ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we focus on the idea of mentalized affectivity, which will allow us to elaborate on a form of affect regulation that is particularly relevant for adults. As introduced in chapter 2, mentalized affectivity is a sophisticated kind of affect regulation that denotes how affects are experienced through the lens of self-reflexivity. It would be mistaken to assume that all adults are capable of such affectivity; yet neither is it a rarified achievement. As we demonstrate in this chapter, mentalized affectivity is a concept that can be enhanced by psychotherapy and thus pertains to a phenomenon that is especially relevant to the clinical realm. In the first section of this chapter we begin with a description of mentalized affectivity as a concept, in the second we delineate three elements of mentalized affectivity, and in the third we turn to four clinical examples to illustrate its importance.
