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Is Mentalization-based therapy securely attached?: A conceptual and case-based comparison of discourse markers of attachment and MBT interventions
University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Psychology.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2486-6859
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2025 (English)In: Nordic Psychology, ISSN 1901-2276, E-ISSN 1904-0016Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

Mentalization based therapy (MBT) has developed its therapeutic stance and interventions based on attachment theory. Accordingly, prescribed MBT interventions are likely to resemble the way securely attached therapists speak in sessions. This paper will compare the Therapists Attunement Scales (TASc)-an instrument that assesses therapist attachment classification based on how therapists speak during a single session-to MBT interventions in two ways. First, by a conceptual comparison of the linguistic markers from the TASc with the prescribed MBT interventions. Second, by analyzing a therapy session of an expert MBT clinician with the TASc. Our comparison shows that the interventions of adherent MBT therapists are very similar to the language of secure therapists. Conversely, the communicative style of therapists with an insecure attachment classification does not align well with quality MBT interventions and is not conducive to the development of epistemic trust. Adherent MBT is likely to reflect the therapist's personal attachment classification and associated communicative style, and insecure attachment styles are likely to be an obstacle to acquiring competences in MBT. Implications for training and future research are discussed.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2025.
Keywords [en]
mentalization, therapy, attachment, language, therapists, in-session
National Category
Applied Psychology
Research subject
Social Sciences, Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-141129DOI: 10.1080/19012276.2025.2542727ISI: 001548028500001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105012976841OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-141129DiVA, id: diva2:1989917
Available from: 2025-08-19 Created: 2025-08-19 Last updated: 2026-03-09

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Falkenström, Fredrik

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

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Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf