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MBT in practice
Mentalization Based Treatment
Mentalization Based Treatment (MBT) helps many people overcome social anxiety and depression. It changes the way you view yourself and others. We explain what MBT is and what you can expect from treatment with it at our clinic.
What is MBT?
Mentalization Based Treatment (MBT) is an effective psychotherapy that teaches you to understand and change the relationship between your thoughts, emotions and behaviors. English professors Anthony Bateman and Peter Fonagy first developed MBT for Borderline Personality Disorder. In this, you have difficulty controlling your emotions, causing unstable relationships, an unstable self-image and violent mood swings. But the treatment method also proved to work well for many other psychological disorders. For example, depression, anxiety, trauma, antisocial personality disorder and addiction.
Mentalization Based Treatment
learning to mentalize
Do you recognize this? Someone says something to you that hurts you. You feel angry, sad or ashamed. And you show it, too. But if you think about it for a moment, you know the other person didn't mean it that way. It was an expression of his or her emotions. Then you decide to respond more calmly. That process of thinking about the situation and directing your emotions is called mentalizing.
Many emotional problems come from not being able to mentalize properly. That's what Mentalization Based Therapy is based on. You don't sufficiently understand your own emotions and those of others. What thoughts, feelings or intentions are behind them? As a result, you are too quick to give them a negative interpretation. And that in turn can lead to unhealthy reaction patterns. Think of a negative self-image, hypersensitivity, distrust, outbursts of anger or impulsive behavior. MBT helps you empathize better with yourself and others. You also learn to identify and change negative beliefs. Because if you think more positively, it is easier to control your mood and behavior.
Mentalization Based Therapy - a form of cognitive behavioral therapy
Mentalization Based Treatment is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). With CBT, you learn to recognize and challenge non-helpful thinking patterns. In MBT, the emphasis here is on mentalization. You imagine what is going on in your head and that of the other person. The result is that you are better able to deal with yourself and others.
MBT - an effective treatment
Those who take Mentalization Based Therapy often say they feel less anxious or depressed afterwards. Social contacts and relationships also improve. That effect is lasting, according to several scientific studies. The effect even increases after treatment.
How does Mentalization Based Treatment work?
Mentalization Based Treatment provides a safe environment in which you practice to better control your emotions.
From automatic negative thoughts...
In everyday life, you are always forming ideas about yourself and others. For example, about what you and the other person look like, think about each other and interact. With many mental disorders, you have trouble seeing nuances in them. This is because you are often under high stress. All those stress hormones in your body, make it harder to control your emotions. So for example, does someone say something that makes you angry? Then that anger is more likely to overwhelm you. As a result, you may react aggressively, for example. Negative thoughts also intensify your psychological symptoms. For example, they can make you more depressed or develop panic attacks or addictions.
... to consciously dealing with emotions
With Mentalization Based Treatment, you discover how to control your emotions more easily. Even though breaking patterns takes some effort at first. For example, are you angry with someone? Then you learn to think about why that is. Do you feel rejected, for example? Are you afraid of losing track of things? Or are you embarrassed? Once you know that, you try to change your negative thoughts. That way you avoid reacting impulsively and you can respond more calmly and wisely. With MBT, you learn several effective communication strategies for this purpose.
Who is MBT for?
Who can benefit from MBT?
Anyone struggling with emotional problems can benefit from MBT. Especially if you have problems with social contact, relationships and/or impulsive behavior. This often involves two or more psychological problems, on which mentalizing has an influence. U-center is a specialist in dealing with this "comorbidity.
Problems in your childhood
The origins of how you see yourself and others often lie in childhood. For example, if you had to deal with traumatic experiences, neglect or great adversity. Another factor is how well your parents mirrored your feelings, so you learned to understand where they were coming from. ("You're nervous about your first day of school, aren't you.") If they consistently didn't do that well, or minimally or excessively, you didn't learn well yourself. But it is necessary to understand what people think, feel, wish, believe and desire. With that, you keep your feelings under control. And the better you understand yourself, the better you understand others and each other. So the more you learn to mentalize, the healthier it is. With Mentalization Based Therapy, you develop that skill as well.
Forms of Mentalization Based Therapy
Mentalization Based Therapy can be taken individually, in a group or both. It depends on your situation and preference.
During a session you get theory about mentalization and what influence it has on your problems. And above all, you practice a lot: with the therapist and/or each other. Because the problems you have in daily life with emotions will also play out between you, your therapist and/or group mates.
Individual sessions
In individual sessions, the therapist encourages you to explore the relationship between your thoughts, emotions and behaviors. For example, what is a typical reaction pattern with you when you become emotional? He or she also encourages you to be curious about what another person is thinking, feeling and experiencing. In addition, you practice with other ways of thinking and reacting, including through homework.
Group therapy
The content of group therapy is similar to that of individual sessions. In addition, you can practice with several people, for example through role plays. You can also share experiences and support each other.