Mentalisation based therapy worksheet
By
HappierTherapy
Author bio
The Happier Therapy editorial team is made up of Masters and PhD counselling psychologists. Each worksheet is created by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The worksheet then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
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What is the theory behind this Mentalization based therapy worksheet?
Mentalization is the process through which we form beliefs about the mental states of the people we interact with on a daily basis. This inturn affects our own thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Mentalization based therapy (MBT) is grounded on multiple theories, one of which is attachment theory which focuses on formation of healthy attachment in childhood as a precursor for forming and maintaining relationships throughout life.
The focus of MBT is to identify how individuals mentalize and react when faced with interpersonal stressors. The goal is to identify any faults in the mentalizing process for one’s self and others so that MBT can help with learning how to control resulting emotions and reactions.
How will the worksheet help?
The worksheet is an exercise to introduce the concept of mentalization to your client. It will help them gain a basic understanding of the mentalization model by identifying and reflecting on their own thoughts on some important aspects of a relationship and then doing the same through the perspective of a significant other in their life.