ABSTRACT
When I first encountered the term ‘mentalising’ I found it off-putting, with its abstract pseudo-technical ring, and wondered if this was not yet another example of Molière’s bourgeois gentleman discovering that he had been speaking prose all his life. I have come round to the view that mentalising captures a crucial aspect of psychological health, and psychotherapists’ efforts to promote it. The aim of this chapter is to take the reader on a similar intellectual journey.
