ABSTRACT

Psychological mindedness can be globally described as a disposition toward thinking about psychological phenomena (Farber, 1985) and to show interest in understanding behavior in psychological terms (Wolitzky & Reuben, 1974). In 1973, Appelbaum stated that psychological mindedness was an elusive construct. Three decades later, little has changed in our understanding of this theoretically elusive but clinically meaningful construct. Investigation of personality variables such as intraception or psychological mindedness has, with few exceptions, been largely absent since the 1960s (Farber, 1985). As a consequence, there is little literature on the relationship of psychological mindedness to mental well-being (Trudeau & Reich, 1995), let alone other domains of well-being such as quality of life and physical health. This chapter is an attempt to understand the construct of psychological mindedness more clearly, and to place it within the framework of clinical research and practice.