ABSTRACT
Attachment experimental findings have been criticized for becoming too rigidly formalized and failing to keep up with the richer data from later intersubjectivity research into infant/caregiver interactions. According to Cognitive analytic therapy (CAT), the mature self develops dialogically, through interaction with others, by internalizing social meanings. Specific internalized relationships and the relations between these internalizations are the building blocks of the mental structure, and in CAT these are called 'reciprocal roles' (RR). Trauma and threat during sensitive developmental phases results in the rigid internalization of reciprocal roles transferred from often dysfunctional early relationships. In common with Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Mentalization-Based Treatment/Therapy (MBT) therefore concludes that where early adversity has prevented the development of a mature mentalization capacity, explicit skills training is required to remedy this deficit. This contrasts with other psychodynamic approaches, which rely on the therapeutic relationship to retrain this capacity.
