Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT)
Answer: What is mentalizing? This core concept is defined as the process by which we implicitly and explicitly interpret the actions of ourselves and others as meaningful based on intentional mental states.
Answer: What is mentalizing?
This foundational mantra of Narrative Therapy suggests that the individual is not the issue; rather, the externalized conflict is.
What is "The problem is the problem; the person is not the problem"?
What is Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation?
The acronym STAIR stands for this two-part treatment framework.
What are Sexual and Gender Minorities?
The acronym SGM, the focus population of Cloitre et al.’s 2023 study, stands for this.
What is Depression?
In the systematic review by Ekinci & Tokkas (2024), Narrative Therapy was found to be effective in reducing symptoms of this common mood disorder.
Answer: What is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)?
While now used for various conditions, MBT was originally developed and manualized by Bateman and Fonagy to treat this specific personality disorder.
Answer: What is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)?
Who are Michael White and David Epston?
These two individuals are credited as the primary founders of Narrative Therapy.
Cloitre et al. (2023) focus on STAIR Narrative Therapy as a treatment for this condition, which includes the core symptoms of PTSD plus disturbances in self-organization.
What is Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD)?
According to research cited in the Cloitre article, SGM individuals are approximately this many times more likely to experience childhood maltreatment compared to their heterosexual and cisgender peers.
What is 2 to 3 times more likely?
Bateman & Fonagy (2010) report that patients receiving MBT showed a significant reduction in this specific self-destructive behavior compared to those receiving standard care.
What is self-harm (or suicide attempts)?
According to Bateman & Fonagy, the MBT therapist should maintain this specific "stance," characterized by curiosity and the avoidance of assuming they know what is in the patient’s mind.
What is the "not-knowing" stance?
What is externalization?
Ekinci & Tokkas (2024) describe this technique as the process of separating the person’s identity from the problem, often by giving the problem a name.
What are the Skills Phase and the Narrative/Storytelling Phase?
STAIR Narrative Therapy is typically delivered in these two distinct phases.
What is Minority Stress?
This specific type of stress, unique to SGM populations, involves external experiences of discrimination and internalized stigma, contributing to higher rates of CPTSD.
According to the systematic review, Narrative Therapy has shown a significant "Effect Size" (Cohen's d) often ranging between 0.6 and this number, indicating moderate to high effectiveness.
What is 0.8 (or higher)?
MBT is heavily rooted in this psychological theory, which suggests that the ability to mentalize develops through early interactions with a caregiver.
What is Attachment Theory?
What are "Unique Outcomes" (or Sparkling Moments)?
In Narrative Therapy, these are specific events or experiences that do not fit the "problem-saturated" story and provide a gateway to a new narrative.
What are traumatic memories?
In the Cloitre et al. article, the "Narrative" component of STAIR is specifically used to process these types of memories.
What is approximately 50% (or more, depending on the specific study)?
In a cited study of transgender individuals, nearly this percentage reported experiencing physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.
What is approximately 50% (or more, depending on the specific study)?
In the 5-year follow-up study cited by Bateman & Fonagy, this percentage of BPD patients treated with MBT no longer met the diagnostic criteria for the disorder.
What is 74%?
What is the "Pretend Mode"?
In their 2010/2013 work, Bateman & Fonagy highlight these two "modes" of non-mentalizing thinking: "Psychic Equivalence" and this mode, where thoughts are decoupled from reality.
What is Re-authoring?
This is the process described by Ekinci & Tokkas where a client moves from a thin, problem-focused description to a "thick," multi-faceted life story.
STAIR focuses on these two specific domains of functioning, which are often impaired in survivors of chronic or developmental trauma.
What are emotion regulation and interpersonal relationships?
What is 1% to 5%?
Cloitre et al. argue that SGM individuals are often excluded from trauma research; for instance, historical PTSD trials have had SGM representation as low as this percentage range.
Cloitre’s 2023 study on STAIR for SGM individuals found that participants showed a statistically significant improvement in "Disturbances in Self-Organization" (DSO), with average score reductions of approximately this many points on the ITQ scale.
What is 10-15 points (depending on the specific sub-scale)?