Mentalization in Child Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Mentalization has been considered a common factor across therapeutic processes, inherent to all effective treatment models. However, empirical findings and evidence about the presence and relevance of the construct for use in child psychodynamic psychotherapy processes are scarce. To contribute to filling this gap, the aim of this study was to analyse three children's psychotherapies in regards to the similarity of the treatments to the mentalization process prototype. This study is exploratory, longitudinal and descriptive, and is based on the systematic case studies procedure. Three school-age children and their therapists participated. Two hundred and seventy-three sessions were coded with the Child Psychotherapy Process Q-Set and analysed according to their similarity to the mentalization process prototype. The results showed that it was possible to identify the presence of elements based on the mentalization approach in child psychodynamic psychotherapy. In addition, the presence of the therapist's mentalizing attitudes was associated with increased feelings of security and a greater connection of emotions to experiences. The results corroborated the propositions that enhancing mentalization is an implicit process in child psychodynamic psychotherapy, and suggested the importance of acknowledging and understanding the essential elements that compose the treatment models.