Affect Regulation, Mentalization, and the Development of the Self

Winner of the 2003 Gradiva Award and the 2003 Goethe Award for Psychoanalytic Scholarship Arguing for the importance of attachment and emotionality in the developing human consciousness, four prominent analysts explore and refine the concepts of mentalization and affect regulation. Their bold, energetic, and encouraging vision for psychoanalytic treatment combines elements of developmental psychology, attachment theory, and psychoanalytic technique. Drawing extensively on case studies and recent analytic literature to illustrate their ideas, Fonagy, Gergely, Jurist, and Target offer models of psychotherapy practice that can enable the gradual development of mentalization and affect regulation even in patients with long histories of violence or neglect. Provides an exhaustive review of psychoanalytic and developmental psychological research. Employs a truly impressive array of detailed and engaging case studies. Puts forth a comprehensive theory for the way in which the abilities to mentalize (make and use mental representations of your own and other people's emotional states) and affect regulate (control one's own emotions as is appropriate to environment) can determine a person's successful development. Discusses the ways in which bad or insufficient parenting can leave children unable to modulate and interpret their own feelings, as well as the feelings of those around them. Considers the implications for personality disorders and general psychological problems of self-confidence, etc. Evaluates the role of psychoanalytic therapy in addressing this problem in patients, by teaching them in later life to develop these cognitive/emotional capabilities.

About the Author :
Peter Fonagy, Ph.D., F.B.A., is Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis and Director of the Sub-Department of Clinical Health Psychology at Univesity College London. Gyorgy Gergely, Ph.D., is Director of the Developmental Psychology Laboratory of the Psychology Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Mary Target, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in Psychoanalysis at University College London. Elliot L. Jurist, Ph.D., is Director of the PhD Program in Cinical Psychology, CUNY, and Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.

Review :
"Stunning in its scope, powerfully reasoned, clinically rich in telling cases, and historically sophisticated. What an intellectual delight to have a book that stays in your mind, continues to challenge, and offers new directions for understanding." -Ed Tronick, Chief of the Child Development Unit, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School "This is a book worth savoring, not just reading." -Drew Westen, Director, Adolescent and Adult Personality Programs, Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Boston University "This book is already a classic." -Paul Verhaeghe, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychoanalysis, University of Ghent, Belgium "An intellectual and clinical tour de force. This book will have a profound impact on both clinical practice and clinical research." -Sidney J. Blatt, Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, Yale University