi:10.1177/1066480710372082 · Cited by 23
“Choi-Kain and Gunderson (2008) offer a more comprehensive definition of mentalization as “the way humans make sense of their social world by imagining the mental states (e.”
BackgroundInfluentialDimaggio, G., Nicolò, G., Brüne, M., & Lysaker, P. H. (2011) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2011.02.005 · Cited by 23
“Instead it appears to involve a large number of related but distinct processes, which can malfunction in a number of distinct ways (Saxe et al., 2004; Choi-Kain and Gunderson, 2008; Dimaggio and Lysaker, 2010; Lysaker et al., 2011).”
BackgroundByrne, G., & Egan, J. (2018) · Clinical Social Work Journal · doi:10.1007/s10615-018-0652-y · Cited by 22
“Similarly, mindfulness has also been labelled as a conceptual cousin of mentalization (Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008).”
BackgroundSelf-Knowledge in Personality Disorders: An Emotion-Focused Perspective
Kramer, U., & Pascual‐Leone, A. (2018) · Journal of Personality Disorders · doi:10.1521/pedi.2018.32.3.329 · Cited by 22
Mentalizing and narrative coherence in autistic adults: Cerebellar sequencing and prediction
Bylemans, T., Heleven, E., Baetens, K., Deroost, N., Baeken, C., & Overwalle, F. V. (2023) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105045 · Cited by 23
Giromini, L., Brusadelli, E., Di Noto, B., Grasso, R., & Lang, M. (2015) · Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy · doi:10.1080/02668734.2015.1006666 · Cited by 22
“As Choi-Kain and Gunderson (2008) point out, PM is a ‘conceptual cousin’ of the concept of mentalization.”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Choi-Kain, L. W., & Gunderson, J. G.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- ORCID
- Choi-Kain, Lois W.
- Venue
- American Journal of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2008-09
- Volume
- 165
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1127-1135
- ISSN
- 0002-953X (ISSN-L)
- 1535-7228
- OpenAlex
- W2018329493
- Cited by
- 565
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 50 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 38 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 33
- FWCI
- 3.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- mentalization, borderline personality disorder, theory of mind, reflective functioning, Adult Attachment Interview, mindfulness, psychological mindedness, empathy, self-other orientation, attachment, treatment of borderline personality disorder
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Borderline Personality Disorder, Cognition Disorders, Consciousness, Culture, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Interview, Psychological, Mental Processes, Object Attachment, Psychological Theory, Severity of Illness Index, Narration
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review