Mentalization-Based Treatment From the Patients’ Perspective – What Ingredients Do They Emphasize?

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Katharina Teresa Enehaug Morken¹  Per-Einar Binder²  Nina Margot Arefjord³  Sigmund Wiggen Karterud⁴ 

[1] Bergen Clinics Foundation;Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen;Solli District Psychiatric Centre (DPS);Norwegian Institute for Mentalizing (IM)

关键词: substance use/addiction;    qualitative interviews;    hermeneutical-phenomenological;    personality disorder;    thematic analyses;    mentalization-based treatment;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01327

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore how patients with personality disorder (PD) and substance use disorder (SUD) experience mentalization-based treatment (MBT), in particular what they consider useful and less useful elements of the therapy. Method: Semi-structured qualitative interviews with 13 participants were conducted. Participants were interviewed on their experience of the different elements of MBT, their experience of working in the transference, and their view on MBT as a whole. Thematic analyses were performed within a hermeneutical-phenomenological epistemology, with an emphasis on researcher reflexivity. Results: The following themes were found in the material: “I am not alone,” “Taking blinders off,” “Just say it,” “The paradox of trust,” and “Follow me closely.” Three of these themes concerned therapist interventions; these involved addressing the relationship with the patients, addressing negative or unspoken feelings in the sessions, and validating and tolerating patients’ affect. Two themes concerned group therapy experiences; these were the experience of sameness with co-patients in group and the experience of discovering different perspectives in group. Conclusions: Patients’ experiences of useful elements in MBT resonate with theoretical tenets of (borderline) personality pathology, in particular attachment disturbances and emotional dysregulation. Patients highlight what we would label working in the therapeutic relationship, addressing transferential and counter-transferential processes explicitly, emotional validation, and enhancing mentalizing in its own right.

【 授权许可】

CC BY