Spotlight on Mentalization
Over the past year, our team at Silver Hill New York has been dedicated to building a world-class Mentalization-based Therapy program for our clients. MBT is now one of the core modalities we offer across our mental health and substance use intensive programs.
What is Mentalization?
Mentalization is the ability to understand your own thoughts and feelings, as well as the thoughts and feelings of others, with a particular focus on keeping this understanding curious and flexible in moments of high interpersonal conflict.
The treatment was first developed in the 1990s by Peter Fonagy and Anthony Bateman to treat borderline personality disorder, and versions of the therapy have been validated through clinical trials for substance use disorder and antisocial personality disorder, among other conditions.
Dr. Peter Fonagy, founder of Mentalization-Based Therapy, explains the core concepts of mentalization.
Programming by World-Class MBT Leaders
We are privileged to have some of the world’s leading MBT experts advising our programming, including Peter Fonagy, Anthony Bateman, and Lois Choi-Kain. With their help, we’ve incorporated MBT into all of our flagship programs, and provide advanced MBT training and supervision for all clinicians on our team.
Introduction to Mentalization
Clients learn mentalization skills, techniques and terminology as part of our integrated psychoeducation curriculum during the discovery phase of our intensive programs.
MBT Treatment Groups
We offer multiple MBT treatment groups during which clients identify their key trigger situations, and develop a better understanding of their patterns. Clients bring specific interpersonal conflicts into the group, and clinicians and group members help them process the situation in real time, improving their model of themselves and others. Through this practice, clients strengthen their curiosity and flexibility, allowing them to more effectively navigate interpersonal challenges.
“When you are not functioning optimally, your capacity to understand what happens inside your mind, and what happens in other people's minds is ineffective. It can go wrong. So you need help to build it up, like physiotherapy. You build up your mentalizing muscles.”
Peter Fonagy
Silver Hill New York Advisor,
Cofounder of
Mentalization-Based Therapy
This programming is an integral part of our next-generation mental health and substance use intensive offerings. To learn more about our program, please schedule a consultation call with our Director of Clinical Operations, Heidi Fitterling, MPH.
