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(504) 338-5902

Other Voices

Other Voices

OTHER VOICES—IN FIVE DIMENSIONS

July 15, 2020

 

  1. Dimension 1: MIND: MENTALIZING—resonances, quotations, and references:

 

RESONANCES—Besides the ample research showing Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) to be evidenced-based for many complex clinical issues, I am also drawn to mentalizing for what Jon Allen calls MBT’s “conceptual coherence”—meaning mentalizing is a useful umbrella which can integrate other interesting approaches into a conceptual whole. In addition, the profound “not-knowing” stance of mentalizing attracts me to MBT for there is always much about a client’s experience that I do not know until the therapeutic alliance is strong enough for the client to disclose it to me. Finally, the AMBIT manual (2020–see below) is the most expansive and useful open source of freely available tools and training videos that I know.—Lou Irwin

 

QUOTATIONS:

  • A mentalizing stance towards a client: “I want to understand what it’s like to be you . . . and I want to help if I can.”—Peter Fuggle
  • Peter Fonagy, the prolific writer and founder of MBT, says: “Mentalizing is:
  • “Seeing one’s self from the outside and others from the inside” +
  • “How one understands mis-understanding” +
  • “Holding someone else’s heart and mind in your heart and mind”
  • “. . . the capacity to appreciate varying perspectives lies at the heart of mentalizing”—Jon Allen
  • “Mentalizing is a form of imaginative mental activity about others or oneself, namely perceiving and interpreting human behavior in terms of intentional mental states (e.g., needs, desires, feelings, beliefs, goals, purposes, and reasons).”— Peter Fonagy
  • “(T)he main goal of psychotherapy isn’t to solve specific problems but rather to help patients become better problem solvers. That’s where improved mentalizing in attachment relationships comes in; this capacity emerges from the repeated process of understanding and being understood.”—Jon Allen

 

DIGITAL REFERENCES:

 

PAPER REFERENCES—on mentalizing and related topics:

  • Allen, J. G. (2013). Restoring mentalizing in attachment relationship: Treating trauma with plain old therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.
  • Bateman, A.W. & Fonagy, P. (2016). Mentalization-based treatment for personality disorders. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Bateman, A.W. & Fonagy, P. (Eds.) (2012). Handbook of mentalizing in mental health practices. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.
  • Bevington, D., Fuggle, P., Cracknell, L., & Fonagy, P. (2017). Adaptive mentalization-based integrative treatment: A guide for teams to develop systems of care. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Fonagy, P., Cottrell, D., Phillips, J., Bevington, D., Glaser, D., & Allison, E. (2015). What works for whom? A critical review of treatments for children and adolescents. New York: The Guilford Press.
  • Hughes, D. A. (2007). Attachment-focused family therapy. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
  • Midgley, N. & Vrouva, I. (2012). Minding the child: Mentalization-based interventions with children, young people and their families. London: Routledge.
  • Norcross, J. C. & Wampold, B. E. (2011). Evidenced-based therapy relationships: Research conclusions and clinical practices (pp. 423-430). In J.C. Norcross (Ed.). Psychotherapy relationships that work: Evidence-based responsiveness, 2nd New York: Oxford University Press.

 

Dimension 2: BODY SOMATIC EXPERIENCING ®—resonances, quotations, and references

 

RESONANCES—What first drew me to SE™ was hearing Peter Levine talk about his work. Out of nine world class speakers, I was drawn to him, particularly when he individualized his answer to a question one of my clients asked me to ask him.  I had the embodied experience that Levine’s approach would definitely be a useful and needed addition to my practice. Later, in my first year of SE™ training, my trainer, Maureen Gallagher, modeled integrating SE™ with other useful approaches.  She also gave several practical bits of wisdom that I could immediately implement. As I remember it, Maureen Gallagher said:

  • “With enough TIME, SPACE, and SUPPORT, any trauma can be healed.” +
  • “The good news about SE™ is that there are 4000 things you can do. The bad news about SE™ is that there are 4000 things you can do.” +
  • “Some people say that the body never lies. That’s not true.  The body lies all the time.” +
  • “What is needed is to let clients teach the clinician to notice the WISDOM of the body and for the clinician to teach the client how to do the same. (Lou Irwin’s paraphrase of Maureen Gallagher)

QUOTATIONS

  • “A felt sense is not a mental experience but a physical one. Physical. A bodily awareness of a situation or person or event. An internal aura that encompasses everything you feel and know about a given subject at a given time—encompasses it and communicates it to you all at once, rather than detail by detail.”—Eugene Gendlin
  • “I have come to the conclusion that human beings are born with an innate capacity to triumph over trauma.”—Peter Levine
  • “If you bring forth that which is within you,
    • Then that which is within you
    • Will be your salvation.
    • If you do not bring forth that which is within you,
    • Then that which is within you
    • Will destroy you.”—The Gospel of Thomas
  • “Besides trauma, there is something else human beings routinely pass on from person to person and from generation to generation: resilience.”—Resmaa Menakem

DIGITAL REFERENCES

 

PAPER REFERENCES—on SE™ and related topics

  • Gendlin, Eugene. (1982). Focusing (2nd). New York: Bantam Books.
  • Levine, Peter A. (2015). Trauma and Memory: Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past: A Practical Guide for Understanding and Working  with Traumatic Memory. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
  • Levine, Peter A. (2010). In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
  • Levine, Peter A. (2008). Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restorying the Wisdom of Your Body. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
  • Levine, Peter A. and Kline, Maggie. (2007). Trauma through a Child’s Eyes: Awakening the Ordinary Miracle of Healing. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
  • Levine, Peter A. with Frederick, Ann. (1997). Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
  • Menakem, Resmaa. (2017). My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. Las Vegas: Central Recovery Press.

 

  • Dimension 3: SOUL–resonances, quotations, and references [more to come, given enough SPACE AND TIME]
  1. Dimension 4: SYSTEM–resonances, quotations, and references [more to come, given enough SPACE AND TIME]
  2. Dimension 5: STORY­ resonances, quotations, and references [more to come, given enough SPACE AND TIME]

 

Conclusion:  Given enough TIME, SPACE, and SUPPORT, an organic, life-giving STORY emerges in every dimension. This results in increased vitality, deeper meaningfulness, and authentic, embodied actions that foster mutual flourishing. [more to come, given enough SPACE AND TIME]

 

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