ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the threapeutic process of mentalizing traumatic experience. As prototypes of substituting action for reflection, eating disorders are fertile ground for a mentalizing approach to treatment. While the diagnostic lexicon and criteria are continually evolving, there will always be a place for disorder-specific treatments. Mind-minded parents routinely provide the gist of trauma treatment to their children who have undergone stressful experiences, minor and major—as do trusted confidants throughout life. All the standard treatments that entail processing of traumatic experience involve mentalizing in the context of an attachment relationship. Subsequent research has borne out J. D. Frank’s supposition, while also providing extensive evidence for the substantial contribution of the patient-therapist relationship to treatment outcomes. Therapists who prefer prescriptive treatments for focal problems will be flummoxed by patients struggling with a host of disorders and problems related to attachment trauma.
