Mentalization

==Background==

==Background==

While the broader concept of [[theory of mind]] has been explored at least since [[Descartes]], the specific term 'mentalization' emerged in [[psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic]] literature in the late 1960s, and began to be empirically tested in 1983 when [[Heinz Wimmer]] and [[Josef Perner]]{{cite journal |last1=Wimmer |first1=H |last2=Perner |first2=J |title=Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children's understanding of deception |journal=Cognition |date=January 1983 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=103–128 |doi=10.1016/0010-0277(83)90004-5 |pmid=6681741 }} ran the first experiment to investigate when children can understand [[false belief]], inspired by [[Daniel Dennett]]'s interpretation of a [[Punch and Judy]] scene.

While the broader concept of [[theory of mind]] has been explored at least since [[Descartes]], the specific term 'mentalization' emerged in [[psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic]] literature in the late 1960s, and began to be empirically tested in 1983 when Heinz Wimmer and Josef Perner{{cite journal |last1=Wimmer |first1=H |last2=Perner |first2=J |title=Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children's understanding of deception |journal=Cognition |date=January 1983 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=103–128 |doi=10.1016/0010-0277(83)90004-5 |pmid=6681741 }} ran the first experiment to investigate when children can understand [[false belief]], inspired by [[Daniel Dennett]]'s interpretation of a [[Punch and Judy]] scene.

The field diversified in the early 1990s when [[Simon Baron-Cohen]] and [[Uta Frith]], building on the Wimmer and Perner study, and others merged it with research on the psychological and biological mechanisms underlying [[autism]] and [[schizophrenia]]. Concomitantly, [[Peter Fonagy]] and colleagues applied it to developmental psychopathology in the context of [[Attachment in children|attachment]] relationships gone awry.{{sfn|Allen|Fonagy|2006|p={{pn|date=December 2024}}}} More recently, several child mental health researchers such as Arietta Slade,{{cite journal |last1=Slade |first1=Arietta |title=Parental reflective functioning: An introduction |journal=Attachment & Human Development |date=September 2005 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=269–281 |doi=10.1080/14616730500245906 |pmid=16210239 }} John Grienenberger,{{cite journal |last1=Kelly |first1=Kristen |last2=Slade |first2=Arietta |last3=Grienenberger |first3=John F. |title=Maternal reflective functioning, mother–infant affective communication, and infant attachment: Exploring the link between mental states and observed caregiving behavior in the intergenerational transmission of attachment |journal=Attachment & Human Development |date=September 2005 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=299–311 |doi=10.1080/14616730500245963 |pmid=16210241 }} Alicia Lieberman,{{cite journal | last1 = Lieberman | first1 = A.F. | last2 = Van Horn | first2 = P. | last3 = Ippen | first3 = C.G. | year = 2005 | title = Towards evidence-based treatment: Child-parent psychotherapy with preschoolers exposed to marital violence | journal = Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry | volume = 44 | issue = 12| pages = 1241–1248 | doi=10.1097/01.chi.0000181047.59702.58 | pmid=16292115}} [[Daniel Schechter]],{{cite journal | last1 = Schechter | first1 = DS | last2 = Myers | first2 = MM | last3 = Brunelli | first3 = SA | last4 = Coates | first4 = SW | last5 = Zeanah | first5 = CH | last6 = Davies | first6 = M | last7 = Grienenberger | first7 = JF | last8 = Marshall | first8 = RD | last9 = McCaw | first9 = JE | last10 = Trabka | first10 = KA | last11 = Liebowitz | first11 = MR | year = 2006 | title = Traumatized mothers can change their minds about their toddlers: Understanding how a novel use of videofeedback supports positive change of maternal attributions | journal = [[Infant Mental Health Journal]] | volume = 27 | issue = 5| pages = 429–448 | doi=10.1002/imhj.20101 | pmid=18007960 | pmc=2078524}} and [[Susan Coates]]{{cite journal | last1 = Coates | first1 = S.W. | year = 1998 | title = Having a Mind of One's Own and Holding the Other In Mind | journal = Psychoanalytic Dialogues | volume = 8 | pages = 115–148 | doi=10.1080/10481889809539236}} have applied mentalization both to research on parenting and to clinical interventions with parents, infants, and young children.

The field diversified in the early 1990s when [[Simon Baron-Cohen]] and [[Uta Frith]], building on the Wimmer and Perner study, and others merged it with research on the psychological and biological mechanisms underlying [[autism]] and [[schizophrenia]]. Concomitantly, [[Peter Fonagy]] and colleagues applied it to developmental psychopathology in the context of [[Attachment in children|attachment]] relationships gone awry.{{sfn|Allen|Fonagy|2006|p={{pn|date=December 2024}}}} More recently, several child mental health researchers such as Arietta Slade,{{cite journal |last1=Slade |first1=Arietta |title=Parental reflective functioning: An introduction |journal=Attachment & Human Development |date=September 2005 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=269–281 |doi=10.1080/14616730500245906 |pmid=16210239 }} John Grienenberger,{{cite journal |last1=Kelly |first1=Kristen |last2=Slade |first2=Arietta |last3=Grienenberger |first3=John F. |title=Maternal reflective functioning, mother–infant affective communication, and infant attachment: Exploring the link between mental states and observed caregiving behavior in the intergenerational transmission of attachment |journal=Attachment & Human Development |date=September 2005 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=299–311 |doi=10.1080/14616730500245963 |pmid=16210241 }} Alicia Lieberman,{{cite journal | last1 = Lieberman | first1 = A.F. | last2 = Van Horn | first2 = P. | last3 = Ippen | first3 = C.G. | year = 2005 | title = Towards evidence-based treatment: Child-parent psychotherapy with preschoolers exposed to marital violence | journal = Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry | volume = 44 | issue = 12| pages = 1241–1248 | doi=10.1097/01.chi.0000181047.59702.58 | pmid=16292115}} [[Daniel Schechter]],{{cite journal | last1 = Schechter | first1 = DS | last2 = Myers | first2 = MM | last3 = Brunelli | first3 = SA | last4 = Coates | first4 = SW | last5 = Zeanah | first5 = CH | last6 = Davies | first6 = M | last7 = Grienenberger | first7 = JF | last8 = Marshall | first8 = RD | last9 = McCaw | first9 = JE | last10 = Trabka | first10 = KA | last11 = Liebowitz | first11 = MR | year = 2006 | title = Traumatized mothers can change their minds about their toddlers: Understanding how a novel use of videofeedback supports positive change of maternal attributions | journal = [[Infant Mental Health Journal]] | volume = 27 | issue = 5| pages = 429–448 | doi=10.1002/imhj.20101 | pmid=18007960 | pmc=2078524}} and [[Susan Coates]]{{cite journal | last1 = Coates | first1 = S.W. | year = 1998 | title = Having a Mind of One's Own and Holding the Other In Mind | journal = Psychoanalytic Dialogues | volume = 8 | pages = 115–148 | doi=10.1080/10481889809539236}} have applied mentalization both to research on parenting and to clinical interventions with parents, infants, and young children.