Failure to Mentalize: Defect or Defense?

ABSTRACT

The author reviews current thinking on the phenomena of failure to mentalize and provides an alternative to the structural defect point of view. Also included are some clinical implications of this alternative viewpoint.     

‘That Most Difficult of Words’: A Therapeutic Relationship Across Divides

This paper describes the development of a therapeutic relationship of ten years' duration between an African American adolescent with severe conduct difficulties and anti-social behaviors, and a white, liberal Orthodox Jewish psychoanalyst. The developing capacity to mentalize and consider self in relation to other as well as the negotiation and reconciliation of various selves are two clinical concepts used to examine this seemingly improbable, yet undeniably, powerful relationship.     

Developments in child psychotherapy in Australia: an introduction

This article describes a type of intervention with parents that attempts to stimulate and encourage empathic imagination in relation to their child's difficult behaviour. Some barriers to this process are explored in the context of wider cultural influences, particularly as they pertain to the USA. Basic cultural assumptions about children, their emotional life and development, are contrasted to basic assumptions in British Object Relations Theory. Examples of parent consultations are offered and theoretical reference points are suggested.