Elliot Jurist

Peter Fonagy

Gyorgy Gergely

Mary Target

Winner of the 2003 Gradiva Award and the 2003 Goethe Award for Psychoanalytic Scholarship Arguing for the importance of attachment and emotionality in the developing human consciousness, four prominent analysts explore and refine the concepts of mentalization and affect regulation. Their bold, energetic, and encouraging vision for psychoanalytic treatment combines elements of developmental psychology, attachment theory, and psychoanalytic technique. Drawing extensively on case studies and recent analytic literature to illustrate their ideas, Fonagy, Gergely, Jurist, and Target offer models of psychotherapy practice that can enable the gradual development of mentalization and affect regulation even in patients with long histories of violence or neglect.

Affect Regulation, Mentalization, and the Development of the Self

Mentalization--the effort to make sense of our own and others' actions, behavior, and internal states--is something we all do. And it is a capacity that all psychotherapies aim to improve: the better we are at mentalizing, the more resilient and flexible we tend to be. This concise, engaging book offers a brief overview of mentalization in psychotherapy, focusing on how to help patients understand and reflect on their emotional experiences. Elliot Jurist integrates cognitive science research and psychoanalytic theory to break down "mentalized affectivity" into discrete processes that therapists can cultivate in session. The book interweaves clinical vignettes with discussions of memoirs by comedian Sarah Silverman, poet Tracy Smith, filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, and neurologist Oliver Sacks. A reproducible assessment instrument (the Mentalized Affectivity Scale) can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

Elliot Jurist

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