Breaking the States: Mentalization-based treatment’s strong showing in America
You may not find them on the shelves of WHSmith at Heathrow but three publications from specialists at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families are generating serious buzz among practitioners in the USA.
All feature in this month’s edition of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP), one of the most prestigious, well respected and widely read journals in the field.
Mentalization based treatments, pioneered at AFNCCF and communicated in these texts, have proven effective and popular around the world and what follows below is just a snippet of the high praise from our American comrades working in the field of CYP Mental Health research and treatment. If you have subscribed to JAACAP, you can read the full reviews after each.
Mentalization-Based Treatment for Children: A Time-Limited Approach by Nick Midgley, Karin Ensink, Karin Lindqvist, Norka Malberg, & Nicole Muller (2017)
JAACAP: ‘For those readers whose time is limited, allow me to simplify this review: this book is the best manualized therapy book I have ever read. You should stop reading this review and start reading the actual book.’ - Owen Muir , MD, New York City
Read the full review here
Mentalization-Based Treatment for Personality Disorders: A Practical Guide by Anthony Batemean & Peter Fonagy (2016)
JAACAP: ‘This Practical Guide offers a clear step forward. Mentalizing and nonmentalizing are based in neuroscience, bridging gaps between behavioral and psychoanalytic approaches. This allows clinicians to take an approach that is at once human and connected, yet cutting edge.
‘Mentalizing is not new, but effectively reorganizes the old. This approach aims to reduce ineffective and iatrogenic interventions, and in doing so, to reduce stigma. Overall, mentalizing raises the bar for what providers can offer all patients.’ - Carl Fleisher, MD, Los Angeles
Read the full review here
Adaptive Mentalization-Based Integrative Treatment: A Guide for Teams to Develop Systems of Care by Dickon Bevington, Peter Fuggle, Liz Cracknell, & Peter Fonagy (2017)
JAACAP: ‘This guide from Dicken Bevington and his colleagues offers a refreshingly thoughtful framework for clinicians and the networks of which they are part—a climbing map for perilous journeys likely to instil curiosity, confidence, and a collaborative spirit…
‘Since its release this past fall, I have found myself recommending this book to colleagues left and right as situations inevitably arise in which I think to myself “an AMBIT approach would be so helpful here!” It has been easy to incorporate AMBIT techniques into my meetings with families and with other clinicians in our group private practice. Of note, AMBIT does not require prior training in mentalization-based therapies. Furthermore, it is designed to provide guidance to all sorts of individuals, from teachers, to peer mentors, to board-certified child psychiatrists.’ - Carlene MacMillan, MD, New York City
Read the full review here