“Techniques”

Techniques should really be in inverted commas because Antony Bateman and Peter Fonagy stress that mentalization-based treatment requires a particular mental attitude on the part of the therapist rather than the use of certain techniques. Attention regulation can increase the capacity to gain control of impulses that come from within. Self-control is an essential condition for the ability to mentalize. In arts therapies, clients represent their internal perceptions in their work; arts therapies thus offer an explicit opportunity together to focus shared attention on the art work or work form. In the course of a child's development, affect regulation follows attention regulation as the second step a child makes on the way to mentalization. Marijke Rutten-Saris described how people can attune to the mental state of another person by focusing on his body language, or as she puts it, can come in contact with a deeper emotional layer.