ABSTRACT
Arts therapies offer a connection to clients' pre-mentalizing states of mind. The pre-mentalizing modes are the psychic equivalent mode, the pretend mode, and the teleological mode. The aim of expressive therapies in the day-hospital programme is to offer an alternative way of promoting mentalization. A diagrammatic image is meant to communicate something; the author often see clients making this type of work in a phase in which they need acknowledgement, recognition, of their situation. Antony Bateman and Peter Fonagy recommend group therapy. They write: It is in the group that patients can truly practise balancing emotional states evoked in a complex situation and their ability to continue mentalizing. The therapists need to ensure that they give equal attention to each patient's contribution. People with a borderline personality disorder generally have ignored their inner feelings for many years, out of sheer self-preservation.
